Buying Local Resources
By Karina | July 6, 2009
When I was heading up to see my family for the holiday weekend, I noticed a lot of signs that I hadn’t seen before – they are all for the Roundout Valley Grower’s Association, and the basic jist of the signs was “BUY LOCAL.” And they were EVERYWHERE! I took some time to look them up Sunday night, and it looks like a really comprehensive website. They’ve got a great map of local growers, and a very helpful list of what’s in season.
I think the most interesting thing about this is that the Catskill Mountains are not renowned for their farmland. There are very fertile valleys, but there are also stony mountains covered in forests and a long long long winter. My first CSA was with a farmer in the eastern Catskills and it was always interesting to hear from her about her challanges to grow food. This grower’s association has been around since 2003 (but this is the first I’ve heard about it!) and in an area that is seeing rocketing development because of sprawl out from New York City, a mechanism to increase the value of farmers land and productivity is always appropriate.
Have you heard of any similar local boosters groups in your area?
[[Photo from flickr user meanestindan via creative commons license.]]
Topics: Food | 6 Comments »
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We have groups like this in our area, but another thing that I’ve come to appreciate from our local grocer is how they label all produce that’s Michigan grown. I’ve had a difficult time getting to our local farmers market this summer, but I like knowing I can still get local veggies!
that’s great! I wish all supermarkets would do this, it makes a huge difference in my purchasing habits.
This isn’t quite a booster group, but Market Maker is a great resource that helps restaurants/supermarkets/grocers/etc. find local farmers/producers/etc. and vice-versa. http://national.marketmaker.uiuc.edu/
It is currently available in the following DC and the following states: CO, NE, LA, IL, IN, MI, OH, KY, NY, MS, GA, and SC.
Arkansas and Florida’s participation is pending.
While it is more to connect these two groups, as a consumer you can use it to search for businesses, i.e. restaurants and grocers that are registered with the site that are showing an interest in acquiring locally produced items. Also, if you are looking for your grocer to carry more local stuff perhaps you could pass along the link to better enable them to do so.
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