At Associated Food Stores, Harmons Grocery and Smith’s Food & Drug, our frontline workers have been hard at work ensuring safe, fresh foods are available to feed your families. As the torch of vibrant, wholesome foods is passed from the local farmers and ranchers whose livelihoods depend on your support to our stockers, baggers, cashiers and more, we take the responsibility of feeding your families and respecting the efforts of these hardworking folks with great care.
In the months since this crisis began we’ve witnessed bare store shelves, imagery of rivers of milk being poured to waste and footage of vegetables being plowed into the earth. The magnitude of the impacts that the coronavirus has had on our lives simply cannot be overstated. Since the news of this terrible disease has come to light, it has never been more apparent that a safe, strong food supply chain is critical to food security and public confidence.
Farmers, ranchers and meat processors in particular have endured the burden of this crisis to an extreme degree. As many aspects of our lives have adapted to today’s needs, you can take heart knowing our agricultural leaders are hard at work ensuring the rivers of our food supply continue to flow to ensure fresh meat, fruit and vegetables fill our store shelves and your kitchen tables.
As you drive through the dusty back stretches of Utah and see cattle and sheep grazing along our beautiful country roads or stumble upon a small urban farm tucked inconspicuously into your own neighborhood, you’ll notice agriculture and its importance is all around us. In a few short weeks, our picnic tables will be piled high with sweet summer corn, pies heaped with vibrant tart cherries, rolls with honey butter harvested from hives in every corner of the state and so much more. Utah’s agricultural heritage has enriched our meals and our lives for generations and it’s up to us to ensure this continues.
Small changes lead to big impacts. When shopping for groceries, whether online or in-person, we implore you to seek out local products and producers and support them with whatever means you have available, be it a shopping cart filled to the brim with a bounty of ingredients fit for a full Sunday supper or an online cart with a few carefully selected local pantry staples.
The impact of your purchase of local agricultural products stretches further than you might imagine. Each time you choose to pick up a local product from our shelves, you support the creation and continuance of local jobs and help our family farms and ranches stay in business while also feeding your family fresh, high-quality and safe foods at your dinner table.
Be well, eat well and as you do so, take comfort in the knowledge that as you nourish yourself and your family, you nourish our economy, the security of our food supply and the great people who keep us all well-fed in challenging and good times.
Chris Smith, Harmons Grocery
Chris Smith, Harmons Grocery;
Jared Rowley, Smith’s Food and Drug
Jared Rowley, Smith’s Food and Drug;
Marty Berlin, Associated Food Stores
Marty Berlin, Associated Food Stores
This commentary from Smith’s, Harmon’s and Associated Food Stores was written in partnership with Utah’s Own, a state-run program devoted to helping residents discover local food and agricultural products.
