Stop Chasing Skinny Episode #9
How and Why to Support Local Food Producers with Nikki Seibert
Nikki is the Director of Sustainable Agriculture at Lowcountry Local First, an organization I am a part of here in the Charleston area. I wanted to bring Nikki onto the show so she could shed a little light on the subject of buying local. Buying local is beneficial in just about every way from supporting the local community financially as well as improved health on the end of the consumers.
Did you know that nutrients begin to degrade as soon as produce is picked? And that fruits and vegetables which have to be transported are typically picked before they are fully ripe in order to stay intact during the shipping process? That means the nutrients in the produce you are buying from the standard grocery store have be decreased in two ways:
- Picked before fully ripe equals missing out on nutrients.
- Spending days being transported across the country or across borders means the the nutrients that were actually present already started to degrade.
This is a topic near and dear to my heart because my grandparents are farmers and I grew up listening to the grain prices per bushel come across the AM radio. I even remember making frequent trips to the feed store to buy RoundUp in the 80’s. They just couldn’t compete otherwise. I want to learn more about how we can help farmers get back to the better way.
Many of my clients/fans come to me because of the “fitness model” stuff and are initially drawn to the appearance piece of health (my ego TOTALLY got me into this field), but now that I have been in this industry for over 10 years, I see the bigger picture and want to educate people on how our outward appearance starts from the inside and our choices matter.
Show Notes
Listen as we discuss the following topics:
- What is sustainable farming?
- Why is sustainable farming important to the environment and to our health?
- How can we support local food producers?
- Who are local food producers and where can we find them?
- Why would a farmer choose anything other than organic?
- What IS organic?
- What are some better choices we can make as individuals that will help farmers improve sustainable farming practices?
If you would like to learn more about Low Country Local First or the work Nikki does with local food producers, visit the website: www.lowcountrylocalfirst.org. Nikki also works with a project called Dirt Works which is an incubator farm where farmers can get started. Dirt Works is similar to a co-working space but instead of sharing a common printer and a desk, the farmers share a tractor and acreage system.
