Local farms bring advantages to the communities they serve.

In addition to offering fresh, healthy produce to residents, local farms can have a significant impact on local economies.

To explore these benefits, Slippery Rock University's Sustainable Enterprise Accelerator sponsored a Buy Organic, Buy Local event Monday night.

A panel of three farmers told SRU students about both the challenges and benefits of supporting local farming.

Bob McCafferty, the owner of the North Country Brewing Co. in Slippery Rock, spoke about his farm in Stoneboro, Mercer County, which produces the food on the menu at his brewery.

“It's very important to me,” McCafferty said of buying local food. “It makes sense to know where your food is coming from.”

McCafferty was joined by SRU graduates Greg Boulos from Blackberry Meadows in Fawn Township, Allegheny County, and Eric Rifenberrick from Pine Run Farm in Conneautville, Crawford County.

McCafferty said local farms and businesses contribute more money back into the community than large chains.

But that comes at a cost.

“It's a lot more work on the restaurant side, and more expensive,” he said. “But it's important to do.”

Boulos said its beneficial to local economies when small businesses and farms use each another.

“The more money we can keep in the community, the better,” Boulos said.

The panel was organized by SRU professor John Golden who leads the school's Sustainable Enterprise Accelerator, which is a program to help small, sustainable businesses get started.

Golden said it is helpful for students to understand the importance of small farms.

“They promote local economies and healthy eating practices,” he said. “And farming is a very sustainable model.”

While the sustainable economic benefits of buying local was particularly important for the business students in attendance, the reasons why people should prefer local food was also a heavy topic of discussion.

Perhaps the biggest reason to support local foods is to shy away from genetically modified food.

Boulos got the biggest reaction from the crowd when speaking about the fruit they eat.

“Strawberries have been modified with a gene of a fish that allows them not to freeze so that they can be produced at a lower temperature,” he said. “That's not natural.”

The horror stories of genetically modified foods has been a driving factor in consumers seeking out organically certified food. But the panel warned to look beyond a label.

“Certified organic does not mean local,” Rifenberrick said.

Boulos said the certification from the USDA is just an inspection of bookkeeping records farmers have, not a test on the products.

“There's no one at the gate of the farm inspecting the food when it leaves,” he said. “It creates a lot of loopholes. That's why the local component is much more important to me than being certified organic.”

Even for farmers who do grow organically, the label is only reflective of the process used to grow food, not the product itself.

“All organic food is polluted because there's so much cross-pollution,” Boulos said, referring to the crops from genetically modified food farms spreading to other farms.

While there are issues and misconceptions with the organic label, Boulos said it is still a good conversation starter.

“The organic label means something to people,” he said. “It gets people to come out and talk to us. And once they do that, they get hooked.”

Rifenberrick said he thinks conversation is the most important aspect of buying local.

“It all goes back to knowing and trusting your farmer,” Rifenberrick said. “The eater has to be the educated one.”

The cost of buying local food is usually a little higher than buying from industrial farms, but Rifenberrick said it is worth the money.

“There is an allusion right now about the price of food,” he said. “You have to look at quality too. With local farms, you have more care and better ingredients.”

Boulos offered a suggestion for those who don't want to depend solely on farmers for their produce.

“If you want cheap food, plant a seed,” he said, adding that more people should have gardens to produce their own food. “Agriculture really creates wealth with sunlight, air, and rain.”