For those who enjoy the fresh taste of locally-grown, vine-ripened tomatoes or like to savor the balanced complexity of a glass of Indiana wine, then Lt. Governor Becky Skillman encourages you to join Hoosiers in celebrating Going Local Week 2012 from Sept. 2–8. This is a time to indulge in Indiana-grown foods across the state, and encourage Hoosier families and communities to include at least one Indiana-grown or produced food product at each meal.
Skillman says consumers want to buy locally, which is why she created the Indiana Grown program, through which she says Hoosiers are connected directly to products produced by Indiana farmers, which benefits not only the producer but the rural county as well.
More than 100 communities in Indiana currently host farmers’ markets, and it’s estimated that if more individuals would shift just $4.50 of their weekly food budget to buy food directly from local farms each week, farms would earn $1.5 million of new income annually – a 20 percent increase.
Skillman says anyone interested can dish up Indiana food and producers, listings of local food events, farm tours, as well as recipes featuring Indiana’s fresh, local, and in-season foods on the Going Local website at www.goinglocal-info.com.
