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How is our food grown? ➡️ Reading food labels ➡️ Where our food comes from matters!

⌛ Time estimate: 5-10 minutes

🔊 Prefer to listen to the audio version of this section? Click over here to play it! 👂 ➡️

https://soundcloud.com/junior-jardinero/chapter-6-section-3-where-our?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

Our food system is a “Conventional Food System”

In Chapter 4: Our Food System we learned all about what our food system looks like and what it takes for food to get from the farm to our dinner table!

In conventional food systems:

Food travels 1,500 to 2,500 miles to get from farm to table, which means food is often picked before it is ready and the transportation emits a lot of fossil fuel! ⛽

Most food in this system also relies on pesticides and other drugs to grow. 💉

<aside> ‼️ The priorities of this food system are not human health! This food system cares about making money by making a lot of food for not much money and creating food that can last longer than it is supposed to.

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This is the food system we are currently living in the US.

• [ ] 🖍️Activity: Do you remember the last time you were driving in the car and saw a farm on the side of the road? 🥬 ****What do you remember about that farm? What kind of food was it growing, was it a lot of different crops or one type? Write it down in your journal! 📒

👀 What did that farm look like?

Creating a Local Organic Food System

In local organic food systems, organic food is grown knowing what goes in your soil! Often using natural pest deterrents, like marigold flowers 🌼 (which you are growing in your own garden 🤗).

<aside> 💚 The priorities of this food system are low environmental impact, freshness of food, attracting beneficial insects, community shared harvests, and growing many different types of food! 🤗

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By growing your own food through your mini garden, you are actively helping to create a local food system in your community!