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Dan Foley wants to play matchmaker.

If you eat food (we're assuming you do), he's looking to pair you with someone who grows the stuff — preferably, one of your Montgomery County neighbors.

"I believe Montgomery County has a perfect blend of urban and rural," said Foley, a Montgomery County commissioner.

And that provides a golden opportunity to marry food growers with consumers — to the economic and environmental benefit of everyone involved, Foley says.

It was Foley's phone call to Brian Raison of the Ohio State University Extension's Dayton office one year ago that helped launch an effort that became known as Miami Valley Grown.

The effort is kicking into high gear this summer with several initiatives designed to connect local growers with local buyers — a perfect fit for the national "locavore" trend of consuming foods produced close to home.

At the forefront of those efforts are the Miami Valley's farmers markets, which are growing in number and in variety of offerings.

One of the newest, in Centerville, is poised to launch July 10, and was organized in part by Michael Malone, who grows organic vegetables, fruits and flowers off of Clyo Road in south Centerville.

Several other area farmers markets that depend largely on seasonal vegetables and fruits are rolling out the welcome mats for the first time this year later this week (see accompanying list).

Raison and others involved with Miami Valley Grown are also reaching out to restaurants to try to place more locally produced foods on menus and to local universities to help growers do business with the region's higher-education community.

The organization also developed a questionnaire for local grocers inquiring what they require of local growers to qualify for selling to the stores.

"We think consumers will want to buy locally grown and produced, signed products," Raison said. "Consumer habits are slow to change, but there's definitely a cachet surrounding the concept of eating local right now."

Dorothy Lane Markets — a three-store grocery chain in Dayton's south suburbs — is taking the "eat local" concept to a new level this summer by issuing an "Eat Local" challenge and inviting growers to sell their products at "farmers markets" at their stores: July 26 at DLM Washington Square in Washington Twp., Aug. 9 at the Oakwood store, and Aug. 23 at DLM's newest store in Springboro. At least a dozen farms and food producers have signed up to participate.

The grocer's "Eat Local Challenge" includes drawings for gift cards for those who meet the challenge, which calls for customers to add three local produce items to their cart in July, prepare any DLM local food recipe in August, and create their own meal using only local foods in September.

Miami Valley Grown singles out DLM for praise on its Web site and also lists the region's fruit and vegetable growers, meat and egg producers, restaurants that use local foods, dairies and honey producers.

For more information, go to montgomery.osu.edu/Local-Foods

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2258 or mfisher@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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