When you think about agriculture, focusing on farmers and their role is natural. Some people may believe that agriculture consists solely of farming activities, but the reality is that every single person influences the food system in unique ways.
How you do so is in your hands! Here are five issues to consider.
Make Smart Food Choices
Everyone needs to eat, and how you spend your food dollars is, in fact, an agricultural act. When making your purchasing decisions, it can make sense to follow the advice of food author Michael Pollan, who says, “Don’t eat anything your grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.”
Using this philosophy as a guiding light, a key step can be to avoid—or at least limit—your intake of processed foods and focus more on fresh ones. By their very definition, processed foods have been altered from their original state before you eat them.
One article, written for CNN by a nutritionist, shares “relatively painless ways” towards a less processed diet. For example, if you’re eating a significant amount of processed foods, you can follow a step-by-step route to incorporate more fresh foods, including delicious fruits and veggies. Drink more water and fewer beverages sweetened by sugar; add pepper or garlic to flavor foods rather than salt; and choose whole grains over processed ones.
Also, read labels and “look for a list that reads more like a recipe than a pseudo-science experiment.”
Plan Ahead
People live busy lives, and it may be easier to grab processed foods. This may be especially true if you’re feeding a family. But, with a bit of pre-planning, you can easily incorporate healthy, fresh foods into your diet—and here are tips on cooking fresh vegetables in quick and delicious ways. Even small adjustments made over time can allow you to boost the nutrition of your family’s meals.
Pick Plants
“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” (Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto)
The Physicians Committee on Responsible Medicine agrees that eating more plants is a good idea for people’s health and the planet’s overall health. In 2019, they noted how a more plant-based diet could prevent 10.9 to 11.6 million premature deaths every year while helping to reduce the challenges of climate change. When more people choose more plant-based diets, this can help save water, optimize how agricultural land is used, and much more.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has provided recipes and meal-planning tips for plant-based meals to help families incorporate more vegetables into their diets.
Eat Seasonally
When you eat seasonally, you automatically support the people who grow your food, helping them to continue providing you with healthy, fresh produce. Seasonal foods also taste better.
Then there’s the concept of ritucharya, an ancient practice from India that a National Institute of Health study labels as the answer to lifestyle disorders. It involves eating seasonal foods to maintain health and help prevent disease. Foods specifically listed in the ritucharya charts would correspond to growing seasons in India, but the concept remains the same, no matter where you live.
To learn more about food as medicine, here’s a panel discussion from Roots 2018 about healing yourself, one bite at a time.
Here’s one more thought before we move on. Traditional Japanese culture subdivides its calendars into 72 poetic mini-seasons. It’s a beautiful way to think about the world, and it reflects how farmers get to experience each incremental change in nature throughout the year.
Know How Your Food Is Grown
Not all crops are grown the same way—and you can make an agricultural statement of significance just by choosing fresh vegetables that are regeneratively farmed. When regenerative agricultural techniques are used, the soil is left in better shape than when farming began—with the soil itself being considered a crop to be lovingly cultivated.
At The Chef’s Garden, we replenish our soil with vital nutrients, strategically using cover crops to regeneratively farm in harmony with Mother Nature. The result? Fresh vegetables, herbs, and more that are incredibly flavorful and packed with nutrition—with healthier soil for tomorrow and for the next generation.
Farmer’s Market Products Delivered Directly to You
Let us be your personal farmer—and your personal shopper! You can choose from a variety of home delivery boxes full of high-quality fresh vegetables, the same produce that world-class chefs use daily in their kitchens.
Options include:
- Caviar and Vegetable Tasting Experience
- Introduction Box
- Just Add Barilla
- Best of the Season
- Sweet Corn
- Tomato Box
- Leafy Green Mix
- Summer Vegetable Mix
- Summer Squash Box
Plus, you can select our farm-fresh subscription box.