 Every Sunday, I bike or bus to my local organic farmers market. I don't buy all my groceries organic as it can get quite expensive, but I do focus on buying the foods on the Dirty Dozen Mist organic as they're the ones that are most pesticide laden. The fruits and veggies on the Fab 14 list I tend to buy conventional as they're more okay to buy at the store. In Australia, the two largest retailers, Coles and Woolworths, control almost 80% of the market, making Australia one of the most concentrated grocery markets in the world. Supermarkets have huge buying power and can often source and sell produce at a cheaper rate than independent stores. The downside to this centralized food system is that it pressures farmers to provide cheap produce, which is what has contributed to the rise in many farmers turning to factory farming and other intensive farming practices that degrade the environment and disregard animal welfare. Fruits also tend to stock only varieties of fruits and vegetables that have a longer shelf life, resulting in a decrease in biodiversity. This makes us vulnerable to shocks in the food system such as disease and pest outbreaks, which can completely wipe out a crop source, as we've seen in Australia with the banana crops back in the early 2000s when a tropical storm wiped out our banana trees. But the supermarkets aren't to blame for these problems with our food system. They're simply responding to consumer demand. Thus, the power to change this lies with us. With every dollar we spend, we have the power to vote for the type of food system we'd like to be a part of. I choose to buy as much as I can at my local farmers market for a few reasons. 1. I can buy high quality goods without the retail margin. 2. I get to try new produce items like red spinach and other foods like that which I couldn't get at supermarkets. Expanding the variety of foods I'm eating, which helps create a wider variety of gut bacteria in my digestive system, helping with immunity and increasing my overall health. 3. Buying directly from a local farmer often ensures that the produce is fresher and hasn't been picked as early to be transported long distances before it arrives at the supermarket store. Most of the food we consume in Australia has been in transit or cold stored for days or weeks, while produce from the local farmers market usually gets picked within 24 hours of your purchase. 4. All the money used to purchase the food goes to the farmer. Only 18 cents for every dollar when buying at a large supermarket goes to the grower. 82 cents goes to various unnecessary middlemen. When you buy local, you cut these middlemen out and support these farmers. 5. Buying local means less transportation has been required to get the food from the farm to you. Our present industrialised food system involves transporting food long distances which means a lot of carbon emissions are produced in the process. According to Jeremy Rifkin, author of the Third Industrial Revolution, world oil production has already peaked. So while demand for energy continues to grow, supply will soon start dwindling, sending the price of energy and food through the roof. Instead of waiting to re-evaluate and change our food systems when we are forced to, we can use our dollar now to support energy efficient agricultural methods like small scale local organic farming. Thank you guys so much for watching today, these are some of the reasons why I shop organic and local. I hope you guys enjoyed today's video and I hope to see you again soon in my next video. Bye!