Choose local

Choosing local food matters. Locally sourced food offers many advantages that imports from abroad just don’t provide.

Local food is fun

Have you waded into a strawberry patch to pick fresh strawberries? Maybe you’ve scoured a field for that perfect pumpkin in the fall. No matter the season, getting outside, rolling up your sleeves, and meeting your food where it came from is rewarding, refreshing, and fun! Plus, you get to go home and enjoy the literal fruits of your labour.

Local food tastes great

Fresh, local food often tastes better than the same food shipped from afar. This is because local produce sold at the source is allowed to ripen where it grows and collect as many nutrients as possible, and then picked right before you buy it.

A tomato picked at the local market travels only a short distance before it ends up in your salad or on your pizza, while tomatoes shipped from further need to be transported in big trucks that emit greenhouse gases and pollute the air all along the way. Shortening the journey reduces a product’s carbon footprint.

Local food is good for the planet

Local food is our living legacy

Some of Port Hope's farms have been run as family businesses for several generations. Buying from your local farmers means supporting a legacy of farming the land, nourishing the soil, and caring for crops and animals. Ask a local farmer what their relationship is to the land: they likely have amazing stories to tell.