Why eat locally grown, sustainably produced food?
The American Farmland Trust has named southern Wisconsin and northern
Illinois the third most threatened agricultural area in the U.S. Your
support for sustainable, local food products helps keep farmers in business
and land in farms. Without this support, agricultural land is under economic
pressure for development.
An estimated 3 billion tons of topsoil are lost to erosion each year.
And the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has found 98 different pesticides
in the drinking water of 40 states. Your support for sustainable agriculture
helps preserve topsoil and reduce or eliminate pesticide runoff.
Apart from individual health benefits, your support for sustainably produced
food helps preserve biodiversity, keeps rural communities strong, and
fosters the renewal of healthy ecosystems. It also creates jobs!
Agricultural issues are everybody's issues. Unless you decide to stop
eating.
Where can I get sustainable, local food?
Farmers markets
Farmers markets are a great place to buy locally grown food. You can
get to know the farmers who grow your food, and you can talk with them
about the production practices that they use.
The Dane County Farmers Market
Web site has an extensive listing of farmers who sell directly to their
customers. Search their vendor
directory to find the products you're looking for. While you
are at this site, take a virtual tour of the market and learn more
about
local,
sustainable
eating.
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms
CSA lets you buy a seasonal share in a local, organic farm. Each week,
you get a box of fresh produce in exchange for your share. In addition,
you get to learn more about your CSA farm through newsletters, festivals
and events.
The Madison Area Community
Supported Agriculture Coalition (MACSAC) maintains an online directory
of CSA farms serving the Madison area. Click on the link to MACSAC
farmer profiles for more information.
Food cooperatives, natural food markets, and grocery stores
Many food cooperatives and natural food stores carry locally grown, sustainably
produced food. In addition, some grocery stores carry selections of organic
food. Visit the Common Ground Food Cooperative Web site for an online
directory of food cooperatives in the U.S. and Canada.
Directly from farmers
The Farm Fresh Atlas is,
literally, a road map to great-tasting, nutritious food grown close to
home. The 2004 Atlas includes more than
100 farms, farmers’ markets and food-related businesses that sell
fresh, locally-grown food directly to customers in southern Wisconsin.
The Savor Wisconsin web site can also link you to farms that sell their
products directly to customers.
Foodshed directory
The Foodshed Directory contains lots
of links to food cooperatives, retailers, food buying clubs, farmers markets,
restaurants and organizations serving the Dane County area that provide
local, sustainable food.
Talk the talk
Organic refers to the way agricultural products
are grown and processed. The word "organic" on a label stands
for a commitment to an agriculture that strives for balance with nature
and uses methods and materials that have low impact on the environment.
Certified organic means the food with this
label was produced in accordance with the certification standards of a
third-party organization.
Sustainable agriculture is any agricultural
practice that strives to support the environmental, social, economic,
or intergenerational viability of farming, farm communities, and the food
system.
The food system is the entire system of production,
processing, marketing, transportation, packaging, preparation, consuming,
waste management, and other activities around food.
A foodshed describes the flow of food between
suppliers and consumers and offers people a way to think about the social,
economic, and environmental impacts of their food choices.
UW-Madison Center for Integrated
Agricultural Systems
Copyright 1997, UW Board of Regents
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