Food Quality & Freshness: Food quality and freshness improves dramatically when it is local. The food doesn’t have to travel thousands of miles, get stored in a facility, then get put on a shelf until someone buys it. Instead it is instead picked and made to order, improving both the quality and cost (ie. transportation, handling, storage)

• "Comparing apples to apples: An Iowa perspective on apples and local food systems" [PDF]. Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture
• "Local Food – A Rural Opportunity" [PDF]. Government of Alberta - Agriculture and Rural Development, 2010.

Economic Returns: These studies find that local businesses recirculate a greater share of every dollar in the local economy, as they create locally owned supply chains and invest in their employees.

• “Independent BC: Small Business and the British Columbia Economy” [PDF]. Civic Economics, Feb. 2013.
• "Now is the time to build sustainable food system resilience" [Article]. Canadian Commission for UNESCO and UNESCO Chair on Food, Biodiversity, and Sustainability Studies, Jul. 2020.
• PDF Download - Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development

Jobs: These studies show that locally owned businesses employ more people per unit of sales, and retain more employees during economic downturns, while big-box retailers decrease the number of retail jobs in a region.

• "The Workforce Multiplier Effect of Local Farms and Food Processors in Northwestern Ontario" [PDF]. Food Securit Research Network, Feb. 2013.
• "The Contribution of Large and Small Employers to Job Creation in Times of High and Low Unemployment" [PDF]. American Economic Review, 2012.
• "The effects of Wal-Mart on local labor markets" [PDF]. Journal of Urban Economics, 2008.
• "JOB CREATION OR DESTRUCTION? LABOR MARKET EFFECTS OF WAL-MART EXPANSION" [PDF]. Review of Economics and Statistics, 2005.