2008 Essay Contest Winners

Jake Boren

Honorable Mention – 2008
Jake Boren
Waurika High School
11th grade

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The Impact of Locally Grown Food

The availability of locally grown food, or lack thereof, within a market reveals a great deal about its community’s values. Locally grown food can provide a community, and even an entire country, with independence and security by providing a reliable food source. These foods can have a massive impact on the economy of communities. Various health benefits are associated with these locally grown foods. Also, buying locally grown food has the ability to tie a community (usually smaller ones) closer together because the food they buy is a product of their own environment. Whether one is talking about environment, economy, or culture, locally produced food plays a major part in the well being of a community.

In today’s world, where we are bombarded with commercials that say the new and hip thing to do is “go green,” it is quite easy for people to get caught up in all sorts of high tech answers to global warming and pollution and forget about all the simple ways of dealing with these problems. Locally grown food has the ability to lower the amount of greenhouse gases substantially by virtually cutting out the pollution generated from transporting food. For example, the amount of pollution emitted from driving a truck full of apples from a farm ten miles out of town is substantially less than that emitted from driving the same truck from a farm one thousand miles away.

Locally grown food has been proven to greatly benefit local economies because money is more thoroughly distributed throughout the community. Instead of the profit going to one person or company, it is spread out through all the farmers that sell goods. Essentially, more people benefit with locally grown food than with food that is brought in from other sources. Another major point to consider is that these profits go to individuals with ties to these communities instead of corporations that, although generous to charitable organizations, usually don’t give back to every city or town that they serve (Halweil and Prugh 36).

National security is a big concern to all nations; however, the United States is currently investing more money in national security than ever before. Being independent and not having to rely on other countries to provide necessities is a great way for a country to be more secure. Food is ultimately one of the biggest necessities a country has. Locally grown food enhances the ability of a country to produce food. What national security edge does locally grown food have over large corporations providing food for people? Theoretically, large farms would make easier targets in war while small local farms would be much harder to target.

There are many health benefits associated with locally grown food when compared to other sources of food. Locally grown foods are fresh and have not been treated with chemicals designed to preserve them for shipping. In The Organic Guide: How to Shop Smarter and Eat Healthier, Steve Meyerowitz suggests that these chemical compounds are an unnecessary health risk when locally grown food is available. A great deal of the time, locally grown vegetables are vine-ripened, which some studies show are beneficial to the health of consumers (Meyerowitz 47). Besides these direct health benefits, there is one other major benefit associated with locally grown produce: people are linked to the food that they buy at the market. If they question the reliability of a particular source, it is within driving distance so they can visit the source themselves.

In addition to the environmental, economical, and security benefits associated with locally grown foods, there are many cultural impacts that can be linked to the presence of local foods in market places. In particular, many towns in Oklahoma are rural communities with an agricultural heritage. This heritage is greatly enhanced when locally grown foods are available within a community (Whole Foods Market). People directly see the results of their rural community at work and it adds a sense of pride to the community which some say cannot be garnered from anything else. This sense of pride can lead to a truly personal community which is closely tied together.

Locally grown food benefits small towns, large cities, suburbs, and even entire countries. These benefits can be seen both far and wide in both subtle and brilliant ways. The environment benefits from locally grown food because it helps counter global warming. The economies of small towns and large cities are strengthened from these foods because profit is more evenly distributed among members of the community. Locally grown food provides security to nations by ensuring that they will not rely on foreign food imports. These fresh foods provide health benefits and their availability provides communities with a sense of accomplishment. From helping ensure the future of our planet by lowering harmful emissions from delivery trucks, to preserving the heritage of rural towns, one thing is sure: locally grown food is a valuable part of our world.

Works Cited

Halweil, Brian, and Prugh, Thomas. Home Grown: The Case for Local Food in a Global Market. Washington, DC: World Watch Institute, 2002.

Meyerowitz, Steve. The Organic Guide: How to Shop Smarter and Eat Healthier. Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot, 2004.

WholeFoodsMarket.com. Locally Grown. 13 Dec. 2007. Whole Foods Market IP, L.P. 9 Mar. 2008 http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/products/locallygrown/index.html.

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