Cheaper, fresher - just better for you?

FOODIES: Renee Vincent (left) and Julia Walker, two who know the benefits of local food.

Renee says the dictionary defines 'local' as food grown close (100km) to where it is bought and consumed. But what is so great about buying food locally? Is everything all good or are there some bad parts?

Food grown locally is often fresh. There's nothing quite like purchasing foods you know have been picked or caught that week, or even the night before. You don't get that kind of freshness from a supermarket. Food sourced locally is often a lot cheaper than in stores. Items such as corn, watermelon, oranges and many other products can often cost a lot less to purchase at the markets as opposed to supermarkets.

The shorter the time between the farm and your table, the less likely it is that the nutrients will be lost. Food imported from other countries or towns is older and has travelled on trucks and most likely sat in a warehouse.

Sourcing food locally also helps build different relationships within the community. When you buy from the farmer, you are getting that consumer/producer relationship. Getting to know the farmers can help you understand the different seasons when the produce is produced, and you can learn about what you are buying.

Purchasing local food supports local businesses and helps keep local people in their jobs. By buying food off local people you are helping contribute to their business, and helping them continue selling their products. Local food is an investment in the future of your community. By supporting local businesses today you are helping to ensure that there will be local businesses tomorrow.

There are, though, some downsides to sourcing food locally. Firstly, you might not always be able to purchase what you want (or) all that you want. A supermarket is more likely to have a more abundant selection.

Another thing is that the business may feel the heat of not being able to produce as much as the supermarkets. This could result in taking more than the legal amount. Because a lot of people love seafood, it is often high in demand. Taking too much puts many species at risk of extinction and disrupts food webs.

Sustainability begins with us. By looking after our community and local businesses we can help keep things sustainable in the Far North. It's important that we support farmers and businesses that don't use hormones and grow things naturally. We get to choose to support unsustainable companies/farms or to buy products from sustainable companies/farms. What we all need to decide is what we want to leave behind for future generations. A place full of fish and bountiful vegetation or a land of waste and no seafood. The decision is yours.

Gone, like bell-bottoms

Julia Walker says for generations past, growing their own produce or buying it from local markets was the norm. But so were bell-bottom jeans and mullets.

So is the fact that we now buy most of our produce from big supermarkets, which are shipping it from the other end of the country and even overseas a bad thing?

Depends on what you value. Depends whether you mind paying the added costs of transport. Then there's the packaging you pay for. The intricate, ergonomic, fancy, air-tight, non-toxic packaging that probably costs more than what is in it.

Or would you rather get it from somewhere that's local to you? Something that you know where it's been? Something that is cheaper because you're paying for the farmer himself to drive 20 minutes to the local market, instead of paying for some unknown to drive a truck 800km?

If you purchase it from the market you'll also have the chance to talk to the producer/farmer and ask any questions you may have.

We are in a country where food is not scarce, impossible to grow or hard to come by. Many take this for granted, and food is often wasted in our households. We would appreciate our food more if we or someone we know has had to work for it. Not to mention how much fresher it would be.

Take lettuce, for example. When you buy lettuce from the supermarket, do you always have to dispose of the outside leaves because they just aren't good enough to eat? They're dirty and soggy, from sitting around for days, whether it be in a crate in the sun on the farms or in the trucks as they are transported. If they look like that, how can we be sure they are safe?

Local farmers grow their produce for themselves as well as the people around them. They have to make it good enough for themselves, so obviously it's going to be good enough for us too.

Purchasing from locals also supports the local economy. It creates more job opportunities, encouraging people to stay rather than leaving in search of work in other parts of the country. By helping the local economy we are helping ourselves.

A lot of large manufacturing orchards add preservatives, additives and growth hormones to their produce. How else do you think every apple, orange or tomato you've bought have all been the same size and colour? Some may see this as a downfall of local foods. The fact that their sizes are unreliable and unsuitable for certain arrangements, such as dinner parties or in restaurants. That may be true, but I believe that buying a bag of vegetables that turn out to be all different sizes and shades of a particular colour showcases its authenticity.

It's more convenient to purchase produce from a local supermarket. If you're in for the weekly shop, why not get it as well, when it's sitting right in front of you? What if you can't wait for the Saturday market and run the risk of it not being there? There's also the fact that locally grown produce is guaranteed to be seasonal. Therefore, much of the produce cannot be purchased out of season like it can at a supermarket.

Opinions on local and non-local food come down to what you look for and value in your food. If you want to buy local food, buy local food. If you don't, then don't.