Ohio Farms are the backbone of a local, community food system and the survival of small to medium size family farms is critical to the expansion of a local, community food system. However, farming is more than animals and food crops. It is a complex web of products, producers, distributors and consumers, each depending on the other to move products from the “farm to the fork.”

Local Matters works with the farm community by encouraging them to grow more edible food crops and offers ways that this food can be more successfully sold in the marketplace. We also advocate and facilitate market opportunities for farmers with the local business community, focusing mainly on schools, restaurants and grocery stores, by educating the business community about the advantages of purchasing more locally grown foods.