For Everyone Eat local! Shop at farmers’ markets or farm stands; join a CSA; grow your own food; preserve food for the winter. Find out where to buy products direct from the farmer at Foodroute

For Everyone

Eat local!

• Shop at farmers’ markets or farm stands; join a CSA; grow your own food; preserve food for the winter.
• Find out where to buy products direct from the farmer at Foodroutes, Local Harvest, and the Eat Well Guide.
• Participate in a local eating challenge like the 100 Mile Diet or the Eat Local Challenge.

Buy local!

• Go beyond food purchases and support locally-owned businesses of all kinds. Keep dollars circulating in your community by buying books, clothing, hardware, and anything else you can at small local stores instead of at the big box stores.

Educate and Advocate!

• Ask your grocery store to carry local produce. Farm Aid has a sample letter to write to store managers.
• Host a house party to educate your neighbors in a fun setting. Check out the Organic Consumers Association and Sustainable Table for ideas and tips.
• Organize a neighborhood meeting to talk about what’s happening with food in your community. Put food-related issues on the agenda of other community meetings.
• Get involved with the local food policy or food system council.

Volunteer!

• See the Take Action and Links & Resources sections of the other Learning Center topics for ideas.

 

For Community Groups

Organize!

• Hold a neighborhood meeting to discuss what’s happening with food in the community. Ask questions like: why are people hungry in our community? Who makes the decisions about how food is produced and distributed? The Community Food Security Coalition’s list of interactive materials on the food system can help you get started. Also check out Ecotrust’s toolkit on building local food networks.
• Make sure to include diverse constituencies in the dialogue — faith-based groups, neighborhood associations, concerned parents, youth, soup kitchen patrons, teachers, business owners, policymakers… anyone who cares about what the community eats.
• Conduct a community food assessment.
• Start (or support) a CSA, farmers’ market, or community garden.
• Start (or become involved with) a Buy Local campaign. Learn from the successful campaigns of FoodRoutes and Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture.
• Connect with local media outlets to get food issues into the news. The WK Kellogg Foundation Communications Toolkit and How to Talk Food Systems are helpful resources.
• Work with community institutions such as grocery stores, emergency food providers (food pantries, soup kitchens), schools, or senior centers to help them connect with farmers and source more local food. See WhyHunger’s publications for helpful resources.
• If your town or state doesn’t have a food policy or food system council, form one.

Updated 11/2010