We'd buy local ... if we could find it

In a press conference today addressing the high cost of, well, everything, President Bush suggested that we should buy food from local farmers to help bolster the infrastructure of American farming and prevent food scarcity. Read a transcript here.

Interesting thought, but when I go to the grocery store, I find a lot of produce from Mexico and Chile. I look hard fpr produce from the states, especially Florida. Tomatoes, some fresh herbs, avocadoes, strawberries, citrus and watermelon are mostly what I find. I know there's more grown in the state and I wish it was stocked and promoted heavily at the grocery stores.

Local outdoor markets are a bit better but still I find kiwi and grapes and stuff that's grown far, far away. The Tampa Bay markets need more farmers!

The locavore movement is an honorable one but in a state that doesn't grow asparagus, apples, mangoes, key limes, grapes, plums, apricots and other produce, it's difficult to play the game. Can we actually go back to a time when produce was truly seasonal? Will Floridians forgo strawberries in summer because our growing season is January-February for the sweet berry? 

Bush also slammed on the proposed Farm Bill which he claims will make multi-millionaire farmers even richer while consumers suffer. A lot of those multi-millionaire farmers are part of the industrial agriculture movement that's been putting independent farmers out of business for years. The small farmer is suffering big time.

It's a hugely complicated issue but I find it even more complicated in Florida.  I've been thinking about this a lot and believe the state of Florida and the Department of Agriculture are missing the boat by not promoting local produce to Floridians. What's grown here and where can we get it? There's got to be more to tout than grouper, stone crab and citrus.

Maybe I'm naive. Maybe the local stuff is being shipped out of state because farmers can get more money selling spring watermelons up north than they can get around here. Maybe that's why we don't have access to the full menu of Florida crops.

Where does that leave us Mr. Bush? How do we eat locally?

Comments

[Shirley J. Buttacavoli]

AMEN!

Let me know if you find the answer, Janet.

[Vicki]

We have been working on compiling a list of Southern foods along with locations of farmers and farmer markets for years. Buying local is the smartest thing anyone can do to support their own community!

Please visit our website at :

http://www.buysouthern.org

[Barbara Wunder]

The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has lots of timely information about what is harvested in the state and when. You can find info at www.florida-agriculture.com/theweek/index.htm. Now is a great time for sweet corn, tomatoes and beautiful Valencia oranges. Not much during the summer, though, unless you're big on okra!!

[AK]

I believe the President was actually talking about foreign food aid and his proposal to purchase commodities in the foreign local markets where the food aid will be delivered to stimulate the local economy and deliver nutrition assistance at the same time.

[Stir Crazy]

Thanks, Barbara, for the Florida ag site. My point is that they don't promote that information much either in the form of an ad campaign or through grocery stores or through the media. Would love to see some eye-catching labeling at the store. Florida corn!! Ruskin tomatoes!! You have to look for it usually.

[Susan at Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy]

Amen to that! I have been griping for years about this very thing. I'm in Sarasota and it ticks me off to no end when I can't even find a decent Florida orange at Publix! The strawberries we get are, more often than not, waterlogged and tasteless. It seems that our best fruits and vegetables are shipped everywhere else and we are left with the "leftovers". Not fair. Even the so called Farmer's Markets seem to rely on the same supply of stuff you find at the supermarkets.

[Get's The Piont]

The whole piont of locavore is to eat what is in season nad is locally grown. So, yes, you will need to sacrafice some produce not grown in our tropical climate, which isn't much. Also, many major grocery chains do advertise locally grown products. Is there a talking sign that screams as consumers pass the produce? No, but it is in black and white. There are also huge farmer's markets, organic and not organic that are open all the time. As far as meat, there are ranches all over Florida. Just takes a little googling to find what, where, and when to buy. I think the masses will be okay without strawberries in August.

[Annete]

Try your local roadside vendor. We have Tommy's in Tarpon Springs along with several Greek owned produce stands on Alt 19; also Palm Harbor. I know there are stands near Tampa; tomatoes year round from Ruskin; Strawberries from Plant City.
(My Texas local Walmart buys Cantelope from my friend's local farm.) Good hunting. Also, ask your store manager why you can't get Ruskin tomatoes.