8 Irresistible Temptations of Eating Local Food

Do you know what local food is? You must know about it. So you can understand what its environmental benefits are.

Local food means the food available in your locality. To some extent it is correct.

Here locality means within the radius of 3 to 4 hundred miles. It is grown close to its consumer houses. So its producers can transport it closer to you for selling it. They save the cost of transportation. So they earn more because of the lower cost of their products. Right.

Now you can better understand its environmental benefits. So mouth-watering these benefits are; both for its buyers and sellers.

8 environmental benefits of eating local food

The environmental benefits of eating local food are many. Eight of them are as below:

1. It Reduces Global Warming

Global Warming is the average rise in the temperature of the earth. The causes of global warming may be natural as well as man-made.

The decay of vegetation, wildfires, volcanic reactions, etc are its main natural causes. Burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas), deforestation, etc are its man-made causes.

Also, it has many adverse impacts on our environment.

Glaciers melt while sea level rises and falls because of global warming. Coastal flooding and changes in rainfall patterns are also its main impacts.

Eating local food helps in reducing global warming. Use of local food reduces the transportation of food from far off agricultural areas. It saves fossil fuels from burning. So it generates a lesser amount of air pollution.

2. It Mitigates Green House Gas Emissions

Greenhouse gases are gases that cause the greenhouse gas effect (global warming). Carbon-dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), water vapors, nitrous oxide (N2O), ozone (O3) and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are the main greenhouse gases.

The major sources of these greenhouse gases are the burning of fossil fuels and the use of fertilizers.

The use of local food reduces the burning of fossil fuels for its transportation. As a result, it reduces greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels.

The production of food accounts for 83% of greenhouse gas emissions. It can vary if food is grown in fertilized fields or with intensive use of irrigation and pesticides.

The food that is not grown locally uses intensive amounts of nitrogenous fertilizers. These fertilizers contribute to the emissions of methane and nitrous oxide.

3. It is Good for Public Health

Local food is seasonal, fresh and full of taste and nutrition. Farmers sell local food to local consumers. So it has no packing, shipping and shelf-life issues.

Also, it is much safer for public health as it uses small amounts of fertilizers in its production. So it is quite good for the health of its consumers.

4. It is Beneficial for Economy

Eating local food is beneficial and supportive of the local economy. Production of food at the main farmlands costs more money. So farmers earn less from it. Its cost rises due to transportation, packaging and marketing expenses.

So farmers earn higher profits by selling food products at the local level. They receive the full retail value, a dollar for each food dollar spent. They don’t have to travel a lot to sell their products.

Nor they have to travel again to collect payment of credit-sales from retailers. So soon after receiving money at the local level, they re-invest it for the next sowing.

5. It Provides a Habitat or Green Environment to Households

Generally, the local food is grown in small farmlands near residential areas (households). It provides a green environment for households and the community.

It provides a green habitat and supports biodiversity. Growing and eating local food keeps our environment and community green.

6. It Supports Sustainability

All we produce without harming our environment is sustainable. How local food is sustainable or supports sustainability? Production of local food consumes the least amounts of natural resources like water. It consumes small amounts of water resources like groundwater and surface water.

Production of local food saves the overconsumption of fossil fuels. So it helps maintains the soil quality and prevents loss of bio-diversity. It also prevents air pollution. Because its production uses simple techniques and small amounts of spray fertilizers.

7. It Controls Carbon Foot Prints  

Do you know what carbon footprint is? It is the total amount of greenhouse gases produced to support human activities. It is usually expressed in tons of carbon dioxide (CO2)”. More is the quantity of CO2 produced; more will be the carbon footprints.

Eating local food reduces carbon footprints. But the question is, how it reduces the carbon footprints?

The use of local food contributes to less CO2 emissions. It consumes small amounts of fossil fuels in transportation. Thus, less production of CO2 reduces carbon footprints in the environment.

8. It Controls Eco-Footprints

Eco-Footprint is the measure of resource consumption of human activities throughout the whole lifecycle of a product and the amount of land needed to supply the resources consumed.

Local food is grown in a lesser area in small farmlands and it uses less amount of land for its production. Thus, reduces Eco-Footprints.

So these are the 8 environmental benefits of eating local food. So you must know to switch to it and save your environment.

Do you buy locally grown food or packaged food is your choice? I would love to hear your views in the comments section below. 

I hope you will share this post on social media to inform others about this post.