Support Your Local Ag

If you're here, you probably know about the local vs. Chinese agriculture. How it is financially feasible for a piece of garlic to come from China rather than the farm 5 miles away is mind-boggling. I have been a member of our local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture...go online and check for one near you at www.localharvest.org) for 2 years, although I've run co-ops or participated in them since my college days in the 1970's. This year, with the business of my cooking classes, writing a book and media training, I wasn't always able to pick up my weekly "share." Delicious, flavorful and fresh as it was, I considered not joining again next year. They're going to have a new service where you can actually buy produce at a stand, like a farmer's market.

But then I considered recent stories about issues with some soy products, the way it is processed with hexane and organic foods not being regulated so well in China (imagine that?), and I thought, "ya know what? I'm going to support the CSA even if I never show up. They donate the food to the food bank if you don't show up, and more than any charity I could donate to, this is as good as any. We have to make the statement and show our demand for local foods. Article after artice on so many different food issues, say this is the way to go. And if we don't wake up and smell the garlic soon, as some national stories are starting to suggest, we are going to have a crisis similar in the food/agriculture industry that will make the financial services meltdown seem like nursery school.

If you compare the taste of your CSA's tomatoes compared to the grocery, I think you'll quickly understand what we're talking about. Even the USDA has done a study comparing nutrients in veggies now compared to years ago. Guess what? Not so many today. Of course, eating any veggie today is better than not eating them at all...