If you are committed to buying food that is produced locally and sustainably now you have more help in finding it. You can use your smart phone, tablet or computer to locate information about various regional foods, whether your goal is to find some fresh organic kale from a nearby farm, or to trace a tainted food product in the case of a contamination or recall.

The interest in mapping where food comes from and tracing the supply chain of food has resulted in some innovative web based tools that are creating transparency in the food supply. Some of these food maps are being built through citizen participation for data gathering, and the more people that participate the more complete and useful the maps become.

Redwood City California is home to HarvestMark, a business that has created a barcode system for tracing the origins of fresh produce. You can download the app for an iPhone for using the barcode directly, or by entering the code numbers into an Android to get information on a product; but this program relies on the producer’s participation. According to a recent article in Urban Farm Magazine, the company has over 200 customers representing over 2,000 farms.

Food Sprout is a company that harnesses grassroots participation to create their maps of sustainable food. Their ambitious mission is to “map the world’s food supply chain”. Their purpose is to help restaurants and food companies offer sustainable food, and to provide information for decision making about the food people consume. To contribute to the database you can create an account on the Food Sprout web site and enter information on your favorite products, such as the local suppliers.

Where Can I Find Braeburn Apples Locally?

Another food mapping web site is LocalFoodMap.Net. They use Google Maps to find farms and highlight them on your local map. Searching is done by entering keywords of the produce that you are looking for and your location:

Find: > Apples >Near Bendigo Victoria >Search

The listings for the produce will be placed on the map as icons, then you click the icons for details about the product, similar to searching for a restaurant. The results you get will vary in terms of how close to your area they are, but as more local producers enter their details, your results will become more localized.

What’s in Season?

Epicurious is a site popular with foodies for recipes and cooking tips. It also hosts an interactive Seasonal Ingredient Map that you can use to find what’s fresh and in season in your area, as well as useful recipes and cooking tips.

To research the sustainability status of your seafood when you are out and about, you can try the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch Program for your phone. The latest version has Project FishMap, which allows you to share the locations of restaurants and markets where you’ve found sustainable seafood. This is yet another example of a project that benefits from participation to build a successful result that benefits the community of users.

The internet is a ready source of great tools for green living, but my favorite “low-tech” way of finding delicious locally grown food is to shop weekly at the city’s local farmer’s market; another good local food option, which is even more sustainable, try your hand at growing your own food.

Reprinted with permission from Ecolocalizer