There are plenty of good reasons, from freshness to knowing the provenance of your food. But you may not know all of the other impacts that remote purchases have.

Local First does a great job of explaining this (by way of trends research firm PSFK .) They point out that nearly double the money leaves the local economy when buying things from afar — intangibles like accounting.

It’s not just the short-term money being spent elsewhere: longer-term effects happen too. Consider, for example, an ailing local economy that can’t afford good schools; this in turn contributes to less-trained local workers, meaning locally produced goods are less valuable.

When buying food, local makes even more sense. It’s not just the percentage of money that leaves the community, it’s the total cost as well. Shipping and storing food increases the total cost and reduces the money that makes its way into farmers’ pockets.

Can't we do better?

Earlier last week, California Governor Schwarzenegger announced $6 billion would be cut from school funding. That’s pretty devastating.

On the upside, the Child Nutrition Act, which governs the National School Lunch program — which feeds 30 million kids — is up for reauthorization this September.

State-wide and nationally, school budgets are continually being reduced. This means not only layoffs and closures, but shrinking opportunities to increase fresh, healthy foods for kids.

Schools struggle to get any fresh food — let alone farm-direct food — on their students’ tables. It doesn’t have to be this way, according to a growing number of committed citizens pushing for school food reform. Making the fresh food dream a reality will mean running a gauntlet of funding, staffing, and regulatory challenges.

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Enjoying the patio and sun at FarmsReach's Farmer-Chef Mixer

Farmers wake with the dawn chorus and sleep at sundown. Chefs are creatures of the night who live by their kitchens. While they might show up bleary-eyed, coffee-in-hand at the market to check out the latest produce, the two seldom find time to hang out. They both want to connect, but like ill-fated lovers in a vampire romance, getting them together is tough.

Connecting farmers and chefs is one of the reasons we built FarmsReach. But we figured we’d do something a bit more direct to celebrate the summer harvest and the growing local food community. So this past Saturday, we held our first Farmer-Chef Mixer at Americano near the Ferry Building market.

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Imagine having to appease an insatiable demand for all things local, artisanal, grass-fed, free-range, and sustainably-grown all while maintaining recession-friendly prices and turning a profit. In today’s economy it sounds like a superhuman feat, but here in the Bay Area we have a group of chefs that are proud to pull it off every day.

So what’s their secret? Creativity and dogged determination.  We’ve talked to a few our favorite local chefs and asked them to reveal a couple of their tricks.

Simplify

“We’ve simplified our menu,” says Jordan Grosser of The Alembic, “to appeal to a larger crowd but still keep the quality high. Or we’ll use a less expensive cut of meat but treat it as best we can.”

Diversify

Last month, a handful of San Francisco restaurants and bars introduced extended kitchen hours to entice nocturnal diners – Grosser and co-worker Ted Fleury are now serving up their signature small plates until 1am, as is executive chef Kevin Kroger of Monk’s Kettle.

Do-it-yourself

To cut delivery costs, many chefs frequent local shops and markets to collect product on their own time. “It seems like [distributors’] prices are getting higher by the day,” one chef observed. This was a factor that led Firefly Restaurant’s chef de cuisine Luc Prellwitz, to start rounding up produce at the Ferry Plaza Farmer’s Market.

While their strategies may differ, there’s a common thread: refusal to compromise.

Merdol Erkal, co-owner of Lolo, sums it up: “If we couldn’t keep working with our farms, we would [have to close]. That’s the whole point of it for us.”

Founder Melanie Cheng talks about sustainable food and FarmsReach’s place in the cycle. Watch it.

We’re so spoiled in the SF Bay Area.

Not only do we he have one of the highest concentrations of family farmers, top restaurant chefs, and a solid network of advocates for a sustainable food supply, we also have a wonderfully geeky South Bay neighbor, Silicon Valley.  Put these together and you create magic on the plate.

This magic is helped by a growing number of farmers and chefs who are stepping it up and using web tools and technology to operate more efficiently and profitably – all while providing fresh, tasty foods to us all.

One of these tools is FarmsReach,  a new software platform connecting farms with wholesale buyers through the power of local markets.

FarmsReach now has 50 local farmers and 75 San Francisco restaurant chefs registered.  Below is our growing Pilot Restaurant group.

Eat well and support these Pilot Resto chefs who are the dedicated change-makers — committed to using FarmsReach for their weekly ordering and helping develop the ideal local food sourcing tool.

• A16 – Chef/Owner Liza Shaw
• Americano – Executive Chef Paul Arenstam, Pastry Chef Gail Corrado
• Daffodil Restaurant – Chef de Cuisine Jeramiah Wheeless
• Foreign Cinema – Chef de Cuisine Kevin Davidson
• Globe – Executive Chef Jason Tallent
• Jardiniere – Executive Chef Craig Patzer, Chef de Cuisine Reylon Agustin, Sous Chef Michael Hung
• Lulu Restaurant – Sous Chef John Stewartz
• Masa’s Restaurant – Executive Chef Gregory Short
• Monk’s Kettle – Executive Chef Kevin Kroger
• One Market Restaurant – Executive Chef Mark Dommen, Sous Chefs Thomas Call & Ismael Macias
• Orson – Sous Chef Elgin Espiritu
• Ritz-Carlton Hotel – Executive Sous Chef Kaleo Adams, Banquet Chef Nate Beriau
• Rue Saint Jacques – Executive Chef/Owner Eric Lanvert
• Towns’ End Restaurant & Bakery – Executive Chef/Owner David Sperber
• Zuppa – Chef de Cuisine Liam Bonner

If you’re a chef in the Bay Area and interested in becoming a Pilot Restaurant, email melaniec [at] farmsreach [dot] com.

If your farm is currently serving the Bay Area at farmers markets or with a delivery route, email tomg [at] farmsreach [dot] com.

VP  of Programs Tom Grace examines how technology is transforming the way farms work.  Listen to it.

Journalist Alexis Madrigal looks at how technology and internetworking are changing the future of farming.  Read it.

Michelle Riggen-Ransom blogs about FarmsReach as part of the Pop!Tech conference.  Read it. 

Journalist Jennifer Kho looks at how FarmsReach is impacting America’s food supply.  Read it.