Shop Locally — food edition

Over the last couple years there has been a noticeable shift in the consumer purchasing behaviour. More people are inclined to support local businesses over large corporations. This includes supporting local farmers and shopping locally for groceries. Shopping locally has many benefits including, personalised service, one of a kind products, supporting and stimulating your local economy and even being cost effective.

When you shop locally the produce you receive is fresh and tastier than the GMO you’d be privy to at a grocery store. The produce is seasonal and this can even help you reconnect with nature and know what kind of produce to look forward to every season.

You’re helping the environment as everything is produced locally and the produce is not travelling across the country to get to your plate. Food at the farmers market is transported shorter distances and is generally grown using methods that minimise the impact on the earth.

At the farmers market, you can find items like meats, cheeses, and eggs that are from animals that have been raised without hormones or antibiotics, who have eaten natural diets, and who have been spared the cramped and unnatural living conditions of feedlots and cages that are typical of animal agriculture.

By shopping locally you’re also keeping your local economy stimulated and also sometimes the prices at your local businesses can be cheaper due to the fact that they don’t have the overhead to consider. By supporting your local economy more money can be used to fund your own communities’ needs. Local businesses are also more inclined to support nonprofits and organisations in their local community.

This is a movement we support and encourage everyone to get behind. We’ve compiled some resources to help you make the transition into shopping locally.

The city of Toronto has the Live Green TO program (@livegreento — on insta) that helps the citizens of Toronto go green. On the City of Toronto website they have a webpage dedicated to showing you all the local farmers markets near you. https://www.toronto.ca/services-payments/water-environment/live-green-toronto/rethink-food/local-food/

During the pandemic the reliability of certain farmers markets has been uncertain. Alternatively the city of Toronto has a community shared agriculture system of growing and distributing organic produce to “support sustainable farming, preserve biodiversity, and build a healthier, local and sustainable food system.” With this system you’d be receiving fresh food on a regular basis when you subscribe:

• FoodShare https://foodshare.net/program/goodfoodbox/ (FoodShare on insta)
• Plan B Organic Farms https://planborganicfarms.ca/ (@planborganicfarms — on insta)

And if you sign up to be a Live Green Perks member some box providers even give you a discount such as

• Mama Earth Organics https://www.mamaearth.ca/. (@mamaearthorganics — on insta)