We love local

BRIANNA HARRINGTON
BUSINESS EDITOR
@BNH1995

Do you know where your produce comes from? Hopefully this will not be a question you have to ask yourself much longer.
San Marcos is trying to start a farming revolution. About seven months ago, Home Town Farms opened their doors with the mission of bringing fresh produce to local vendors within hours of the fruits and vegetables being harvested.
This is great news for students in San Diego and the surrounding community because this will mean a boost for the local economy.
Home Town Farms has already started delivering their produce to four Whole Foods stores in San Diego and plans on selling to Jimbo’s soon. I love that this is becoming a thing. The idea of having produce in my local stores and knowing where it came from is amazing.
It only takes one person to make a change, and the rest will follow. My hope is that this trend continues and that we will eventually end up with all organic and local produce.
The farm uses a process called vertical farming, which not only saves space, but also uses less water. It is estimated by the owners that they save about 80 percent of the water that traditional farms would use. They also believe that the three acres of growing space they have can produce up to 1.5 million pounds of produce annually.
California is known for its droughts, and I think that the significant cut in the use of water will really help out in future years. Imagine if all the land we used for farming was set up the way this one was. We would have so much more space and our water usage would be phenomenally decreased.
If what the owners believe is true, and a three acre plot can produce 1.5 million pounds of produce, then it is entirely believable that we could create a sustainable farming system based solely on greenhouse-grown produce.
The USDA released research that said that consumer demand for this kind of produce is continuously growing and that consumers actually prefer organically produced food and will willingly pay the extra money for quality food.
This is a promising trend, and though I do hope that some day we will be able to sustain ourselves on this type of farming, I know that it may take a while to take the plunge.