{"id":45559,"date":"2023-06-28T08:30:32","date_gmt":"2023-06-28T13:30:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/?p=45559"},"modified":"2023-06-27T15:25:09","modified_gmt":"2023-06-27T20:25:09","slug":"table-talk-with-brittney-muenster-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/food-and-farming\/table-talk-with-brittney-muenster-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Table Talk with Brittney Muenster"},"content":{"rendered":"
From making connections in your community, to gaining knowledge of where food comes from, to boosting local commerce, the benefits of buying locally are endless.<\/p>\n
<\/a>As a farmer, providing safe and affordable food to my community is a priority. Since my family farm was founded in 1874, we\u2019ve acquired a magnitude of experience in food production. Over time the markets we sold our products to moved us away from direct contact with our customers. Basically, there have become more people involved in the process between the farm and plate. How did this happen? It wasn\u2019t overnight, of course, and many times these things are out of our control as farmers. To continue to provide for our family and keep our business running, we\u2019ve had to adjust and adapt.<\/p>\n The market trends for food purchasing have changed once again. Our customers want to know where their food comes from and place value on the relationship with their farmers. As a farmer, this has been a great opportunity to rebuild the connections we lost with the families who purchase our products.<\/p>\n <\/a>How has my family farm done this? A year ago, we wanted to find a way to directly link our farm to our community. My family opened a meat market on our farm, and it has been an endlessly rewarding experience. We converted an existing, unused space on our farm into a store. By having minimal startup costs, we can keep our prices affordable and by selling our product direct to our customers, we also maintain consistent prices allowing families to buy in bulk and budget more efficiently.<\/p>\n Many farmers are focusing on direct-to-consumer sales. Whether at a farmer\u2019s market, online or on-farm store, there are an increasing number of opportunities to buy local and support farmers. How can you find these farmers? Many of them advertise on social media and in groups specific for marketing their goods.<\/p>\n I should note that you don\u2019t have to visit a farm to support your local farmer (although always encouraged). Many grocery stores carry local produce and products. A good example is milk which takes less than 48 hours to travel from the farm to the grocery store. If you are wanting to support local businesses look for certified seals on the labels that signify that item is being sourced locally.<\/p>\n