A group of Nebraskans formed a network to promote growing and consuming local foods to improve the health of consumers and communities.

Some are calling the latest food craze a movement and it's causing supporters to go local.

"Local foods are more healthy because you know who produces them," said Kayla Churchill of the University of Nebraska Rural Initiative. "You can actually go out to a lot of these producers' farms and you can watch them pick your vegetables."

A group of Nebraskans looking to promote health both in the body and in the community formed a network to promote growing and consuming local foods.

"You can provide a living for a family with three or four acres," said Churchill. "For rural development, when you think about how many farmers could be on a thousand acres, that's a pretty cool percentage."

The local food movement encourages people to plant and harvest their fruits and vegetables, and only buy locally-produced meat and dairy products.

"As people are more aware of it then there's more of a need for it," said Marv Fritz of Garden Fresh Vegetables. "And then the economy - local people can grow local stuff. It keeps local people employed. The economic machine keeps moving. It keeps the money here instead of moving it someplace else."

But local food doesn't come without challenges.

"To be able to do what the big boys can do on our scale and still stay competitive in the marketplace has been one of our bigger challenges," Fritz.

Supporters of the local food movement say consumers shouldn't let price get in the way of making better decisions.

"It may be a little bit more expensive, but most good quality products are a little bit more expensive," said Churchill.

"As things progress then it gets easier," said Fritz. "As you go forward with more and more people using it then the economics of it turn around and in scale everybody can do things more economically when you can do them on a larger scale."

Better decisions that supporters say can affect health.

"What's more important than what we put into our bodies?"

The health of the local economy, the environment and your body.

Governor Dave Heineman set July 5 through July 11 as "Nebraska Local Foods Awareness Week" as a way to help promote local foods across the state.

For more information about the Nebraska Local Foods Network visit, http://localfoods.nebraska.edu or contact the University of Nebraska Rural Initiative at ruralinfo@unl.edu or (402) 472-2940.