For many, the economy trumps all other topics these days. One simple way to promote the local economy is to support the local farmers by purchasing their food at farmers’ markets like the one held recently off Bardstown Road.

"(Buying locally) keeps the local farmers in business," said Mary Rose of Kenny’s Farmhouse Cheese, a local family-operated cheese farm.

Ragan, of Ragan Produce, said buying locally helps the farmers maintain a living.

Also, Ivor Chodkowski, a farmer, said, "It is good to circulate the dollar." He mentioned the "velocity" of a dollar. The velocity of a dollar is how many times it gets transferred through the economy.

When a dollar is transferred, it is subsequently taxed another time. Therefore, keeping the same dollar in the same city means the city can tax the dollar multiple times, which benefits the common good. According the New Economics Foundation in London, a dollar spent locally generated twice as much income for the local economy.

Buying local food may also protect national security by reducing the risk of terrorist and foreign government influence.

"When a nation loses the ability to substantially feed itself, it is not only at the mercy of global commodity markets but of other governments as well," wrote Michael Pollan, in a New York Times article addressing the next "Farmer in Chief."

The Food and Drug Association only checks two percent of the food entering this country.

This sparked Tommy Thomson, former secretary of Health and Human Services and a former Republican presidential contender, to say, "I, for the life of me, cannot understand why the terrorists have not attacked our food supply because it is so easy to do."

"Today more than any other time, you need to know where your food comes from," said Stan, another farmer, noting the recent outbreaks of food-borne disease.

If reducing Middle Eastern oil importation is in the name of national security, then buying locally should be the first place we start.

"The food system uses more fossil fuel than any other sector of the economy--19 percent," wrote Pollan.

"Put another way, when we eat from the industrial-food system, we are eating oil and spewing greenhouse gases. This state of affairs appears all the more absurd when you recall that every calorie we eat is ultimately the product of photosynthesis--a process based on making food energy from sunshine."

On the subject of fossil fuels, it is extremely more environmentally friendly to buy from local farmers.

This seemed to be the overriding issue driving people to buy locally at farmers’ markets. The distance food travels is up 25 percent since 1980 to between 1,500 to 2,500 miles from farm to plate, Chodkowski said.

The process requires fertilizer (made from natural gas), pesticides (made from petroleum), larger farm machinery, refrigeration for much longer distances, packaging which primarily uses plastic (made from petroleum), a change in hands through wholesalers, and advertizing firms that lengthen the process of getting food to the plate. This long process takes a huge amount of energy and does not help create a cleaner environment.

With the industrial agribusiness way, food can take weeks to get to the supermarket, let alone to the plate, while local farmers usually have their crops picked only 24 hours before the market and done so in an environmentally conscious way. Locally grown food is more healthful. Because the food does not have to be picked early to go on the industrial-food journey, it is allowed to ripen on the vine, not in the bed of a truck on the highway.

Rose said, "You don’t have to put as many preservatives on produce that doesn’t have to be preserved for the transportation."

To many, fresher food tastes better; local farmers tend to experiment with types of crops, providing more variety than may be found in retail stores.

Rose said the buying locally builds the community. "I love the community feeling," she said. "It’s not about producing or selling cheese; it’s about the community."

A bystander at the farmers’ market, Heather Falmen said, "We need to support our local farmers. It is healthier in every conceivable way."