This Week In Ag #127
What is food grown for? Sounds like an easy question, right? You’ll immediately answer nutrition. Now consider that a pear loses about 30% of its vitamin C just sitting in cold storage. That’s how most pears are stored and shipped. So nutrition may not be the top priority. Okay then, it must be for taste, right? Think about the last time you bought a tomato at the store, sliced it and ate it. Now, recall the last time you ate a tomato from your garden, or a neighbor’s garden. Still think taste is the priority of the commercial food supply chain? The sad but true answer is that much of the food we consume is grown to be shipped and stored. The typical tomatoes you purchase in the grocery store are raised for a 3-week supply chain, when you consider harvest, transportation, handling and storage. In many cases, food must travel from California to Carolina, or Mexico to Maine. And for those looking to reduce carbon footprints, that’s a long, energy-burning journey. But there is one sure way to get your hands on food that’s delicious, nutritious, fresh and earth-friendly. Shorten the supply chain. How? Do what I do every week. Visit your local farmers’ market.
As we celebrate #NationalFarmersMarketWeek, we recognize the nearly 12,000 local farmers’ markets spanning from sea to shining sea. Demand for locally grown food has skyrocketed: 80% of Americans visit a farmers market at least once annually; 41% admit to shopping there at least six times per year. Overall the number of farmers markets have grown 6x since 2000. But the benefits go well beyond bringing farm-to-table freshness to your dinner table. Patronizing farmers markets is a great way to support your local community by keeping the dollars local. You’ll support small-scale family farms. Plus, many folks enjoy the social experience. So if you don’t already, join me in visiting a farmers market this week. Pick out some delectable melons, potatoes, berries, tomatoes and of course, sweet corn. You’ll definitely taste the difference, while making a difference in your community.
Related Posts
This Week in Ag #31
#Harvest23 is here! If all goes well, I should be harvesting my corn plot this week. The beginning of fall brings excitement and optimism to the farm. But this year, those feelings appear tempered. Farmer sentiment dropped 8 points last month (according to the Purdue Ag Economy Barometer) as producers shared a dimming view of
Jason Garcia on Commercial Vegetable Growing with Huma Gro®
With Larry Cooper Vegetable growers in Central Florida are preparing to get their beds ready for planting, so here’s my guide to how Huma Gro® can help growers get their best vegetable crops ever. Bed Preparation It’s become a pretty standard practice for Florida vegetable growers to fumigate their fields, then put down plastic and
This Week in Ag #79
Seeing is believing. And I’m convinced the recent WASDE reports on crop production aren’t lying. Over the weekend we took my son to college. Our scenic journey through farm country – beauty is in the eye of the beholder, after all – took us deep into the Corn Belt. The projected 2024 corn yield in the Prairie State
