VIDALIA — Eat local.

That’s what the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry is challenging Louisianians to do this week.

Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain released the challenge to only eat food grown in Louisiana this week to coincide with National Farmers Market Week.

“We’ve got more than a hundred local farmers markets and fruit stands across the state,” Strain said in a news release. “Think of the possibilities — peaches from Ruston, watermelons from Franklinton, blueberries from the Felicianas, crawfish from the Atchafalaya and pork and beef from your local meat markets and rice and gravy.”

But for Waterproof-based producer Buddy Miller, it only makes sense to eat local.

“It is fresher, the nutrition is better and you are supporting your local agriculture economy and not the economy of another state or a foreign nation,” he said.

It’s easy to see how locally-grown produce is fresher and supports the local economy, but more nutritious? Isn’t one vegetable as good as another?

Not so, Miller said.

“The nutrition, taste and flavor is concentrated in most fruits and vegetables at the very end of the growing process,” he said.

“If you pick it when it is green and then ride it 2,000 miles, it can’t generate any more nutrition. You’ve severed its umbilical cord.”

As a seller, Miller said he often gets thanks for selling his produce.

“We get compliments every week and appreciation for what we are doing,” he said. “People feel good about supporting local agriculture.”

A list of state farmers markets and roadside fruit stands can be found on the LADF Web site at www.ldaf.state.la.us/portal/Portals/0/MKT/Market_development/Directories/2008food.pdf.

Other producers can be found just by watching for stands on the side of the road.