Top Ten
Julie Cummins of the Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture (CUESA) shares a list of top ten reasons to shop at a Farmers’ Market. 1:You get to taste real flavors since the food ripens in the field and is brought directly to you, 2:Food is seasonal. Instead of all produce all the time, you get to look forward to asparagus in the spring, sweet corn in the summer, and pumpkins in the fall. 3:You support family farmers by giving them a better return for their produce. 4:You protect the environment. Food at a farmers’ market typically travels less than 100 miles. 5:Much food found in the grocery stores is highly processed. Farmers at the farmers’ markets go to great lengths to produce the most nutritious food possible by minimizing its processing. 6:You can discover an amazing variety of produce at a farmers’ market that you will not find in grocery stores. 7:You can find meats, cheeses, and eggs from animals that have been raised without hormones or antibiotics unlike their brethren on feedlots.
8:You learn where your food comes from. Meeting and talking to farmers is a great opportunity to learn more about how food is grown. 9:You can pick up free advice on how to cook the foods that are sold at the farmers’ market. Seldom will a grocery store cashier provide such advice. 10:You connect with your community by strolling outside on a sunny day instead of rolling a cart in a grocery store with artificial lights and piped in music.