Supporting local farms can strengthen our economy

Due to COVID-19, farmers said they're seeing a drastic change in the food supply that will not only harm us right now but also in the future.

Wendy Baroli, the owner of Reno’s Girlfarm, has been in the farming business for more than 15 years. Her farm is one of many in Long Valley near Bordertown that grows produce during this pandemic.

Baroli said Northern Nevada was able to get out of the last economic decline back in 2008 because of our local farm and restaurant growth.

"Now what we need is for consumers to reach out to those farmers and look to us not just when it’s a crisis, but look at us throughout the time,” said Baroli.

Baroli said COVID-19 has been a wakeup call for farmers. She said if we continue to purchase our produce from larger box stores we will keep seeing food shortages and higher prices.

"We decide to centralize all of our food production into a few places and decentralization and local food production is extremely important," explained Baroli.

As restaurants begin to reopen, Baroli said now is the time to act. If we keep our dollars local it will help rebuild the economy.

"Farmers build yourselves some e-commerce sights and get out there and use them and consumers reach out to the farmers here locally to help decentralize," Baroli stated.

Everyone needs to eat, but Baroli said our food supply could be at an all-time low before we know it.