This week, Aug. 24 to Aug. 31, is “Maine Tomato Tasting Week,” sponsored by the state dept. of agriculture.

    Be prepared to see promotions for this event at
local farm stands, farmers markets and retail stores that sell locally
grown tomatoes throughout the state. That is if you ever visit such
places.

    As we have learned in stories we’ve researched and
press releases we’ve received at the Sentry, for proponents of buying
locally grown produce, the benefits of such a practice are manifold.

    When we buy locally grown produce, whether through
farm share programs, farmer’s markets, beach markets or the
supermarket, we support the local economy, help preserve the state’s
agricultural infrastructure, reduce sprawl (by keeping farming more
lucrative and profitable, making the farmers less susceptible to the
entreaties of developers) and reduce pollution (by decreasing the
demand for produce trucked long distances).

    Produce grown nearby, proponents argue, is tastier
and better for us because it has spent more time on the vine and less
time in a refrigerated compartment, where it loses nutritional value
and collects pollutants. Many types of produce are now selected for
their ability to survive long bumpy rides in ships and trucks and still
look good on the store shelf, if not taste particularly good in a salad.

    There is also the accountability factor. With the
recent spate of product recalls and less recent health scares
attributed to produce, many people find comfort in knowing where their
food is grown.

    Yet, there is one supermarket chain that operates locally that may not embrace this Maine tomato promotion.

    On several occasions, trips to one particular store
in South Portland yielded a bounty of tomato choices– different shapes,
sizes and variations of red. Yet all these choices had a single common
denominator– each one had a description that started with the word,
“imported.”

    One might expect to see such a lack of local produce
if it were January or even April, but by mid-August, surely Mainers
need not rely on Beefsteak Tomatoes grown in Mexico (or wherever they
were “imported” from). Considering the dept. of agriculture is
promoting local tomatoes one would assume that the supply exists.

    In our busy lives “one stop shopping,” has become
less of a convenience and more of a necessity. When squeezing a
shopping errand for soap, coffee and other incidental necessities in
between work and dinner, many will chose to pick up tomatoes, wherever
their origin, rather than add an extra stop for the real thing
(especially with the perception that the real thing comes at a premium
price).

    But we pay in other ways. One stop shopping requires
a centralized distribution system that opts out of local wholesale
markets– more money leaving the state and less variety from region to
region; more smog and less open space; more of the same and less of the
truly good things in life.

–Ward Peck