Dear Editor,
I am writing this letter in support of the Green Market Co-op.
The food choices that we make have effects not only on our personal health, but also on the health of our local and regional economy. Our current centrally produced and highly processed American diet provides excessive calories and little nutrition, resulting in our epidemic of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancer.
The foods that we purchase in supermarkets have travelled an average of 1,500 miles to arrive here – to a county that consistently ranks at the top in agriculture in Kentucky. Farmers collect only pennies of our food dollars.
The bulk of the food dollar is collected by industrial processors, distributors and big box retailers.
The Green Market Co-op gives us an opportunity to change that paradigm. The market will be locally owned and operated. It will provide an outlet for locally and regionally produced healthy organic foods, including produce and meats. Farmers will keep much more of the food dollar, stimulating the local farm economy. All the money from sales is recirculated into our local and regional economy, rather than being shipped out of our community to the supermarkets’ corporate headquarters as fast as possible.
And the greatest benefit of the Green Market is that it will provide tasty, fresh, safe, nutritious foods that are to be savored for their quality.
I encourage everyone to attend the Green Market Co-op Expo on Saturday at the Cumberland Presbyterian Church from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Have fun, invite your neighbors, meet a local farmer, taste some great food and learn more about this great opportunity for our community.
William Travis, M.D.
Glasgow
