Kelley Barr

Mr. Thornburg
28 October 2018
AP Language

While many people may claim that the benefits of farmer’s markets do not apply to some
urban communities who live away from farms, the benefits are not limited to fresher produce,
but also includes supporting the local economy and for bettering the environment. Farmer’s
markets can take place anywhere from city centers to college towns and even rural squares,
where farmers are encouraged to bring their local foods, drawing attention away from name
brands from supermarkets. Supporting farmers markets allows for more cash flow to go towards
supporting farmers who produce fresh food that was once fresh, but then frozen to be transported
across the country. These transportations contribute towards contaminating the environment
since transportation consumes the most energy. To summarize, the locavore movement is the
best thing for the consumers, local economy, and the environment.
When customers go to farmers markets, they expect to find fresh produce, which cannot
be found in supermarkets since the produce has most likely traveled for days in a truck or
airplane. This is just one reason to support the locavore movement. Fresh produce not only
ensures better taste, but also better nutritional value. Nutritional value would decline in foods
that would be found in stores since they aren’t as fresh as locally grown produce. In addition to
guaranteed fresh produce, locally grown food allows for better variety. Food produced locally
will have a longer shelf life since it is packaged within a shorter time period, allowing a farmer
to produce smaller crops of various fruits and vegetables. This variety of fruits and vegetables
would never be found in supermarkets since they focus on “name brand” fruit (Source A). These
“name brand” fruits need to be bought immediately since their shelf life is shorter and aren’t as
ripe as fresh produce. The fresh produce is given a longer time to ripen since it is harvested not
too long before a farmer’s market. In conclusion, the locavore movement allows for fresher and
better produce to be sold to consumers.
In addition to better produce being sold, supporting the locavore movement also supports
the local economy. Due to an increased interest in farmers’ markets, this has also prompted a
revival of small farms by 20% in the last six years (Source E). With more farms also joining this
movement, the money made by farmers can be used to to persuade farmers “an economic reason
to stay open and undeveloped” (Source A). If a farmer was to see another making a lot of money,
the other would probably join as well and ensure that consumers get reliable and fresh produce.
In addition to this, the cost of transportation when it’s local is lower than when the produce is
being shipped across the country. When produce has to cover less distance to be sold, it’s
obviously going to cost less money. These costs include the cost to transport, to produce and to
sell. These costs are lower for local farmers since they aren’t traveling far and aren’t mass
Kelley Barr
Mr. Thornburg
28 October 2018
AP Language
producing fruits and vegetables. The money going towards these costs by retailers could be
going towards promoting more supermarkets. So, to condense my statement, the economic costs
associated with locally grown produce is much better used towards supporting local farmers.
Not only are the costs of supporting the locavore movement better, but also the costs
associated with the environment. These environmental costs include pollution, greenhouse gases,
and the fuel uses. Better air quality is one of the benefits of supporting the locavore movement.
Transportation plays a minor role in greenhouse emissions when being compared to the
greenhouse gas emissions done by production. As seen in Source C, “Take a close look at water
usage, fertilizer types, processing methods and packaging techniques and you discover that
factors other than shipping far outweigh the energy it takes to transport food.” This statement
explains that within factories, there are more environmental concerns outside of shipping and
transportation. These factors mainly apply to factories since locally grown produce would only
consider water usage and maybe fertilizer types that may have an impact on the environment. To
summarize, the environmental costs are lowered when talking about local farmers since they
don’t need to spend as much money on shipping and transportation.
As seen in the paragraphs above, the locavore movement’s benefits far outweigh the
negatives associated with depending on supermarkets for produce. These can be seen through the
produce itself, the local economy that is supported and a better environment.