Communities for Local Farming - Saturday's Post

When I was in California I found a business card for CAFF – Community Alliance for Family Farmers. CAFF is a non-profit that advocates for California’s family farmers and sustainable agriculture.

They use several programs to educated the local community to the benefits of shopping and eating locally.

• The Biological Agriculture program educated the farmers on environmentally-sound management practices so they can maintain their well being which maintaining their principles for farming and feeding the community.
• The Local Food System provides a connection between the farmers and the community through distributors and retailers.
• Farm to School educates children on the benefits of eating locally, so they will grow up to understand the major issues in food, health, and developing sustainable communities.

These programs work together on all aspects of the local farming system. Since the span is so comprehensive and coordinated, it can have a meaningful affect on the way these communities grow.

If you don’t live in California, there is another website called Community Supported Agriculture which helps consumers and farmers nationwide. The system works by each farmer offering a certain amount of “shares” of their goods, and the consumer can pledge to buy those shares throughout the season by signing up for a membership or subscription and receive a box from the farmer each week. Over 4,000 farmers are signed up on this system. There are so many farms to choose from. Here is the list for my zipcode.

On the news last night, and actually every night for the past two weeks they have been talking about the rising gas prices and how that affects all consumers. One way to avoid being hit as hard is to buy local. Most of the increases in prices for goods at the grocery store are coming from each step of the packaging and shipping of food. Buying local eliminates most of these step and makes your products cheaper as a result. In fact just 85% of our food dollar is going to processors, marketers, and transporters. Eating locally helps both your own budget, and the farmers in your area who need it too. It becomes a cycle in which everyone benefits :)