dimanche 29 octobre 2017

Missouri Local Produce- The Blueprint To A Healthy Nation

By Donna Wagner


We know we need to eat from a rainbow of colors, and I'm not talking about the bright colored cereal pieces in a box of fruity loops. Most produce is best eaten immediately off the tree, vine, plant or bush. Every hour it sits, it loses a certain number of its vitamins, nutrients, antioxidants and minerals. You want Missouri local Produce that is as fresh as possible.

Economies of scale and central buying policies mean that in most cases, home-grown crop is shipped to a central warehouse and then redistributed back to home-grown grocery stores. This could mean the fresh vegetables grown by the farmer in town A are sent to consumers in town B, while produce grown in town B a few days later are sent to town A.

Benefits of Home-grown Produce; locally sourced yield is considered to be more delicious, nutritious and fresher, than harvest transported in from foreign places. This belief is supported by none other than Jamie Oliver whose campaign to introduce good quality, locally sourced food into Britain's schools is attracting the attention of environmentalists and school administrators worldwide.

Adding to the call for more emphasis on home-grown crops are the 100 Mile Diet founders, who successfully shopped locally in farmers markets for a year to prove that a healthy nutritious diet without the environmental cost of transport is possible. When consumers shop locally, family-owned farms benefit, encouraging investment in organic farming practices and innovative methods such as glass house farming to grow out of season fruits and vegetables.

What is the benefit of buying natively and freshly harvested yields? Buying natively does three things: Keeps more money in your native community, provides the biggest nutritional bang for your buck and reduces your carbon footprint on the earth. As mentioned above, buying natively gives you the biggest nutritional bang for your buck. The food reaches your table faster than by any other method. The sooner you eat something that has been picked or harvested, the more nutritional benefit you get.

Greenhouses yield less flavorsome fruit and veg than that grown on good farmland. Livestock that is solely reared outdoors in good conditions produces tastier meat than animals forced to live in barns. Wild fish has more flavor than farmed fish; again, this is largely due to diet and fresher water.

Buying from a native farmer reduces your carbon footprint on the earth because the produce does not have to be shipped thousands of miles from where it was produced to end up on someone's plate. What kind of gas mileage do you suppose a semi gets? That load of onions being shipped over 2000 miles creates an enormous carbon footprint that will take years to eliminate.

We all look forward to locally grown harvest at the peak of summer for restaurant menus or entertaining at home. Whether it's from the Farmer's Market or a special experience with a roadside stand selling sun drenched yield, the experience is benevolent. Always check out for fresh home-grown yields whenever you are shopping.




About the Author:



Aucun commentaire:

Enregistrer un commentaire