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Sept. 22, 2023 Editor, The News-Gazette: We are blessed in Rockbridge County with many medium- and small-scale farms that produce a wide range of nutritious food – beef, lamb, pork, chicken, turkey, rabbit, and a large assortment of vegetables and herbs.
But we don’t take advantage of this locally grown abundance. How many of us spend any of our food dollars directly with farmers? We buy our food at grocery stores that obtain their products from hundreds and even thousands of miles away!
Most of our grocery store vegetables come from California. And the fresh fruits and fruit juices often arrive from foreign countries like Mexico, Peru or China.
It has often been said that our grocery stores have only a threeday supply of food. We’ve seen the grocery shelves empty during a snowstorm, and we’ve experienced shortages during the recent Covid crisis.
Local farmers are our safetynet against food insecurity, but they need our help. If we devote just 10 cents of every dollar we spend on food directly supporting our local farmers, we would be much more food secure.
So, I humbly suggest that you visit one of the several farmers markets in the county and establish a relationship with a local farmer. You could also encourage our grocery stores to stock locally produced-products as much as possible.
We are blessed in Rockbridge County with many hard-working farmers that provide nutritious, locally grown food, but they need our help to stay in business.
JOSEPH MARTINEZ Collierstown
