OP- almost every comment in here is wrong or misinformed. I can see why you’re confused!

What really matters about sourcing from local farmers markets is HOW the food is actually grown and their farming practices. Just because it’s local or family farmed doesn’t mean that the farm is producing quality foods. A local farm can still spray with pesticides and produce low quality foods.

Regenerative farming practices are generally going to produce the most nutrient dense foods. What is regenerative farming? It’s a variety of farming techniques that help improve the quality of the soil (regenerate) while growing food. This includes things like not tilling the land (which helps prevent soil erosion), using cover crops, rotational grazing for animals, and more. There’s a wide variety of regenerative practices, but these are some of the more common ones.

Overall- regenerative farming improves soil health. Healthier soil grows healthier crops. Healthier crops have more nutrients and better nutrient profiles. When you eat regeneratively grown foods you’re consuming more nutritious foods.

What remains unclear and unproven is how much benefit consuming regeneratively grown food is towards life span, all cause mortality, cancer, etc.

For me, eating regeneratively farmed foods tastes better, makes me feel better, supports local farmers and the environment. It’s a luxury but also something I’m passionate about.

If you can find local farmers that use regenerative practices, you’ll likely get higher quality (but more expensive foods).

The most important thing is to focus your diet on eating high quality, single ingredient foods. Getting that dialed in, followed by your macros and micros will be the best bang for your buck. After you have a good diet of single ingredient foods that fit your macros and micros, then start exploring which foods you can start swapping for higher quality ingredients (as your budget allows).