Top 10 reasons to Eat Atlantic

There are many good reasons to buy food grown right here in Atlantic Canada. Here’s just a few:

1) You’ll get great taste and freshness
Local food is fresher and tastes better. That’s because local farmers produce food for taste and freshness, rather than for shipping and local shelf life.

2) You’ll enhance your family’s health
Local produce is better for you. Food that contains true heat- and light-sensitive vitamins like A and C break down when foods are transported or stored for any length of time, losing their nutritional value.

3) You’ll protect your family’s health
Knowing where your food comes and how it is grown, helps keep your family healthy. The greater the distance food travels from harvest to dinner table, the more sugar turns into starches, the more plant cells shrink and the more produce loses its vitality.

4) You’ll offer important balance to your family’s diet
Atlantic-produced food provides your family with produce from each of the four food groups: fruits and vegetables, seafood and other protein products, dairy products and grain.

5) You’ll support your local economy
Buying local ensures that more of your food dollar goes to the men and women who make a living producing our food. This keeps money and jobs in our communities.

6) You’ll support family farms
When you purchase local foods, you make sure more of your money spent on food goes local farmers. This means farm families can afford to stay on the farm, doing the work they love.

7) You’ll protect the environment
The transportation of local food burns less fuel and causes less pollution. The longer time it takes to transport produce from farm to store, the more carbon dioxide emissions pollute the air, and the more packing materials end up in landfills.

8) You’ll help farmers build a more secure and sustainable food system
By supporting local farmers today, you’re helping to ensure there are farms in your community tomorrow. And by investing in their operations, they can continue to improve their farm practices to produce tasty, healthy foods for future generations.
 
9) You’ll have access to more information
Buying local food allows you to choose safe food from local farmers you trust. You’ll have more information about how our food is grown, such as the farmers who avoid or reduce their use of chemicals, pesticides, hormones, antibiotics or genetically modified seed in their operations.

10) You’ll preserve open spaces, benefit wildlife
When you eat Atlantic foods, you’re not only supporting local farmers; you’re helping to preserve the region’s agricultural landscape and protecting our rural habitat, which is home to our bird and wildlife populations.