6 Easy Ways To Support Your Local Farmers

Anyone who’s involved in agriculture will tell you the same thing: to support your local farmers. However, something that’s not talked about nearly as much is how you can support your local farmers.

People who are involved with farming are often guilty of forgetting about how ordinary, everyday people may perceive the advice they hear. We know what it means to support local farms, but we don’t always take into consideration that not everyone does. I am especially guilty of this myself. I find myself repeating this bit of advice (a plea, if you will) and not elaborating on ways to accomplish it. No more.

Here’s a list of 6 easy ways to support your local farmers!

Buy Farm Fresh Products and Produce

If you’re in the market for farm products or fresh produce, take your local farm into consideration. They have a lot of neat things to offer! Their products often have a much better quality than anything you can find at a chain store, because all of the components come straight from the farm. Every product is thoughtfully made with the freshest ingredients from happy, healthy animals!

Did you know, commercial eggs sold in grocery stores are often an average of 60 days old when they reach the shelves? That’s right! Once they complete all of the checks and reach all of the sanitation standards that the companies must follow, the eggs are an average of 60 days old. However, if you support local farms, you could be buying much better quality eggs that may have even been laid as fresh as that morning.

What is a CSA, you ask?

“CSA” stands for Community Supported Agriculture. When you sign up for a CSA, you’re basically signing up for a share of a farm’s produce during the growing season. Depending on the farm, this could include fresh fruits, vegetables, mushrooms, herbs, milk, eggs, and even flowers. Each shareholder receives the satisfaction of being sent the freshest, healthiest food and knowing exactly where it’s coming from. Some CSA’s also host social events and classes for their members, so be sure to check the ones near you to see what they have to offer!

While an amazing way to get a variety of fresh foods, this is especially helpful to the farmers running the CSA. It gives the farmer money upfront to buy the needed materials to start the season and guarantees that all of the produce will be sold at the end. It takes away all of the worry about having to market anything and allows the farmer to focus on their livestock and crops. For both producer and consumers, it’s a win-win!

If you’d like to look into joining a CSA, click here to search for CSA’s by local farms near you.

Eat At Farm-To-Table Restaurants and Cafe’s

Farm-to-table restaurants and cafe’s are a godsend when it comes to supporting local farms. Not only do they provide the community with tasty and quality food options, but they also play a big role in keeping local farms afloat. These establishments serve many people within the community, which means they need to buy large amounts of ingredients to continue producing enough food. This provides the farmer with a consistent buyer of large quantities of things like fresh produce, meat, eggs, milk, cheese, and even honey.

By dining at local farm-to-table restaurants and cafe’s as opposed to chain restaurants, you’re supporting not only those local businesses, but also the farms that supply them. All for the price of a delicious meal, it’s a win-win!

What better and easier way to support your local farms than by expanding their potential customer base?

Farming is tough! At the end of the day, many farmers don’t have the time nor energy to be very active online. This often means that the posts and pages they make don’t get a whole lot of attention, when they do manage to post at all.

The only way to make money while farming is selling fresh products and produce to others. Whether that be fruits, vegetables, animal products like milk or fleece, or even the animals themselves, the only money to be made comes from people knowing about their farm and what they’re trying to sell. This is why it’s extremely helpful when others interact with their pages and share their content. Any interaction on social media (such as likes, comments, shares, and follows) allows the post to be seen by more people, which broadens the number of people who might be interested in their products and increases the potential sales they may make.

The best part? It’s totally free!

Refer a friend

Did you know, according to marketing professionals, that people who are referred to a business by a friend are four times more likely to make a purchase? It’s no secret that you, as a consumer, hold the power to determine which businesses get community support.

If you find that you really like the farm or the products they offer, refer a friend! Any and all business is extremely helpful in the long run, especially in an industry that eats profit like… well… hay!

Donate Expired Produce

This last idea is for anyone who runs, owns, or works at a food-related business.

As we all know, food has an expiration date. When it’s past its prime, many businesses remove any old food from their shelves, inventories, and sales floors and throw it in the dumpster. However, animals are amazing upcyclers! They can still consume food beyond its expiration date as long as it’s not moldy or overly spoiled. Edible foods include fruits, veggies, pastas, milk, and byproducts, such as spent grains and even certain ingredients used to make candy! These foods and byproducts that would otherwise be sent to a landfill are, instead, able to be utilized by livestock and turned back into healthy food for the local community.

Instead of sending food waste to a landfill, contact a local farm to see if they would like to use some of it to feed their animals! It’s a great way to be eco-friendly while cutting costs on both ends. The store owner will incur less fees for waste removal and the farmer’s feed costs will go down, allowing them to provide more food for the community at a lower expense. It’s a win-win!

Local farms are essential in maintaining a happy, healthy community. They provide quality, responsibly-sourced food at a reasonable price and give consumers more control over how their food is raised. However, because they’re much smaller than industrial farms, they do need a lot more support.

You can help!

By following these easy tips, you can help your local farms thrive! Whether you’re interested in joining a CSA, buying produce, or just following along on social media, there’s plenty of options available no matter what your budget looks like.

Shop local, eat healthy, and don’t forget to support your local farmers!