Ouch - Nova Scotians actually buying *less* locally....

A report in the Chronicle Herald states that Nova Scotians are spending only $0.13 of every food dollar buying locally, down 17% from 1997. In fact, it states on average our food was traveling over 4,000 kilometers (not miles, km) from farm to our plates.

This is not good! As a side note, I was at the grocery store the other night, wanting to pick up some potatoes. In Canada, there's only ONE place you need to get your potatoes from, and that's the bright red soil of PEI. PEI equals potatoes here in Canada. 'Nuff said. But EVERY type of potato sold at the store, BUT ONE, was from the US!? Seriously? Like, I'm talking 10 different bags/styles of potatoes, and they all were from the US. We grow enough potatoes locally and next door in PEI, why are we wasting gas shipping them all the way in from another country?

As it says in the report, as if in answer to my question: "Several factors have contributed to the decline, including larger supermarket chains that can buy and sell cheaper by volume."

If you'll notice, I've added a link in my "home/about" bar at the top of this blog, highlighting some of our local farmers' markets. If you know of other links for farmers' markets in other areas, add them in the comments area of this post! Support local farmers!! :)

Read the full article on the report here: http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/1194001.html