You’ve learned that food production, processing, and packaging has changed dramatically over time. Advances in transportation, including trains, cargo ships, and airplanes, allowed farmers to ship crops thousands of miles away.
With these advances in transportation, people could eat foods that they had never tried, or even heard of, before! Shipments of regional, seasonal, and tropical foods started to crisscross the globe.
Oranges, once a special winter treat for people in warm climates, have become an everyday breakfast food that is widely available. Now you can find jars of Brazil nuts or bananas from Chile in your local supermarket. While it’s incredible to have access to new flavors, there is a downside to shipments of food moving all over the world.
Environmentalists are concerned about greenhouse gases produced by the planes, ships, trains, and trucks used to transport food from distant locations to your supermarket. They are also worried about the chemicals used in food production on large farms.
Today, more and more people are thinking about where their food comes from. Some have made a decision to buy some, if not all, of their food from local suppliers. Through their actions, these locavores are trying to reduce the environmental pollution produced by mega-farming and long-distance transportation of foods.
All coffee is grown within 1,000 miles of the equator-so it’s shipped quite a distance to get to many coffee-lovers!
environmentalist someone who works to preserve the environment.
greenhouse gases: carbon monoxide and other gases that get into the atmosphere and trap heat.
locavore: someone who eats foods grown locally, whenever possible.
Most people think the taste of local produce is superior. You read about how ethylene gas naturally ripens fruits and vegetables. Local farmers pick their produce after it has released ethylene and ripened on the vine. This creates a better flavor. Large-scale commercial farmers pick their produce before it ripens on the vine, so it won’t spoil on the trip to your supermarket. This reduces its flavor.
Chances are, you don’t know where the food in your grocery store is from. Your produce might have a little sticker saying “Product of Chile,” but that’s about all the information you’ll get. Often, you won’t know how the food was made either. Did the farmer or manufacturer use pesticides or additives?
For these reasons, many people prefer buying organic food. Usually, organic fruits and vegetables are grown without chemical pesticides or chemical fertilizers. Organic livestock eat a healthy diet without growth hormones. The animals graze in open spaces, rather than being kept in confined areas.
Organic produce doesn’t always look as perfect as commercial produce, but organic food lovers claim that it wins on taste. Unfortunately, organic food tends to be more expensive because it costs more to produce food organically.
organic: food grown or raised according to certain standards, without artificial fertilizers, perticides, or hormones.
fertilizers: something added to soil to make it more fertile.
You can bring together locavores in your area by constructing a community garden. Find a plot of land big enough for a good-sized vegetable garden. Make sure everyone has access to it. Then have a meeting where everyone discusses what they can contribute. You want to get everyone involved in planting, tending, and harvesting the crops. Then set up a work schedule so everyone knows their responsibilities. If you get everyone working together, you can create a really amazing garden!
The only thing that tastes better than fresh produce from the farmer’s market is fresh produce straight from your own garden! Using raised beds provides elevated areas where plants can grow, keeping the soil warm and fighting weeds. First put down thick layers of newspaper to block the weeds. Pile a foot or more of soil on top. You can keep it from spreading out by building a border of wood around it. Weeds and grass will have a tough time getting through the newspaper. Take the time to plan a garden layout that will offer you the best chance of success:
The most popular produce grown in backyard gardens includes tomatoes and cucumbers.
Is there really a difference between locally grown, small-farm produce and the commercial produce you buy in a large supermarket? Take this fun survey with your family to find out!
1 Buy enough produce so everyone in your family can sample everything.
2 Create a survey form with three columns labeled: Name of produce, Farmer’s market, and Supermarket. Set out two plates labeled on the bottom: “A” for commercial produce and “B” for local produce.
3 Wash each type of produce and cut it into small pieces. Put the commercial sample on one plate and the local sample on the other plate.
4 The tasters should not know which piece is local and which piece is commercial. So blindfold them if they can tell them apart by sight. Have the tasters sample each piece and tell you which they prefer.
5 On the survey form, put a check under each tester’s preference for each piece. After all the produce has been tasted, check to see which column has the greatest number of votes.
If your yard space is limited, try this unique tomato garden.
1 Place your straw bale on a stable, flat surface. With an adult’s help, use the hand saw to cut two large, round holes into the top of the bale. Don’t cut all the way through the bale, and also avoid cutting the twine that’s holding the bale together. The bales will fall apart and make a big mess if you cut the twine!
2 Fill the holes halfway with potting soil and mix in some fertilizer. Carefully remove the tomato plants from their pots and place them in the holes. Gently pack some more potting soil around them.
3 Put the bale in a place that gets plenty of sunlight. Water as needed. Soon, you should have delicious tomatoes growing on the vine!
