Farmers' Markets: A great way to promote sustainable farming and locally grown produce

You should check out Local Harvest.  It's actually nation-wide and if you enter your zip code, all the farmers' markets, CSAs, sustainable farms, etc. in the area will be listed and shown on a map. 

 

But specifically...every Thursday night in San Luis Obispo, CA there's a farmers' market.  They close down a number of blocks in their downtown area.  It's really fun!  A ton of folks come out for it and there's a real sense of community.  There's some selection of "real food" (raw veggies, fruit, etc) but also there are a lot of cooked food vendors (most seem to eat dinner there, right on the street).  The link to that one is via the Downtown Association.

Well, I'm not on the west coast, but here is a link to Austin's Farmer Market in downtown Austin.  Good stuff.

http://www.localharvest.org/farmers-markets/M6376

Some other benefits by eating local food:

On average, food travels about 1,300 miles from farm to consumer.  Studies have shown that eating local food results in 5-17 times less greenhouse gas emissions due to less food transportation. 

Also, the nutrients you get from local food is much higher versus nationally transported food as raw food starts losing nutrients right after the harvest. 

Source:
http://food-dehydrator.com/food-dehydrator/resource-center/become-a-locavore-as-part-of-a-raw-food-diet.aspx

I heard something recently about the whole local versus organic thing that going local first over organic is more eco friendly.  Does anyone know anything about that?

There is another thread discussing that, though it is more of local vs. shipped foods and doesn't focus on organic.