Why Farm-to-Table Should Be Sustained

Farm-to-table is a growing health movement in restaurants and featured on media accounts. But unlike many health trends that come and go, the concept of farm-to-table should be a sustained and welcomed to the dinner table.

Gardening and farming has been practiced for ages. However, farm-to-table is a growing health movement in restaurants and featured on media accounts. But unlike many health trends that come and go, the concept of farm-to-table should be a sustained and welcomed to the dinner table.

Sustaining the Farm-to-Table Movement

Sustainability is the ability to sustain or maintain oneself now, without jeopardizing or harming the futures generational need to do so later on. When it comes to sustainable agriculture, farming techniques produce crops and food while protecting the environment and all it encompasses. The popularizing concept of farm-to-table may hold the fork to sustainable communities.

Farm-to-table is a concise term that refers to the stages of food production. The farm-to-table sequence includes harvesting, storing, processing, packaging, selling, and consuming. Additionally, farm-to-table may be in reference to the movement concerned with supporting locally-produced crops and food. Either way you look at it, the concept to support and eat local should be well more than a trend that comes and goes.

Why Eat Local?

Eating local goes beyond running to the nearest commercial or chain restaurant. But when it comes to a sustainable food system and supporting local businesses and farmers, why should communities and individuals buy-in?

• Sustainable foods are full of flavor of nutrients. Farm-to-table encourages whole foods rather than unfamiliar ingredients on most food packages. Local farmers uphold the best practices with environmental quality in mind.

• Supporting local can cultivate new relationships between vendors, farmers, restaurant owners, and customers. A strong support system between community members can lead to the adoption of healthful habits on individual and group levels.

• Since farms are generally confined to smaller areas and radiuses, food traveling is reduced. The environment benefits from reduced fuel exposure related to shortened transports of goods.

• With smaller batches of crops and animals to handle, food safety is further harnessed. Less traveling and handling reduces the potential for food contamination and foodborne illnesses to arise.

• Food "waste" is not wasted. Instead, leftover food may be donated to food banks, shelters, and soup kitchens. Scrapped food waste can be diverted to animal feed or into nutrient-rich composting soil.

To get more involved and for further information on the concept of sustainable agriculture and food, visit http://www.sustainabletable.org.

Reference:

Klavinski R. 7 benefits of eating local foods. Michigan State University Extension. Available at: http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/7_benefits_of_eating_local_foods.

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