Consumers buy local to support farms, study says

Aug 19, 2022

HALIFAX— Local food enjoys popular sentiment in Canada but not at the cash register. While consumers say they want to buy local most of the time, few Canadians actually do so when grocery shopping or eating at a restaurant. This was confirmed in a recent survey conducted by the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University in partnership with Angus Reid.

Very few Canadians believe local foods are better products, and only 5% of Canadians believe local foods are cheaper. Rather, the new survey found that respondents buy local food to support farmers and the economy, in that order. Supporting environmental sustainability was the third most popular reason for buying local food.

“I think the image of local food products needs work. It’s almost as if Canadians just want to do farmers and agri-food companies a favour while purchasing,” observed Dr. Sylvain Charlebois, Director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab. “Canadians clearly don’t see how local foods can provide benefits to them directly.”

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Video: A chain harrow is a game changer

Utilizing a rotational grazing method on our farmstead with our sheep helps to let the pasture/paddocks rest. We also just invested in a chain harrow to allow us to drag the paddocks our sheep just left to break up and spread their manure around, dethatch thicker grass areas, and to rough up bare dirt areas to all for a better seed to soil contact if we overseed that paddock. This was our first time really using the chain harrow besides initially testing it out. We are very impressed with the work it did and how and area that was majority dirt, could be roughed up before reseeding.

Did you know we also operate a small business on the homestead. We make homemade, handcrafted soaps, shampoo bars, hair and beard products in addition to offering our pasture raised pork, lamb, and 100% raw honey. You can find out more about our products and ingredients by visiting our website at www.mimiandpoppysplace.com. There you can shop our products and sign up for our monthly newsletter that highlights a soap or ingredient, gives monthly updates about the homestead, and also lists the markets, festivals, and events we’ll be attending that month.