The Benefits of Localized Farming

Localized farming shortens our food chain and with localized farming we can drastically lower the carbon footprint. Most of the world gets their food from the supermarket. The food sold there goes through a long process. The food goes from the farm to transportation to packing and distribution to the store and then to your plate. This is a long process causing food that is not fresh and enlarging the carbon footprint. Organizations like The Abundant Table in Ventura County, California work on shortening the food chain by growing produce and delivering CSA boxes to people in the community. A CSA box is a monthly subscription to various locally grown seasonal fruits and vegetables ensuring your produce is fresh. While talking to Erynn Smith, a board member of The Abundant Table, she taught me all about localized farming and its benefits on our environment. It not only decreases the carbon footprint but it gets a whole community involved in growing food. We also talked about the dangers of industrial agriculture. It involves lots of dangerous chemicals that can damage the health of workers. In Ventura County most of the workers have health issues including cancer and lung failure. This is because of the chemicals that these workers are inhaling. It causes death at a young age. If we can shorten our food chain and halt industrial agriculture we can save the lives of many. Industrial agriculture also can damage the soil with the pesticides and chemicals that are constantly being sprayed on the plants. This can cause the soil to stop producing nutrients and halt production all together. Industrial agriculture usually involves the growth of one plant. This can pull many nutrients out of the soil and cause it to be unable to grow. Industrial agriculture is not only unsustainable but it harms workers with the pesticides and harmful chemicals sprayed on the plants.