What's safe to eat now?

What we eat and where it comes from is a critical part of human health. In fact, 59% of Americans think it's a top factor to know where their food comes from. And 54% prioritize food that is consistently available locally.

And one of the best places to get that locally sourced food? Small family farms and farmers markets. I love a good farmers market. And I'm not alone.

There are over 8,700 farmers markets in the US where roughly 40,000 farmers sell their products, and they seem to be getting a bit more attention thanks to a certain lettuce related issue. Americans are growing weary of the rising number of recalls

related to those stomach churning cyclospora and salmonella outbreaks. With only 55% of Americans feeling very or somewhat confident in the safety of the food supply, buying direct from your local farm could be the answer. But how does a small family farm business compete with

major grocery stores for customers? And what's behind their sales pitch for safer and fresher food? I came out here to Camarillo, California to check out McGrath Family Farms.

This farm has a pretty unique model. It's a collective of a few smaller farmers working land that's been a Southern California staple for generations. Phil McGrath, who's my mentor, he's the fourth generation McGrath on this same land.

Him and his siblings, they started some of the first farmers markets in our area. A group of us that were apprentices here, we're carrying on that legacy. We are 35 acres of certified organic land.

We grow a lot of different crops, over 20 different varieties of produce and vegetables as well as over 20 different varieties of flowers. McGrath Family Farms practices regenerative and organic farming, which means fewer chemicals and machinery.

But this more natural approach also means they're frequently adjusting to mother nature. I always say farmers, especially smaller farmers or mid-size farmers, we're some of the best problem solvers around because we're dealing with problems constantly.

You plant those seeds, you're investing all your upfront capital, right, in all this. And you're hoping those seeds come up, that the conditions are right for those seeds to germinate. My whole family does work here.

So my mom, my dad, my grandpa, my uncles, and then my siblings and I. Another 10 to 15 workers here at the farm that do an assortment of things whether it's packing, weeding, harvesting, washing the produce.

Growing crops organically, there's going to naturally be challenges. Weeding is one of the biggest costs of organic farming. We spend all our time weeding. Then you have pest pressure that comes in. You might have some kind of soil pathogen you got

to figure out. And the second you harvest that crop, it needs to get to our end customer immediately, as quickly as possible, to have all that viability, to have all that nutrient density.

So, how do only a couple dozen people maintain food freshness and availability while keeping the business afloat? Everything is harvested for the markets the day before. Then, everybody packs up the produce and fans out to several farmers markets in Southern California each week, all of

them about 50 miles or less from the farm. Our whole family, especially on Sunday where when we have two farmers markets, everyone's away at a market. That's a lot of ground to cover and the cycle restarts again every week.

If there's any disruption, it can be costly. We can't miss the market because we're expecting the money that's made throughout the week to be able to reinvest it into our seeds and our employees. I think for the most part, our pricing has been