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Editorial: Eye-opener

This week we focus on the importance of locally-grown food

MORE THAN a few longer-term residents of the area might remember the day when you could go into a local grocery store and buy bread baked by a Seventh-Day Adventist academic academy just outside of Kitwanga.

Or, in season, purchase carrots grown at a farm also located in the Kitwanga area.

It was wholesome fare then and was missed when production stopped.

With that in mind, readers of this week’s issue might notice there’s a bit of a theme – food or, rather, local food.

A front page story lays out the possibility of buying local produce and our Page 5 feature provides more detail on what’s possible and what challenges await.

By all accounts, there’s an appetite for local food. Consider that a survey done at the local farmers market determined more than 2,700 visited the location on July 28 alone. By itself, that figure stands out as a testament to the market’s popularity.

Granted, not everyone attending on that day was there for the purpose of buying locally-grown food but keep in mind that any business first requires customers for what that business may wish to produce.

So keep that in mind while attending the revived Skeena Valley Fall Fair this weekend. Enjoy the work that has gone into the fair and also drop by the Kalum Community School Society’s booth to learn more about local food.