The Buy Fresh Buy Local Chesapeake Region campaign (www.buyfreshbuylocalcr.org/) – part of a national movement organized through the Food Routes Network – promotes a close connection between you and those in the community who grow and sell your food. When you choose items with this logo, your dollars directly support local food producers and businesses.

The mission of BFBL Chesapeake Region is to participate in rebuilding and restructuring the food system of the communities surrounding the Chesapeake Bay. We aim to build vibrant and enduring relationships between customers, farmers who are working toward adopting sustainable food production practices (defined below), and food and beverage industry professionals. This initiative will work to form a coalition of partner organizations and individuals to collaboratively market locally grown food products and support local food system priorities through print and digital media and networking opportunities. Through this coalition we will::

• Generate public awareness and support of sustainably produced, local products and the quality culinary services our partners offer.
• Educate and foster opportunities for learning and networking among our partners.
• Use creative marketing to highlight the wealth of local food resources in the Chesapeake region to support a vibrant local food economy.

BFBL Chesapeake Region does not limit our support to a single classification of sustainably produced goods (e.g., “certified organic”). Rather, we aim to encourage the adoption of a spectrum of sustainable growing practices by strengthening the local food economy, thereby increasing the profitability of producing food using these methods and the capacity of farmers to become ecological stewards of the land. The practices we support include:

• Small and mid-sized family- or locally-owned farms
• Crop diversity
• Biological diversity
• Landscape/Habitat diversity
• Crop rotation

For more information about our campaign efforts, please contact us at janna@csballiance.org.

Top 10 Reasons to Buy Local Food

1. Eating local means more for the local economy. According to a study by the New Economics Foundation in London, a dollar spent locally generates twice as much income for the local economy. When businesses are not owned locally, money leaves the community at every transaction. (reference)

2. Locally grown produce is fresher. While produce that is purchased in the supermarket or a big-box store has been in transit or cold-stored for days or weeks, produce that you purchase at your local farmer's market has often been picked within 24 hours of your purchase. This freshness not only affects the taste of your food, but the nutritional value which declines with time.

3. Local food just plain tastes better. Ever tried a tomato that was picked within 24 hours? 'Nuff said.

4. Locally grown fruits and vegetables have longer to ripen. Because the produce will be handled less, locally grown fruit does not have to be "rugged" or to stand up to the rigors of shipping. This means that you are going to be getting peaches so ripe that they fall apart as you eat them, figs that would have been smashed to bits if they were sold using traditional methods, and melons that were allowed to ripen until the last possible minute on the vine.

5. Eating local is better for air quality and pollution than eating organic. In a March 2005 study by the journal Food Policy, it was found that the miles that organic food often travels to our plate creates environmental damage that outweighs the benefit of buying organic. (reference)

6. Buying local food keeps us in touch with the seasons. By eating with the seasons, we are eating foods when they are at their peak taste, are the most abundant, and the least expensive.

7. Buying locally grown food is fodder for a wonderful story. Whether it's the farmer who brings local apples to market or the baker who makes local bread, knowing part of the story about your food is such a powerful part of enjoying a meal.

8. Eating local protects us from bio-terrorism. Food with less distance to travel from farm to plate has less susceptibility to harmful contamination. (reference)

9. Local food translates to more variety. When a farmer is producing food that will not travel a long distance, will have a shorter shelf life, and does not have a high-yield demand, the farmer is free to try small crops of various fruits and vegetables that would probably never make it to a large supermarket. Supermarkets are interested in selling "Name brand" fruit: Romaine Lettuce, Red Delicious Apples, Russet Potatoes. Local producers often play with their crops from year to year, trying out Little Gem Lettuce, Senshu Apples, and Chieftain Potatoes.

10. Supporting local providers supports responsible land development. When you buy local, you give those with local open space - farms and pastures - an economic reason to stay open and undeveloped.