PRODUCER'S GROUP

The Town of Dunn's strong desire to preserve farmland has fostered the development of a group of small farm business owners. The farms have incubated a plan to form an association of Town producers. Its purpose is to promote group members and their products.

10 Reasons to Buy Local

1. Locally grown food tastes and looks better as crops are picked at their peak. Often, livestock products are processed in nearby facilities where the farmer has a direct relationship with processors, unlike animals processed in large industrial facilities.

2. Local food is better for you. The shorter the time between the farm and your table, the less likely it is that nutrients will be lost. Food imported from far away is older and has traveled on trucks or planes, and sat in warehouses before it gets to you.

3. Local food builds community. When you buy direct from a farmer, you're engaging in a time-honored connection between eater and grower.

4. Local food preserves genetic diversity. Often, in agriculture, plant varieties are chosen for their ability to ripen uniformly, withstand harvesting, survive packing, and last on the shelf, which equates to limited genetic diversity in large-scale production. Smaller local farms, in contrast, often grow many different varieties of crops to provide a long harvest season and an array of colors and flavors.

5. There's a unique kind of assurance that comes from looking a farmer in the eye at farmers' markets or driving by the fields where your food comes from.

6. Local food supports local families. The wholesale prices that farmers get for their products are low, often near the cost of production. Local farmers who sell direct to consumers cut out the middleman and get retail price for their food - which helps farm families stay on the land.

7. Local food preserves open space. When farmers get paid for their products by marketing locally, they're less likely to sell farmland for development.

8. Local food keeps taxes down. According to several studies by the American Farmland Trust, farms contribute more in taxes than what they require in services, whereas most development contributes less in taxes than the cost of required services. Cows don’t go to school, tomatoes don’t dial 911.

9. Local food benefits the environment and wildlife. Buying locally reduces the reliance on fossil fuels to produce, package, distribute, and store food. Well-managed farms provide ecosystem services such as conserving fertile soils and sequestering carbon from the atmosphere. The farm environment is a patchwork of fields, meadows, woods, and ponds that provide habitat for wildlife.

10. Local food is an investment in the future. By supporting local farmers today, you are helping to ensure that there will be farms tomorrow.

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Ready to buy local? Check out these local producers below:

• Blue Moon Community Farm: Sells a variety of produce. For more information, visit bluemooncommunityfarm.com
   

• Highland Spring Farm: Sells pasture grazed beef, pork, chicken, and eggs. Visit highlandspringfarm.com for more information.
   

• ​One Seed Farm: Sells produce, chickens, and eggs. Visit oneseedfarm.com for more information.
   

• Parisi Family Farm: Sells grass-fed beef, produce, eggs, and goat milk soaps. For more information, visit csacoalition.org/Items/Parisi-Family-Far
   

• Vitruvian Farms: Sells a variety of produce. For more information visit vitruvianfarms.com

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Follow the Town of Dunn Producers Group on Facebook!

Information from uvm.edu/vtvegandberry/factsheets/buylocal.html