Food Agriculture

Explore Local Food

  • John E. Woodmansee
  • Photo by Adobe Stock
  • July 17, 2026

Consider stepping out of what may be your normal grocery store routine to explore locally produced food during Local Food Week, July 24-Aug. 2, 2026. The Northeast Indiana Local Food Network announced the week featuring farms, markets, artisan food producers, restaurants, and organizations that bring local food from our land to our tables.

The Northeast Indiana Local Food Network is comprised of producers in LaGrange, Steuben, Noble, DeKalb, Kosciusko, Whitley, Allen, Wabash, Huntington, Wells, and Adams Counties. The 10-day celebration features:

  • 117 Tours, workshops, and dinners hosted across Northeast Indiana counties
  • 40 Hosts including farms, markets, restaurants & food & beverage producers
  • 15 New Local Food Week Hosts opening their doors to Local Food Week guests.

Plan the events you want to attend from dozens of family-friendly farm & garden tours, unique behind-the-scenes experiences and tastings, and special farm-to-fork dinners. Connect with those who grow, sell, serve, and support the local food we all love.

There are varying definitions of local food. Northeast Indiana Local Food Network states that some people define local food as food grown within a state, region, or within a specific number of miles of your table. According to the USDA, local food is the direct or intermediated marketing of food to consumers that is produced and distributed in a limited geographic area. The Northeast Indiana Local Food Network defines local food as food grown, raised, produced, sold, and eaten within the local food system in the 11 counties of Northeast Indiana. 

“People in our region are rediscovering the delight of eating fresh food, raised nearby,” said Zach Hawkins, 6th-generation farmer at Hawkins Family Farm in Wabash County. “It’s a way of farming and eating that was ordinary to past generations in this place, of course, given our rich soils and deep-rooted agricultural heritage.”

On a larger scale, the Indiana State Department of Agriculture’s Indiana Grown initiative was created to promote products that are grown or made by Hoosiers, for Hoosiers. Indiana Grown producers feature fresh food grown from the soil to artisan goods crafted with care. Indiana Grown membership is free to qualified businesses and farms that grow, raise, process, and/or package products within the state of Indiana. Look for the Indiana Grown logo.

Additionally, follow Purdue Extension’s Diversified Farming and Food Systems initiatives and programs that support local food systems at https://extension.purdue.edu/anr/_teams/dffs/food_systems/index.html.

Find complete details on Local Food Week for northeastern Indiana at https://www.neifood.org/news/local-food-week-2026.