1 – Food grown locally tastes better and is better for you. In the time it takes to get produce from harvest to the table, it loses a lot of important nutrients. The shorter travel distance, the more nutrients are preserved. Eggs from free-range chickens, grass-fed raw milk, and grass-fed beef are fresher and last longer when they are purchased locally.

2 – Reduce global warming pollution and gasoline demand. Instead of traveling many miles on fossil fuels from farm to table, your food travels from your local farmer to your table, saving the planet. When you buy locally grown and produced food in Central Florida, you are also helping preserve the Florida agricultural landscape.

3 – Keep the money in the community. For every 100 dollars spent at a locally owned business, $45 goes back into our community. For every $100 spent at a chain store, only $14 comes back. Local food also keeps your taxes in check because local, independent farms contribute more in taxes than they require in services.

4 – Buy what you want, and not what someone else wants you to buy. Small businesses and farms choose products that are based on what their customers want and what is in season instead of relying on a national sales plan. Eating local food that is grown in season rather than eating food shipped from faraway places like Chile, also keeps your body in tune with the environment.

5 – Create jobs and better wages. Locally owned businesses create more local jobs and, in many cases, they provide better wages and benefits than chain stores do.