Plymouth's Local Food Web

By Dan Shapley News Editor Take a small town, mix in a farmers market, and sprinkle some Internet savvy - viola! Local Foods Plymouth is the freshest idea in fresh, local produce to come around in years. Here are the guiding principles: 1. Give consumers only the local produce they want. 2. Let farmers harvest only what they need to. 3. Don't waste our time doing it. Every Monday, New Hampshire farmers announce the products that they have available on the Local Foods Plymouth Web site. By Tuesday, residents of greater Plymouth (pop. 6,204) can log on, and place their orders. Farmers harvest and deliver on Thursday. Simple. Started a year ago with just $5,000, the goal of the non-profit group, the Plymouth Area Renewable Energy Initiative is to reduce the energy consumed growing, transporting and processing foods. The average food item travels 1,500 miles before reaching your plate, and food production and transportation accounts for the largest portion of most families'' energy usage, said Sandra Jones, the administrator of Local Foods Plymouth. "We need to re-localize," Jones said, "and keep things small." Plymouth, the tiny New England home of Daniel Webster and Robert Frost, has had its fair share of original ideas. Local Foods Plymouth is selling a startup kit, complete with technical support, for $1,000. Look for this idea to spread. The Innovators The Daily Green highlights innovative strategies being used to better the environment. For more innovators, click these links: Chicago's Green Roof Revolution Boulder's Eternal Sunshine Clean Mobility in the Twin Cities