Who Gets Your Grocery Dollar?

I was reading The Daily Yonder today and I read an article called "Who Gets Your Grocery Dollar?" This article talked about the percentage of food dollars that are trickled down to farmers in rural areas. With many food store chains offering sales in every aisle, the profits made by certain products has gone down over the past few years. In turn, the farmers and farm communities have been taking an ever-smaller share of the food dollar.

You can read the full article, here.

This article made me think about the focus that Central Park NC has towards buying local. When we buy local food from farmers they are getting 100% of the profit from the sale of their products. There are no middle men involved to buy their products and you are always guaranteed that you are getting fresh, local goods.

Here at Central Park NC, we have started projects that focus on our beliefs that local is best for our communities. Our project, STARworks Garden, not only grows food for our CSA, but it also brings in food and products in from other farmers in the Central Park area.

We as employees of Central Park NC even strongly believe in buying and using services and products from local merchants and farmers in our personal lives. Having lived in the Washington DC area, I once believed that vegetables and fruits could only come from a grocery store or Walmart. The idea of a garden seemed foreign to me because what could be considered a yard in my neighborhood of townhomes was a 4' x 7' square patch of grass. The first time I went to a local farmer's market in this area, I bought almost $50 worth of fruits and vegetables for my one person household. Everything was better than the stuff in Walmart and I could talk to the person who actually grew it with their own hands. In addition, I knew that the money that I gave this farmer would be used by him for his family and his next season's crop.

Support your local farmers and businesses. Your support and the continued support from Central Park NC will help revive our rural communities to what they once were.