The importance of buying locally

We’re all aware of the amount of packaging we can be left with when purchasing food. Have you ever stopped to think how this could be reduced by buying locally?

Today’s guest article is from Rebekah Sachno who provides us with ‘food for thought’ about our buying habits. By changing just one thing we could dramatically reduce the amount of stuff we send to landfill.

Rebekah lives in rural County Down and is a SAHM to her two year old daughter. Her hobbies are baking, reading and going for walks by the sea.

Behind my house, there is a wheat field. About 18-20 acres in size, much of it has been reclaimed from the nearby bog, of which only remnants now remain.

In the last few days I’ve watched the wheat being harvested, separated and poured into massive combine harvesters. We’ve collected the leftover chaff to use as bedding for our chickens over winter.

The sad thing is, those acres and acres of rustling golden stalks were destined for one thing only: animal fodder.

It’s easy to forget, in this age of urbanisation and service economies, that the UK as a country was largely self sufficient until relatively recently. It still could be, if the still plentiful agricultural land was used to its full capacity.

Step into your local greengrocers and within a few minutes you can easily find a number of fruit and veg, which could easily be grown in the UK, yet, which hail from the farthest corners of the globe- Brazil, Kenya, New Zealand, Israel.

Apples from New Zealand or apples from Armagh?

It can be easy, if one is in a hurry, to quickly grab the product that has the least amount of packaging. But take a minute to really look at the label on the crate. Not locally grown? Think of the air miles it’s taken, the oil, petrol, or diesel burnt, in order for that fruit or vegetable to reach your shopping basket.

To stop waste before it has even started, buying locally is a must. It is important not only on an individual level, but on a nationwide scale also. Imagine if farmers, as a condition of receiving subsidies, had to put a certain percentage of land aside, to grow food, which would then be distributed and sold within, say, a radius of 30 miles at the most. With the need for imports cut drastically, we’d be making big reductions on pollution levels and CO2 emissions as well.

Hidden waste, the sort we sometimes forget about, the fuel used in the boats or planes shipping our food, the plastic crates and wrappings discarded as the produce moves from train to lorry, sometimes seems out of the control of the individual. After all, you can’t put it in your recycling bin. However we do have a choice, and we as consumers do have influence. In fact, as a group we hold the biggest influence of all, and with the right focus we can use our power to make changes. Environmental awareness is not only just a lifestyle choice, it is a political issue.

Create a debate. Ask the manager of your local Tesco’s why he doesn’t stock eggs or honey from a local smallholder, instead of selling overseas and battery farmed brands. Grow your own food if you have the space- even if you only have a patio, a few big pots can provide a whole season’s worth of tomatoes or soup veg. Ask why, if the government can nationalise the banks, why it can’t nationalise the land creating food security at a time of disappearing oil reserves- surely this should be a priority for any government

By recycling we deal with the after effects of consumption, but by carefully choosing what we purchase and consume in the first place, we can nip the entire cycle in the bud.