Seven reasons you buy local veg

Buying local veg is becoming a popular trend, as people turn to clean eating and look for better sources to purchase their food from. There are numerous reasons why you might buy local veg and here are seven of them: 

No harmful pesticides 

It’s safe to say that local growers are more conscious when it comes to the use of harmful pesticides and because they are usually growing in smaller batches they can keep an eye on their crops for pests or disease and deal with issues quickly. 

Supporting local businesses 

Buying local veg means you support the local businesses that grows it, which has never been more important in this day and age where the supermarket giants trump everything related to food and people forget that there are local growers offering high quality, delicious vegetables. 

Sense of community 

As a buyer of local veg, you understand that sense of community that comes with dealing with local growers. They come to know you, your tastes and preferences, and ensure they always have your favourite things in stock, ready for your next purchase. A sense of community can be easily built, the more local growers there are. 

You eat seasonally 

Seasonal eating reduces the impact we have on the environment, the more food is imported from foreign countries the bigger the affect it has on the world around us, as plane and boat transmissions pollute the air and sea. By choosing to buy seasonally, you are reducing this pollution as well as eating a variety of healthy veg throughout the year and supporting a local grower. 

Buying seasonally can also help you enjoy these foods more, because you’ve waited for the right time of year to enjoy them. Sure, not adding tomatoes to your salads in winter might seem like a negative but imagine how great they’ll taste in the summer months when they’re in season and haven’t travelled across the globe to reach you. 

Local growers can tell you how they grew the food 

Ask a local grower what they use on their crops, to ensure they are free from disease and grow to a reasonable size. They may tell you that they opt to use seed technology in their crops, which can minimise the risk of diseases, improves crop yield and removes the need for treatments.

Cheaper than supermarket varieties 

Buying from a local vegetable grower is more than likely going to be a more cost effective experience as they do not feel the need to overprice their produce. Farmers and local growers apparently receive 9p per £1 of their produce sold in the supermarket, so selling something to you for 50p will see them enjoy a much bigger profit and give customers a discount on the price it would be in the supermarket.  

Local vegetables are fresh and full of flavour 

Short of buying flash frozen fruit and veg in the supermarket, you can’t beat the freshness that comes with buying local vegetables and the flavour you enjoy with it; you can pick the food yourself and choose what you think looks tastiest.