ON BUYIGN LOCAL SUMMARY Essay

In “On Buying Local” Katherine Spriggs shares her views on the buying local products is better than the imported items for positive environment and local industrial impact. The author explains about the benefits of buying local and their advantages on the local economy and other fields. She highlights some views of the products which can be good for small farms and small rural economics. The argument given by the writer is that small farms are totally opposite than the large farms as they grow crops according to the seasons. Moreover, local buying has negative effects also as it hurts the poor workers like if everyone buying locally then people avoid the global market and the workers work in global markets can lose their jobs also. On the

The local sustainable food chain has little to no impact on the environment. The animals, animal feed, fertilizer and vegetables grown and produced there are from the farm itself, so therefor it isn’t impacting wild animal populations like the hunter gatherer food chain or polluting the environment like the industrial food chains. Pollan writes about ways the industrial food chains affect the environment for example ”...Lettuce contains 80 calories of food energy… transporting that box of organic salad to a plate on the East Coast takes more than 4,600 calories of fossil fuel energy.”(125) The local sustainable food chain products are not transported miles upon miles like the industrial and industrial organic food chains. Pollan wrote “But if you ask joel salatin what he does for

1 Farmers may not totally understand the product value. They may not easily accept new product that they have never heard about.

 Local farming is healthier than eating processed foods.  Organic foods have more nutrients in the food than processed foods. The author says, "A regular trip to a farmer's market is one of the best ways to connect with where your food comes from. Meeting and talking to farmers and food artisans is a great opportunity to learn more about how and where food is produced." The author also says, "Buying from the local farmer helps safeguard your health. Knowing where your food comes from and how it is grown enables you to choose safe food. Buy food from local farmers you trust. The farmer then circulates his profits throughout the community with local merchants creating a cycle that helps to build a strong local economy." This means that local farming is better than processed foods and people just care about their health and how they can stay healthy.

Subsequently, there is always two sides to every coin. The bad side of conventional farming methods used by corporate farmers that result in the shipping of foods long distances to major grocery stores. Big farm operations require energy at many points - petrochemicals and energy are

As Jennifer Maiser explains in Source A, a study found that eating locally does in fact improve the economic value of that area. An organization in London conducted a study that proved the practice of a locavore doubled their income, and kept money from leaving the community to be spent elsewhere. Highlighted in Source E, Pallavi Gogoi stated, “Small farmers will be able to get up to 75% of their organic certification costs reimbursed...and obtain crop insurance,” which shows that it is very beneficial

This large supply allows for cheaper pricing than local farms are able to provide. Efficiently supplying food to larger cities, Factory Farms prevent food shortages from occurring (Benefitsof.org, “Benefits of Factory Farming”). By the same token, these farms manage an abundance of crops and animals on a small amount of land in order to avoid wasting money on useless acreage . However, these benefits unfortunately can result in negative effects on the environment.

First of all, locally grown food is much fresher than food shipped across the country. Since it can only be grown seasonally and isn't pumped full of pesticides and preservatives, locally grown food is almost always picked and

Within some recent years, the number of family farms in the United States have decreased. From the United States of Agriculture, “the number of U.S. farms fell sharply until the early 1970’s after peaking at 6.8 million in 1935. By 2002, about 2.1 million farms remained.” (USDA, 2013) On the positive side, there are many benefits deriving from family farm food producers; one being the health benefits. Foods that are produced on family farms are generally produced without the use of pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, and other unsafe additives. This makes meat and produce the healthier choice. Another benefit to family farms is the environmental health. One example, livestock are raised less intensively by family farmers. This creates a better crop rotation, and in turn, is considered more environmentally sound and humane way to produce meat. Though there are many benefits that come with family farms, there are also various challenges to face. On being the human labor. Working the land is quite difficult especially if you don’t have the type of equipment to do so with. With this being said, family farming is also very expensive. Since growing high quality products can be quite pricey, some farmers are forced to cut whatever expensive are not completely necessary to

Large factories require large tractors and plows to grow, care for, and harvest crops. One field needs a tractor, cultivator, a rotator, manure spreaders, sprayers, and more. Each piece of equipment emits smoke and carbon dioxide, which pollutes our air. Additionally, produce from large farms are sent to factories to be packaged and/or canned. Factories are terrible for the environment because they emit smoke and hazardous chemicals. Even more important, a majority of large farms use pesticides. Though pesticides kill harmful bugs, they can also harm people and cause defects. Pesticides can cause more harm than good. So growing your own food can help the environment

On the other hand facilities gives a fast solution with low risks, farmers can make a lot of food from their farms and be

In either case, I think this stresses the need for people to be more sustainable by purchasing organically and locally grown food.

When it comes to factory farming it may be cheaper, but sustainable farming practices have their advantages. When it comes to our society it can make communities proud of where their food comes from and be healthier for the local community. “Pasture-based agriculture has the potential to enhance social sustainability as well, providing an alternative to large confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs)—which have been the focus of many community disputes and have been associated with health problems and decreased property values for residential neighbors.”(Conner & Oppenheim, 2008) There are also some advantages when it comes to economics. “Grazing dairy operations generally require less investment, earn greater returns, and achieve higher net income per cow and per cwt (Conner et al., 2006). Reliance on grass-based feed may also help farmers better manage risk in grain supply and potential price volatility as increasing amounts of field crops are used in bio-fuel production.” (Conner & Oppenheim, 2008) It may take time, but small to medium sustainable farms would be possible and could have economic growth for the local communities.

Farming (1) would you be willing to pay more for your food if it were to cost more using more sustainable agricultural methods?Yes, I would indeed be willing to pay more for my food if it was produced using sustainable agriculturalmethods. Meaning we would have this food in the future and we wouldn’t be using pesticides and fertilizers as they effect human health and they aren't sustainable in the long run. We can plant crops like clover or hairy vetch when soil would usually be bare to help prevent erosion of the soil. These crops also replenish soil nutrients and keep weeds in check which then prevents the use of herbicides and fertilizers. Planting a variety of crops can also have many benefits, including healthier soil and improved pest control, and that is very important on a farm. Traditional plowing prepares fields for planting and also prevents weed problems, but can cause a lot of soil loss. No plowing or reduced plowing methods, which involve inserting seeds directly into undisturbed soil, can reduce erosion and improve soil health. We don’t need to use fertilizers if we put crops like clover or hairy vetch with other crops as the do the same thing as fertilizers but in a natural way. They also don’t interfere with water ways and cause algae blooms like fertilizers do. We can also put livestock in with our crops as they will fertilise crops in a more natural way like they would in nature. Pesticides can be found in the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the water

Pesticides are used to protect crops from being eaten by insects, the pesticide work as a repellent. Scientist now know that pesticides can cripple a species over time. Certain pesticides are designed to kill the insects that eat the plant, this is creating a lack of biological diversity in ecosystems. For example, Bee population has been declining for some time now. Without Bees, there would be no pollination of plants, potentially crippling entire ecosystems. Fertilizers contain nitrogen, runoff carries this element to