What is "Local" to Me???

Defining a "foodshed" for an institutional purchaser is the first step in developing a local food sourcing implementation. Local food could be as close as the chicken farmer down the street or the tomato farmer at the city farmers’ market, but realistically, for many institutional purchasers the concept of “Local” needs to be broadened to a level where there is enough agricultural area to produce enough to serve the needs of the buyer.

One approach is for institutions to clearly identify:

1. The type of farmers they want to support with their food dollar (i.e. family-owned, organic, pesticide-free, etc.)
2. The "foodshed" they want to rely on. The term "foodshed," borrowed from the concept of a watershed, was coined as early as 1929 to describe the flow of food from the area where it is grown into the place where it is consumed. The “foodshed” of an institution can be developed considering the agricultural regions that are closest to an urban region.

With these two factors in mind – who and where – each institution can identify the growers that are best suited to serve it. The Growers Collaborative is happy to support the implementation of these policies by providing full information about the location and practices of the growers it supports.