At a typical grocer y store, 91 cents out of each dollar you spend goes to suppliers, processors, middlemen and marketers. Only 9 cents of each dollar goes to the people producing the food. In the United States, a wheat farmer may receive about 6 cents of each dollar spent on bread, about the cost of the bag the bread is wrapped in. But at farmers markets, 80 to 90 cents of ever y dollar you spend stays with the farmer.

Such is the miracle of modern food growing and distribution that many fruit s and vegetables can be bought year-round. But out-of-season strawberries have to travel great distances to reach you in snowy January. That travel damages the environment, and fruit that is bred to travel or picked unripe often isn’t as tasty, as good or as fresh as local goods.

For a handy, printable calendar of your state’s seasonal foods, go to: www.sustainabletable.org/shop/eatseasonal.

This article originally appeared in the May/June 2005 issue of World Ark magazine, a publication of Heifer International. Used with permission.