Bob Lazaro
PEC Director of Communications
571.225.0198

For Immediate Release

PEC Buy Fresh Buy Local Guide for Northern Piedmont Guide Mailed

(Warrenton, VA) The Piedmont Environmental Council is pleased to announce the Buy Fresh/Buy Local Guide for Northern Piedmont is in the mail and will arrive at homes by the end of May. Northern Piedmont counties include: Culpeper, Fauquier, Madison, Orange and Rappahannock.

"Last year's Buy Fresh Buy Local guide was well received," said Melissa Wiley, Program Director for PEC. "We were even able to assist the establishment of a new Farmers' Market at Clevenger's Corner as a part of this effort to make local foods more accessible to residents and assist our family farms."

For the Northern Piedmont region PEC is partnering with local County governments, the Fauquier Farm Bureau and the Virginia Cooperative Extension to help customers identify and purchase local foods while dining and shopping at restaurants and markets. Area businesses will be utilizing Fresh Buy Local marketing materials and signage to highlight locally grown products on shelves and menus.

According to Matt Benson of Virginia Cooperative Extension there is a critical economic impact from increasing the amount of local food purchased in the area. "If each household in the Northern Piedmont spent $10 per week on locally produced foods and farm products, it would generate $32.9 million annual dollars of direct economic impact to the region's economy, farms, families and communities!"

Local food is fresher and tastes better than food shipped long distances from other states or countries. Local farmers can offer produce varieties bred for taste and freshness rather than for shipping and long shelf life. By buying local foods you will:

Strengthen Your Local Economy
Support Endangered Family Farms
Safeguard Your Families Health

Promoting local food complements PEC's other efforts to preserve rural land. Since 1972, PEC has led one of the most successful private land conservation movements in America. Now, approximately 307,500 acres of private land are protected in its nine county region -- an acreage that is one and a half times the size of Shenandoah National Park.

For more information regarding PEC's Buy Fresh Buy Local program please visit our web site at www.buylocalvirginia.org.