Ag Tourism

Why Buy Okanogan Grown Products?

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Freshness, Taste, and Health

Locally grown produce is usually harvested within 48 hours of being purchased. Produce picked and eaten at the height of freshness tastes better and retains more nutrients.

Variety

Local farmers are not limited to the few varieties that are bred for long distance shipping and shelf life. Often they raise wonderful and unusual varieties you will never find on supermarket shelves.

Personal Connections

Knowing the farmer who grows your food means food is no longer anonymous. It has a story. You know the family that works to raise it, and the land where it grows.

Community Food Security

Local food production gives you control of your food dollar by keeping food supply in the hands of your neighbors and allowing you to influence how your food is grown. Dependence on far away food sources leaves a region vulnerable to supply disruptions and tends to promote larger, but fewer and less diversified farms that may hurt both the environment and local economies.

Preserve Our Rural Landscape

Buying from local farms helps keep land in agriculture and ensures that future generations will enjoy seeing green rolling fields, barns and livestock as they travel through our area.

Developed by the Okanogan County Tourism Council, Okanogan Grown is a concept developed to support our local farms and small businesses through creating a recognizable brand that will assist the consumer who wishes to purchase locally grown products. The Okanogan Grown logo is available for farmers and producers to incorporate into their product labels, and the Okanogan Grown Ag Guide is published to allow residents and visitors the opportunity to discover our agricultural community and have an easy reference to find food, value added products, activities, fruit stands and much more. The Okanogan County Tourism Council has created a Crop Identification program that works closely with farmers to identify crops along the main highways, showing locals and visitors alike the diversity of agriculture in Okanogan County. For more information on this or any other projects of the Okanogan County Tourism Council please contact us.