Locally Grown Food Pt 2
From the Ag Information Network, this is today’s Fruit Grower Report. Locally grown food is becoming harder and harder to find in Washington as the number of farms and farmers are pushed out of business.
Washington Policy Center Ag Director, Pam Lewison, a Grant County farmer, says having access to locally produced food is something we deserve and something we should expect …
LEWISON … “I live in a county that produces more potatoes per-capita acre than anywhere else on the planet and I cannot buy a potato that is grown in this county in my grocery store.”
Even in Seattle, Lewison says folks should be able to find locally grown food at the farmer’s markets …
LEWISON … “And I think that there is this sort of genuine disconnect between where your food comes from and how it’s produced and having this tactile connection to it.”
So bottom line, Lewison says the one thing we should all be doing …
LEWISON … “Talk to your local legislators about how you are unhappy that you cannot access food locally because the decisions they are making in Olympia are making it impossible for you to access food locally.”
Lewison says as people lose that connection to their food, they’re really losing the ability to see its value.
