Fuel consumption: Food transportation accounts for 19% of fuel consumption in the U.S. This means we expend more energy transporting our food than we do transporting ourselves in our private vehicles. Additional fuel costs are incurred when tremendous amounts of fossil fuels are used to produce pesticides and fertilizers. Looking at the issues in energy terms: it costs 10 calories of fossil fuel energy to produce one food calorie. When faced with a finite amount of fossil fuel on our earth, ask yourself, where would you rather use that fuel?

Local economy: This is self-evident. We all want to preserve the economic health of our town and shopping locally is one of the main ways we can do that.

Quality: Many foods today are designed for long distance transport. A sweet, fragile strawberry is nearly impossible to find these days unless it is grown locally. Anyone can tell the difference between a sweet, firm local tomato from a mealy, pale one that was shipped from Chile in the dead of our winter. Locally grown produce is fresher and generally a higher quality product. Additionally, when more people shop at our local market, it will increase demand for our local farmers to grow a variety of products. This will allow for even better selection for us as consumers.

Nutrition: With locally grown products you have the options of knowing exactly where your food came from. How was it raised? What sorts of pesticides were used? How were the animals treated? Locally grown food also tends to be less processed and therefore is missing many of the unhealthy additives such as extra fats, sweeteners and salt. Also, you can take your bike or walk with your kids down to the market so you will get a bit of exercise, fresh air and time to teach about where our food comes from.