What Is Local?

Appalachian Grown logo

Appalachian Grown Is Certified Local

ASAP created Appalachian Grown certification as a tool to find local food. Appalachian Grown certified farms are family farms located in Western North Carolina as well as parts of Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, and South Carolina (60 counties within 100 miles of Asheville, NC, the market center). Look for the Appalachian Grown logo on product labels and displayed at grocers, restaurants, and other businesses. When you see it, you know the product was grown here and that your purchase supports our local economy.

How to Find Local Food

Search for farms and businesses. ASAP’s Local Food Guide is the definitive resource for finding local farms and the farmers markets, grocers, restaurants, and retailers selling their food. The Guide can tell you where to find farms, what products they offer, what their growing practices are, and much more.

Visit a farmers market. There are more than 100 farmers markets in the region. Many accept SNAP and some double SNAP dollars.

Find your farm share. Learn about Community Supported Agriculture (CSA).

Visit farms. ASAP’s annual Farm Tour welcomes the community and visitors to more than 20 farms. You can also find farms to visit in the Local Food Guide.

Why Buy Local?

Build community resilience. Buying local supports a diversity of innovative and interdependent businesses. This makes it possible for communities to survive and thrive in good times and bad. 

​​Keep value in the local economy. Buying local is about more than where we spend our dollars. It’s about supporting what we value in our community, such as fair pay, sustainable agriculture, healthy food, and strong economies. 

Strengthen community ties. Purchasing products made or grown by our neighbors builds relationships. These relationships create opportunities for greater civic engagement. 

Support your health. Shopping for local food is a way to be mindful about how we eat. We’re more likely to cook for ourselves and eat more whole, unprocessed foods, especially fruits and vegetables.

Create the food system we want. When we choose local, we exercise our power to change the food system. Fight for one that is more transparent and more supportive of our farms, workers, environment, and community. 

Celebrate local character and heritage. Buying local ensures that our farmers can keep farming. This helps to preserve our mountain landscape and unique Appalachian culture.

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