News Subscribe  to Our Newsletter Sign  up for Email Updates CGF  In the News Press  Inquiries Past  Articles Calendar			Looking  for local by Jered Lawson Heading up Highway One, I recently stopped for a burrito at a popular Half Moon Bay taqueria. Waiting in line, I got to wondering how far the beans traveled to get there. While I drove about 45 miles from Santa Cruz, there's a good chance the contents of my lunch came even farther - the average food product travels 1500 miles before reaching its final destination. Could Half Moon Bay's buzzing burrito bar include  local beans, lettuce, and salsa? San  Mateo and Santa  Clara Counties produce more than 750,000 pounds of beans a year -  which could amount to a lot of burritos. Most of the other ingredients  in my lunch are already being produced in our region - or could be produced  locally.  Besides burritos, how can local farmers get more  of their goods into the bellies of local residents? Farmers'  Markets - including the new coastal  market at Cetrella's  restaurant on Main Street in Half Moon Bay - are one sure way. A number  of restaurants feature local products, including Café  Gibraltar and Pasta  Moon on the Coastside and many on the Bay side. But most of us still  find it difficult to "buy local." Think about it for a second. What did  you eat at your last three meals? Was any of it from a local farm or garden?  When you went to the market, was it easy to discern which foods were grown  locally?  The Central Coast Chapter of the Community  Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF) recently started a program  on the Central Coast to help identify which businesses support local farms,  and to help consumers find locally grown foods in the grocery store and  on restaurant menus. CAFF is working hard to develop constructive relationships  among consumers, distributors, retailers, food buying institutions, and  farmers. To best reach consumers, CAFF is creating a presence in the retail sector. We are using a buy-local label - coupled with outreach, education activities, and media coverage - to heighten understanding and recognize the values people place on our local agriculture. We imagine people will "vote with their food dollar" and begin to hold "their" agriculture in higher esteem. We want people to develop a sense of place through their food. Ultimately, such a connection will lead to greater protection and enhancement of our agricultural lands - and will also help develop practicable local food sources for our community. In our program's pilot year, we have begun campaign activities in Santa Cruz County. We have plans to expand to surrounding counties in the Central Coast region - those whose watersheds feed into the Monterey Bay Sanctuary - including San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties. Someday, maybe we will be able to walk into that taqueria and see the local label on the menu - and know that we are helping to preserve local farm land, one burrito at a time.  Jered Lawson is a Regional Coordinator for the Community Alliance with Family  Farmers (CAFF) on the Central Coast. With regional chapters throughout  California, CAFF is a nonprofit founded in 1978 to build a movement of  rural and urban people that fosters family-scale agriculture that cares  for the land, sustains local economies, and promotes social justice. For  more information about the Buy Fresh, Buy Local program, visit www.caff.org. Published July 2003 in Green  Footnotes. Page last updated July 9, 2003