August is the peak of the Chicago region’s growing season, when farmers markets, farm stands, community-supported agriculture (CSA) subscriptions, food co-ops and other local food outlets are overflowing with sweet corn, field-grown tomatoes, blueberries, melons, bell peppers, summer squash and so much more.Â
It’s no surprise that the first full week of August—August 2 through 8 this year—is celebrated here and across the country as National Farmers Market Week. Whether you’re already a regular at your neighborhood market or are curious about buying more local food, there are plenty of reasons to make the most of the season.
As many Natural Awakenings readers may have a “better-for-people-and-the-planet” mindset, I feel confident that many of us are quite familiar with our local food community. Perhaps we participate in it because we think it is more preferable than the conventional food system that has been dominant in the U.S. since the end of World War II.
Yet, even as consumer interest in locally produced food has been rising fast—as represented by the quadrupling of the number of farmers markets nationally since the beginning of this century—we are living in a time when generations of Americans have viewed supermarkets as the places where they are supposed to buy food, regardless of where in this nation (or world) it is produced.
So we are sharing what we think may be the six best reasons for choosing local food.
FIRST, THERE’S FLAVOR (OR STATING THE OBVIOUS)
No matter the other virtues of locally produced food, it has to taste good. Fortunately, this is one of the greatest attributes of local fruits and vegetables.
These products only have to travel short distances from farm to market to consumer, and they are handled with care by the producers. These short supply chains mean that local veggies and fruit can be picked at peak ripeness (meaning peak flavor), usually arriving at markets only a day or two after they have been harvested.
Conventional grocery stores, which stock and sell much larger quantities than local food outlets, typically source from large farming operations in the southern and western United States and beyond, meaning their produce often has traveled up to thousands of miles and, in some cases, spent time in a warehouse before it reaches your local supermarket.
And since long-distance travel can be hard on produce that can be easily bruised, these products are not harvested at peak ripeness. If you’ve ever picked up a rock-hard peach or tomato at the grocery store, you know what I’m talking about.
IT’S TYPICALLY HEALTHIER FOR YOU, TOO
Nutrient density also is highest when produce is picked ripe and quickly sold to consumers. So chalk that up as another advantage for locally produced food over vegetables and fruit shipped in from distant farms.
The University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension notes, “When produce is picked at peak ripeness, key nutrients like potassium and magnesium, phosphorus, and vitamins C and A can be found at higher concentrations.” The organization also points out that eating a variety of fruits and vegetables provides antioxidants and polyphenols, compounds that are particularly beneficial for overall health, while replacing processed foods with whole foods can help reduce consumption of “empty-calorie foods” that are often high in sodium, saturated fat and sugar, promoting heart, brain, digestive and vision health.
SUPPORTING LOCAL FARMERS HELPS SECURE A SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEM
The most recent Census of Agriculture, released in 2024 and based on 2022 data, showed that the average age of American farmers is 58.1. Scarier still is that only 9 percent of those farmers were under the age of 34, while 63 percent were 55 years old or older.
Our farming population requires an infusion of new blood, and the smaller and less capital-intensive farms that are typical of local food ecosystems here and around the country are playing crucial roles in building that next generation.
Selling directly to local consumers is often financially advantageous to farmers, who get to keep much more of the revenue from their product sales than farmers that sell into supermarket chains or through food distributors.
BUYING LOCAL HELPS BUILD RURAL AND URBAN ECONOMIES
A huge amount of research is showing that buying from locally based companies “keeps dollars home” and multiplies the economic impact compared to buying from national companies that send most of the revenue to distant corporate headquarters. This multiplier effect suggests that local food can play a key role in boosting and repairing economies in rural areas that have been damaged by the corporatization inherent in the conventional food system and in urban areas where small farms are filling some of the gaps left by the decline of heavy industry.
For example, urban farming nonprofits such as Urban Growers Collective, Growing Home, Star Farm Chicago and Just Roots are playing key roles in stabilizing, promoting economic recovery and combatting food insecurity in neighborhoods on Chicago’s South Side.
LOWER-INCOME CONSUMERS OFTEN HAVE GREATER ACCESS
The cost of producing healthy, sustainable, delicious local food used to be out of reach for many lower-income people. But today, many farmers markets in our region accept food assistance benefits (from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, processed in Illinois through the state government’s Link program). Additionally, a number of farmers markets and other local food merchants double (or in a small handful of cases, triple) SNAP benefits through the Link Up Illinois program run by the Chicago-based Experimental Station nonprofit.
AND MAYBE THE BEST PART…
It’s fun! Few locations in the food shopping world really compare to the community bonding and festival atmosphere provided by many farmers markets. They turn food shopping from a chore to a happening.
Bob Benenson is the writer and publisher of Local Food Forum, a Chicago-based publication that maintains a regional farmers market tracker and covers the markets regularly. For more information, visit LocalFoodForum.com.
