Why buy local?

We all know buying local is good. But why exactly? Here are some of the reasons that buying local resonates with our farmers’ market community, and demonstrates the real value of supporting your neighbours and local food system. Find local produce, meat, eggs, baked foods, craft, prepared foods, honey, beverages, and more at farmers’ markets across Nova Scotia.

Health & happiness

Local produce is picked when ripe, resulting in better tasting and more nutritious food

Researchers at Montclair State University found that the Vitamin C content of local broccoli was double compared to when it was shipped from out of the country. [Source]
A study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry found that the health-promoting anthocyanin pigment levels quadrupled when blackberries were fully ripe. [Source]
10 to 50% of nutrients in produce may be lost during the weeks that typically pass between harvesting and arriving on the supermarket shelf. [Source]

Build healthy, connected communities

Farmers’ markets strengthen social connections between producers and consumers and build a greater sense of trust and authenticity within our food system.

Try new foods!

The market has culinary adventures waiting for you! Garlic scapes, rainbow veggies, unique varieties of produce, unique cuts of meat, and other local goodies are available that can’t be found at grocery stores.
While some may consider seasonal eating to be limiting, many customers find this way of shopping and eating to be more abundant.

Support your mental well being

In mental health researcher Johann Hari’s book Lost Connections, he theorizes that 3 of the 9 reasons for depression are: disconnection from other people, disconnection from meaningful values, and disconnection from a hopeful future. Farmers’ markets allow people to receive an emotional boost from engaging in the social atmosphere, making purchases according to your values, and connecting to a community hub that is actively working to build the future they want. [Source]
The average number of social interactions per visit at a farmers’ market is 15-20, compared to 1-2 at a grocery store visit. [Source]
55% of market shoppers felt the market increased their connection to community, 99% believed the market improves the health of the community, and 53% believed the market improves perceptions of the neighborhood. [Source]

Support your local economy

Did you know less than 10% of all food consumed by Nova Scotians is produced locally? [Source]

Farmers’ markets are small business incubators

Markets provide an inexpensive space for businesses to grow and connect with customers. Support multiple small businesses at once by shopping at your local market.

Keep our small towns alive

The local economies of Nova Scotia’s rural communities rely heavily on small businesses, including farmers’ market vendors.
Supporting local producers can help rural communities grow, keep people from moving away, and build the vibrancy of our unique small towns.

Support your neighbours

When you spend $100 at a local-owned business, $68 remains in your local economy. When you spend $100 at a non-local business, only $43 remains in your local economy. [Source]
In Atlantic Canada, $4 out of every $10 spent leaves the economy. With a 10% shift towards local goods/services, we would experience a $4.7 billion increase in the GDP of the region and 43,000 new jobs. [Source]

It’s eco-friendly

Did you know? Nova Scotia’s farms are 1/3 the size of the national average of 778 acres. [Source]

Support small, sustainable farms

75% of farmers selling at farmers’ markets said they use agriculture practices consistent with organic standards, according to an American study. [Source]
85% use ecological agriculture techniques such as cover cropping, minimizing tillage, and composting on-site. These techniques reduce soil erosion, increase water retention, and contribute to soil health. [Source]
Small farms consistently use more environmentally sound practices, produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions, and have more biodiversity than industrial, monoculture farms. [Source]

Shorten your food chain and reduce food miles

Farm to market to plate. Skip the miles and resources that go into the transportation, packaging, and distributing needed for food to get to the grocery store or into a meal kit.
3, 976km is the average distance traveled by an item in the “National Nutritious Food Basket” from its origin to Halifax, NS. [Source]

Reduce food waste

Food waste in Canada happens at every step of the supply chain from production to packaging, distribution, storage, and retail sales. For example, 10% of the produce, meat and field crops that enter facilities at the packaging, processing and manufacturing stage become avoidable food loss. (Source) By shortening the supply chain at a farmers’ market, food loss is reduced when these additional steps are removed.

Support Nova Scotia’s food sovereignty

Reject corporate greed

80% of the grocery industry in Canada is controlled by five major corporations. [Source] This creates a bottleneck in the food system, where all of the power rests in the hands of a few large companies that are not accountable to the interests of farmers or consumers. Farmers’ markets provide a small-scale, community-oriented alternative.
In 2022, there was a 10.3% rise in food costs in Canada, well beyond the rate of inflation. [Source]
$100 billion was made in food sales by the three largest grocery stores in Canada in 2022. [Source] Meanwhile, 22% of Nova Scotians lived with food insecurity in 2022. [Source]

Help build and strengthen a different food system

La Via Campesina defines food sovereignty as “the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems.”
One of the seven pillars of food sovereignty, developed at the International Forum for Food Sovereignty in Nyéléni, is to “localize food systems.” This means bringing producers and consumers closer together and centring them in the decisions made about food systems, and resisting dependency on unaccountable corporations. [Source]
We need to build resilience, transparency, trust, and community back into our food system. If Nova Scotia wants to preserve and grow our buy-local culture, to stop relying on giant grocery store corporations, to grow our community-oriented food system, to ensure farmers can have thriving and sustainable businesses, Nova Scotia needs to buy local more.
Simply shopping at your farmers’ market will play an enormous role in rebuilding and strengthening local and sustainable food systems right here at home. One that is accountable, responsive, and resilient to stressors like climate change. One based on community, cooperative, trust, and transparency, rather than profiteering and control.

Get high quality meat and eggs

Support local producers & better animal welfare

Factory farming lacks transparency and capitalizes on the use of misleading terms. For example, “cage-free” simply means just that. Hens may still be in crowded, stressful, and unhealthy conditions their entire lives.
Small farms are more likely to use free-range and pasture-raised systems and incorporate sustainable or regenerative practices on their farms.
Ask farmers about how their animals are raised, which you can’t do at a grocery store!

Local, free-range eggs are healthier and fresher!

The average free-range egg in comparison to caged eggs contain up to a third less cholesterol, a quarter less saturated fat, two- thirds more vitamin A, three times more vitamin E, and twice the amount of omega-3 fatty acids. [Source] Nutritious and delicious!
Grocery store eggs can be up to two months old by the time you purchase them. [Source]

A little goes a long way

Buying local is not all or nothing!

Market shopping should be fun and inspiring, and there is no shame in making it more manageable and sustainable for you. Every local purchase helps. Start small and enjoy exploring how you can slowly replace your grocery shopping with local options.
The average Canadian family of four spent $15,222.80 on food in 2022. [Source] Imagine if every family, or your family, spent a portion of that locally? Consider your purchases to be a direct investment in your community.

Converting grocery store purchases to local businesses could have a large impact

Let’s say you give a local farm $5 a week, that’s $260 per year.
If you spend $20 a week at a local farm, that’s $1,040 per year.
If you spent $50 a week at a farmers’ market, that’s $2,600 per year of investment in your community.
If you spent $100 a week at a farmers’ market, that’s $5,200 per year that you spent locally instead of a large corporation.