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Climate Can Do:
Seasonal Food and Farmers Markets
Going to a farmers market is a wonderful activity to do with family, friends, or alone, and it also helps the planet.
Local and Seasonal Food
Farmers markets sell primarily local food. Vendors travel from their farms to the market. Because the food travels a shorter distance from the farm to the consumer, less gas is burned for transportation. Local produce is seasonal— strawberries in late spring and early summer, peaches and watermelon in the middle of summer, grapes and apples in the fall, squashes in the winter. It is fresh, nutrient rich with more taste. Additionally, smaller farmers are more likely to pay their workers a living wage than huge factory farms.
Avoid Monocrop Farming
Smaller farmers are less likely to use monocropping. Planting a single crop over and over again in the same space harms the soil, requires more pesticides, and adds harmful runoff of chemicals to local water supplies.
Accessibility
Farmers markets increase access to fresh, high-quality food in lower-income communities. Since farmers who sell at the markets typically travel around to different locations in the surrounding area of their farms, they can provide better, healthier food choices for communities that do not have access to them.
Reduced Plastic Waste
Farmers market products are not typically wrapped in plastic, or pre-cut and packaged, as in grocery stores. This reduces plastic waste.
This Climate Can-Do Article was written by Vasilia Yordanova on actions we can do to live more sustainably. We can do it!
Source: news.climate.columbia.edu
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