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Reported by: Rob Collins / WCIA-3 Wednesday, Apr 9, 2008 @10:34am CDT It might be a good idea to take a look at what's on your dinner plate...
That's because.. *how got there has a big impact on the environment. This is a typical supermarket produce section. There are peppers from California, cranberries from Maine and a lot of stuff from overseas. When you stop and think about it... It's a lot of frequent flier miles for your dinner salad. That's why each summer this store switches suppliers. But this store doesn't stop with produce... Practically every aisle has some home-grown product... From nuts... To milk... Even eggs and meat. "We have a fresh is best kind of philosophy around here. We do have people who come in and do want locally-raised and especially the all-natural products and we try to give them what they want," says the grocer. The idea may be to meet customers' expectations, but helping mother nature is a nice bonus. "Anytime you can cut down on transportation costs you're going to have less fossil fuels used and that does have a benefit to the ecosystem. What I like is we get to know the actual people who grow it or have the product and they come by and deliver it a lot of times." One way to get to know the producer... Is to become the producer. In other words, grow your own garden. Calories are the only fuel you'll burn getting these vegetables to the table. And you'll know exactly how they've been raised. To get started, consult the experts at your university extension center. |