The lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers you want for a fresh green salad have been treated with chemicals throughout their growth cycle, prematurely plucked from the earth, packed in massive quantities and will travel an average of 2,000 miles before they reach your table.
Is it any wonder they are not as crisp and flavorful as you would hope?
On the other hand, you could buy local chemical-free vegetables that were harvested at the peak of ripeness by Chattanooga area farmers, transported while still warm from the sun and full of nutrients, and made available to you within days, sometimes hours, of leaving the farm.
More and more, people are making the choice to “go local” and buy foods that are the freshest and, often, the most flavorful. Chattanoogans can find many grocery stores, outdoor food markets and a dozen or so restaurants that support local farms, large and small.
A Win-Win for Chattanooga
“When you buy local produce, 75 percent of the dollars stay in Chattanooga and will circulate four or five times in our community,” says Mike Barron, greenhouse manager at Crabtree Farms, which has a dozen acres of cultivated farm land off Rossville Boulevard at the end of East 30th Street in Chattanooga. Nearly 90 percent of what they grow is sold directly to individual consumers.
In difficult economic times, it makes sense to preserve the cash flow of a community by buying directly from local farmers who then spend their money at local retail stores, barber shops, restaurants and movie theaters.
“Local food reduces costs in transporting, packaging, processing, artificial flavors, chemical preservatives and advertising,” explains Susan Baker, marketing director for Greenlife Grocery in Chattanooga. “It also strengthens local economies by protecting small farms and local jobs.”
“Going local” limits our environmental footprint, according to Abby Shipley, community relations coordinator for Earth Fare, Chattanooga’s newest “healthy supermarket.” “We support local ranchers and vegetable growers, from three-acre tomato farms to 1,000-acre bison farms,” says Shipley. “Buying local decreases carbon dioxide emissions from trucking and requires less packing materials, so we are keeping our planet healthy while ensuring our food is fresh and flavorful.”
Rebuilding the local food economy is a golden opportunity to return farming to the successful businesses of three generations ago that fed entire communities, while also conserving natural resources at the same time.
Farming with Care
Many area growers use methods of farming that reduce harmful chemicals in the earth and the food supply.
“Sustainable agriculture means we are not using up the Earth’s resources, but we are adding back to them,” explains Bill Keener of Sequatchie Cove Farm in Sequatchie, Tenn. “We work with the animals and the land to keep nature in balance, like rotating pastures so the grass has a chance to grow.” A 300-acre sustainable farm,
Sequatchie Cove Farm offers beef, pork, eggs, fruits, vegetables and new this year –
Alpine cheeses.
Ask the farmer about the lifestyle of the cow that produced the two pounds of ground beef that you are buying at the Chattanooga Market, where local farmers can sell directly to consumers, and you’ll quickly learn about the benefits of free-range meat.
“Our animals spend their entire lives grazing in open pastures, eating healthy grass, enjoying fresh air, sunshine and stress-free lives, so these cattle have meat that is high in Omega-6 fatty acids, like you find in salmon,” says Keener. “Our heritage breed pork is raised in the woods surrounding the pastures, and the hens roam freely in the pastures producing eggs high in beta-carotene with bright orange yolks and an amazing flavor.”
“The local farms with free-range fields are picking eggs out of clumps of grass,” says Chris Thomas, chairman of the Chattanooga Market. “When you think about the difference between mass-produced meat – where the animals are overfed in a factory-like environment using growth hormones because they are trying to produce as much meat as possible in the shortest amount of time – you begin to see why home-grown is more healthy.”
Local Food Efforts Grow
There are many efforts underway in Chattanooga to support local farms and local food initiatives.
Recently, the Benwood Foundation of Chattanooga awarded grant funding to support publication of the 2010 TasteBuds local food guide, which lists the numerous farms, markets and suppliers of locally produced foods within a 100-mile radius of Chattanooga. In its second year of production, participation in this year’s publication has increased by 130 percent, according to Crabtree Farms.
The Benwood Foundation also recently announced plans to invest $1.65 million in local-food initiatives over the next three years through its Gaining Ground program.
“Gaining Ground was conceived and launched by the Benwood Foundation to help increase the demand for, production of and consumption of local food,” says Jeff Pfitzer, director of the Gaining Ground program. “Through grants, coordination and public awareness, Gaining Ground is helping our region view local food in
new ways.”
Local food benefits the economy, environment and human health, making it worth the effort to include local farmers in our grocery shopping cycles. Buying and eating local is a special relationship between the farmer and the consumer – a partnership that supports the Chatta-
nooga community in so many ways. =
Barbara Bowen is a Chattanooga resident with a mass communications degree from Middle Tennessee State University. She serves on the PTSA board for Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences, and is a member of the Chattanooga Women’s Leadership Institute. Barbara and her husband have four children and four grandchildren.