Buying Local: Beyond the Buzzword

I’ve been wanting to talk about “buying local” for a while now. As a farmer, it’s been fascinating to watch the growing number of people suddenly start paying attention to where their food and goods are coming from.

I don’t mean that as a passive-aggressive jab – really. It’s just that, for those of us on the production side, the origin of everything we use is always top of mind. And it’s rarely simple. Here’s an example: Should I use full aluminum wire for this section of electric fence? It’ll last forever, but I have to ship it from Alberta. Alternatively, I could use a poly line (essentially braided plastic with copper filament) that was made in China, but is available at the locally-owned farm store. They cost about the same. So what’s the right choice?

And that’s the thing. There often isn’t a perfect solution, just trade-offs. My daily life in the pasture is a running series of these decisions. Where should I buy my breeder stock? Should I take a chance at auction for a deal, or go directly to a trusted farmer and pay a premium knowing every dollar stays in their pocket? Should I buy organic feed from London, Ontario, 500 km away, or go with conventional grains grown by my neighbor?

Farmer-author Joel Salatin once said: “Imagine a farmer standing in a field alone with his herd of Gotland sheep. But he is not alone – he is attached to a thousand strings, all pulling in different directions.” That’s what it feels like. As a farmer, environmentalist, realist, father, husband, and business owner, you constantly wrestle with these questions, so it’s been heartening to see people start asking their own questions like, “What does ‘Made in Canada’ really mean? What about ‘Product of’ or ‘Produced in’”? Just asking those questions is a powerful start.

In a world that’s become so heavily globalized, it’s easy to assume that when you reach for something, some multinational has it ready for you: don’t ask where it came from or who gets paid. But maybe it’s time to begin asking that again. As the old saying goes: “What’s the best time to plant a tree? Ten years ago. What’s the second-best time? Today!”

In my opinion, the best place to start this journey is with food. Nothing is more essential than what we put into our bodies and, when you buy directly from a small farmer, your money stays right here in your community.

Let’s do a quick thought experiment. Say you buy pork from us here at RTE. Here’s where most of that money goes:

• Weaner pigs – From local, reputable farms (Belleville, Foxboro, Odessa)
• Veterinary care – Quinte Vet Services (on-site and via correspondence)
• Feed grains – 100% Ontario grown, milled and locally distributed (In Quinte, or Eastern Ontario at large)
• Abattoir – Sprigglan Meats (Wellington)

And that’s just the pork-specific expenditures. At a higher, more generalized farm level, our expenditures are even more locally-focused:

• Truck/trailer maintenance – JC Auto
• Tire work – Armstrong Tire
• Tractor parts – Anderson’s Equipment
• Supplies – Picton Farm Supply and Country Farm Centre

   

And all of that is just one slice of our farm operations! Each of our enterprises – pigs, sheep, chickens, maple syrup, rabbit – has its own network of local suppliers, trades, and supporting businesses. Real people. Real places. It’s not just “local”, it’s community; and it’s something you can sink your teeth into.

This is why, to me, buying “Canadian” is a good start, but it doesn’t really go far enough. Is buying Canadian apples from a faceless box store the same as buying apples directly from a grower? Not really, no. But the good news is that it has never been easier to find the people growing or making what you need!

Some of the responsibility falls to us: the farmers. We haven’t always been great at being visible or accessible. Tractors and greenhouses usually do what you ask. People, not so much. But we are learning: even if it’s sometimes kicking and screaming. And now, more of us then ever are pulling back the curtain and showing what we actually do every day. It’s about more than agri-tourism or pick-your-own apples. It’s about opening up and offering something you’ll never find in a shrink-wrapped package: real connection.

Years ago, long before recent global events nudged us all to reconsider our supply chains, a friend of mine asked a simple but profound question: How do I participate? From his Toronto condo, surrounded by glass towers, it wasn’t obvious.

And this is where eaters (i.e., the rest of us) come in. We’ve all heard the stories of someone posing as a farmer and reselling produce from the terminal at a markup. And while that may happen on the rare occasion, it’s not the norm. Most farmers are out here doing honest work. 

So, here are a few tips to help you buy better: whether you’re in the city or the country.