Your Path to Healthy Living and a Healthy Life

Get Fresh, Buy Local

Resources and reasons for buying local produce on Vancouver Island

By Beth Yim

    When walking through the produce aisle in the grocery store it’s hard not to notice the growing selection of international fruits and vegetables: peaches from Chile, tomatoes from Mexico, grapes from California, papayas from the Caribbean, and a variety of vegetables from the United States.   The choices are staggering, the colorful palate pleasing to the eye and the implications for a global village encouraging.  The idea of having nutritious produce any season of the year should be a healthy and positive one.  Unfortunately, this growing demand for fresh exotic produce is having a major impact on the environment and our health. 

     Produce from exotic locations takes a rather circuitous route to get to your dinner plate.  In preparation for the long journey, which, according to the Worldwatch Institute can be up to 2,400 kilometers, the food requires packaging and chemicals to prevent rotting and to retain its fresh appearance.  Then it needs to be shipped to your community, which can require large amounts of fuel, a major contributor to global warming and climate change.  In addition, the peach you love to eat in the middle of winter could be saturated in chemical pesticides that are banned in our country for their detrimental effects on health, but legally used in others.  Factors like these may make that delightful looking peach a little unappetizing.

     We rely heavily on the United States and especially California for many of our food products from fresh produce to canned soup.  That’s a trip of over 1200 kilometers plus one or two ferry trips.  Travel time may range from 4 to 7 days.   In that time nutrients and flavor in fresh products may be lost and if a natural disaster, pandemic or terrorist attack interferes with transportation, our food security could be in jeopardy. 

     According to the World Health Organization, “With the mass production and global distribution of food products has come the increasing incidence and risk of diseases caused by biologically or chemically contaminated food. Food safety has become a highly visible aspect of WHO's work as Member States are faced with an urgent need for scientific analysis, risk assessment and monitoring.”

The solution is simple: buy local, organic produce as much as possible.  Not only is this better for you but it is also better for your local economy and environment.  By supporting local farmers you encourage the sustainability and continuity of farming in your community.  The Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project suggests ten reasons to buy local:

Locally grown food tastes better – Fresh means the food is picked within a day of consumption so flavour and vitality is at its peak. 

Local food is more nutritious – Once picked, produce starts losing nutrients.  The longer it sits the more nutrients disappear.  Even frozen or canned produce can have more nutrients than “fresh” produce that takes a week or more to arrive on your plate.

Local food preserves genetic diversity – Modern industrial agricultural practices require certain attributes in their products; like a tough skin to survive packing, a long shelf life, and specific ripening times.  With only a handful of varieties of fruit and vegetables meeting this criterion genetic diversity ends up being reduced.  Local farms, like Nanoose Bay Edibles, just north of Nanaimo, last year grew at least ten different types of lettuce and from my lips to yours, they were delicious! 

Local food is GMO-free – Last month I wrote about genetically modified products.  Most local farmers do not want to touch the GMO seeds.

Local food supports local farm families – More and more small farm businesses are being eaten up by big agribusinesses.  Farmers are becoming a vanishing breed.  When you buy direct from the farm they get a better price for their products allowing them to continue to work the land and produce high quality products.

Local food builds community – By buying from your local farmer you create community and a direct connection with your food.  This relationship benefits your whole family as children and grandchildren discover how food is produced.

Local food preserves open space – Urban sprawl is gobbling up land at an alarming rate.  Supporting local farms preserves the agricultural landscape and prevents land from being bulldozed and turned into another development.

Local food is less expensive – Pound for pound fresh local produce is more cost effective than the supermarket product packaged and shipped from California.  With fresh produce retaining more nutrients it’s also a better value.

Local food supports a clean environment and benefits wildlife – The local organic farmer values his natural resources of fertile soil and clean water.  As such he ensures a balance and harmony with his natural surroundings.  Cover crops, used to build the soil during fallow times, capture carbon emissions and help fight global warming.  Plus, many of the meadows, woods, ponds, buildings, and fields create the perfect environment for wildlife.

Local food is about the future – Supporting local farmers is supporting sustainability and a future for our children.  A future where they have access to fresh, nutritious, and abundant food.

*Adapated from the Appalachian Sustainability Project

      Vancouver Island has pockets of rich agricultural land from the south to the central-island and the Gulf islands.  They produce a wide range of products from livestock to potatoes, Saskatoon berries to mixed greens.  Some farms have products year round while others begin producing around May or June and finish up in October or November.  Many of these farms grow organically or use minimal amounts of chemicals.  A farm guide is produced every year by the South Island Direct Farming Association and can be found at www.islandfarmfresh.com or at local garden shops.

        Once you get your local produce home the next step is to keep it available all year.  Preserving allows you to enjoy the fruits of Vancouver Island no matter what the season. Dehydrating retains the most nutrients, freezing is the easiest and canning preserves the longest.  Methods differ for the type of produce you are preserving so check out some of the websites listed below and enjoy getting fresh with the locals! 

Resources:

www.davidsuzuki.org - Information on the Nature Challenge and Sustainability

www.bcfarmersmarket.org - information on farmers markets in British Columbia

www.ffcf.bc.ca  -guides to restaurants, chefs and caterers who support local, organic farming and what produce is in season, when.

www.homecanning.com - for information on canning foods

www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/freeze.html - for information on all types of food preservation