Local Foods Help Improve Health

According to Merriam-Webster, a locavore is one who eats foods grown locally whenever possible. This eat local movement has been gaining traction for nearly the past 20 years, when locavore was named the Word of the Year by the New Oxford American Dictionary. Today, it is still a priority for individuals to eat locally. In the 2024 report from the International Food Information Council's Food and Health Survey, 56% of respondents stated that knowing the food is consistently available in local markets is a factor in theirsecision to purchase food/beverages.

Eating locally grown food has many benefits for our environment, local economies, and our health. Here are four of the reasons to eat local to support your health.

Locally grown foods can be harvested and home-preserved to maintain optimal nutrition levels. Preserving the foods that you grow yourself or purchase from a local market or farm is a great way to ensure you have nutrient-dense foods even long after the growing season has passed. When you preserve foods yourself, you have control over how and what goes into those foods. For example, you can preserve peaches by canning in water or 100% juice, or you can make a low-sugar jam or no-sugar-added sweet cucumber slices. Commercially prepared foods often also have other additives that are not used when preserving your own foods.

Locally grown food has more nutrients. Foods grown in your own yard or from a nearby farmer have a shorter time between harvest and reaching your table; therefore, the nutrient quality is the highest compared to foods that have traveled hundreds or thousands of miles. Food that travels further is picked, may be treated with something to preserve its freshness or to help it ripen by the time it reaches your table, sits in a warehouse, sits on a trailer during transportation, and then sits on the store shelf before you purchase. Nutrients do not like air, heat, and light, and decrease the longer they are exposed to these natural environments.

Locally grown food is full of flavor. There is something about the flavor of a strawberry picked straight from the plant that is so rich and memorable, it blows (almost) everything you can purchase from the store out of the water. When food is more flavorful, we enjoy it more and make our meals taste out of this world. When our food tastes better, we eat better, and ultimately have better health because of it.

Locally grown food is often safer. Knowing where your food comes from is one of the most important aspects of being an informed consumer. Buying local foods from a local farmer gives you an opportunity to speak with the farmer about their practices and maybe even visit their farm. Whether you are concerned about pesticide/chemical use, animal welfare, or foodborne illness from contaminated water sources, knowing where your food comes from helps you ensure that your food is safe and nutritious. Also, the less distance the food has to travel and the fewer hands that have to handle it, the lower the risk for human contamination along the way to your table.

Looking for recipes with local produce? Check out our website or YouTube page for inspiration and maybe your favorite new weeknight meal.

by Chelsea King, Nutrition, Food Safety and Health Agent, 2025