Author: Greta Taylor, Food Shed Co-op Outreach Coordinator

Local farming reduces monocultures which strip soils of nutrients, reduce biodiversity and usually require more pesticides.

Monocultures can be more at risk to assaults such as rising global temperatures which cause insects to eat and reproduce more rapidly.The risk of a losing an entire monoculture is much more likely than the risk of losing a whole farm with a diversity of plants. For example, if a farmer decided that they only wanted to grow dill, they put themselves and their farm at risk of losing their entire crop. Pests like the swallowtail butterfly, use dill to lay its eggs and to feed its young during the caterpillar stage. If this farmer were to grow more than just one crop, they would still most likely have other produce they could sell. Supporting local farmers is as simple as “not putting all your eggs in one basket.”

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