Dear editor,
One of the best ways to create jobs and prosperity in a community is to buy local food.
As the diagram from the U.S. Deptartment of Agriculture shows, local food spending has a profound and long-lasting ripple effect.
Shopping at local food suppliers and markets does more than put quality groceries in your fridge: It’s active economic development. The Comox Valley Farmers’ Market is a visible part of our local food system. Making it even better is one of the goals of some marketing and survey work I’m doing as social media and research sponsor.
I’m inviting you to help by giving the Market feedback on your customer experiences. Plus, for the month of November, you’ll be entered to win $20 in “market tokens” you can spend on local food at the market on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon.
The link to the online survey is http://j.mp/CVFMsurvey.
The people I get to work with are very good at producing quality food. But they’d rather have their hands in the dirt than on a keyboard or a camera.
The farmers’ market is one of the places where they get to interact directly with customers, and most of what I hear from them is very positive.
I’ve also been surveying customers at the market. Again, most of what I hear is very positive.
But I know there are more stories out there, and I’m inviting you to use the online survey to help the market get a better handle on how to do what it does: Put good food into shopper’s grocery bags.
The ripple effect of buying local food is significant, one of the most direct ways we can grow jobs and prosperity in our region. A flourishing farmers’ market is recognized across the world as an important element in this kind of grassroots economic development.
Give the Comox Valley Farmers’ Market a hand by telling them about your experiences and ideas. And for the month of November, your input could win you $20 in local food spending!
Looking forward to your input.
Hans Peter Meyer,
Comox Valley
