Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food!

September 14 of this year was the beginning of a new campaign, sponsored by the USDA, called “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food” (KYF2). We at Enumclaw Plateau Farmers’ Market wholeheartedly endorse this initiative! Our goals for the EPFM include “connecting consumers with local and small farmers” and “telling farmers’ stories and the benefits of sustainable farming.” That’s what knowing your farmer is all about.

Buying directly from the farmer gives us food security, because we can know exactly where our meals are coming from. Farmers’ markets offer us a means to improve our own health (with fresh food) AND to invest in our local economies by supporting our farmers. Everyone wins when you “Know Your Farmer.”

The USDA has also launched a new website for the KYF2 campaign to continue the national conversation about developing local and regional food systems and finding ways to support small and mid-sized farms. "We want this website to serve as a hub of ideas, success stories, and USDA resources for linking local producers with consumers, because by rebuilding our local and regional food systems, we can spur economic opportunity in rural communities and strengthen American agriculture," said Kathleen Merrigan, US Deputy Secretary of Agriculture. "Americans are more interested in food and agriculture than they have been at any other time since most families left the farm and we are marshalling resources from across all of USDA to help create and strengthen the link between local production and local consumption." Check it out here.

As our government officials continue to address health care, let’s not let them forget that health begins with good food. Incentives for farmers who practice sustainable agriculture, healthy food for the poor and elderly, investment in farmers’ markets and other sources of fresh food…. Knowing our farmers and knowing our food will do a lot towards making a healthy America.

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