The Eat Local First Collaborative has launched a new Washington Food & Farm Finder, a comprehensive and mobile-friendly searchable database. The database connects residents with more than 1,700 sustainable and organic farms, farmers markets, and food businesses around the state.
Eat Local First Collaborative is a collective of food system organisations from around Washington working together to merge various online food-and farm-finding resources into a single easy-to-use platform.
And by offering free listings on the Washington Food & Farm Finder through 2021, the group aims to increase accessibility to consumer and wholesale markets for farms that otherwise might not be able to access such support.
Eat Local First is the trusted source for finding local farms and identifying the restaurants, markets, and food businesses that purchase from local food producers. Sustainable Connections’ Food & Farming Program launched the Eat Local First campaign in 2011 to encourage people in Northwest Washington – residents and visitors alike – to choose local food first.
This campaign was adopted by food systems organisations on the Olympic Peninsula in 2018. It is now expanding to be utilised statewide to connect Washingtonians with local farmers, fishers, and food businesses. Partners from around the state are working together to merge different online farm finder tools into one comprehensive, easy-to-use, online Washington Food & Farm Finder.
These partners make up the Eat Local First Collaborative:
- Pierce County Fresh,
- Sustainable Connections,
- The Local Food Trust,
- Tilth Alliance,
- Washington State University Food Systems Program and
- Washington State University Regional Small Farms Program serving Clallam, Jefferson and Kitsap.
- Future participation is expected from Island Grown, Genuine Skagit Valley, Gorge Grown Food Network, the Methow Conservancy, Walla Walla Grown and other regional partners.
Source: https://eatlocalfirst.org
