CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Does anyone really want to spend more money and use more gas to eat less delicious food? You might be doing just that.

According to the Sierra Club, produce at your local grocery store travels an average of 1,500 miles to get there.

“It has to get there somehow, and a lot of oil gets burned up in the process,” said Chatham Olive from the Charlotte chapter of the Sierra Club.

“Local agriculture is becoming the ‘in’ thing,” said Olive.

There are several ways to save all that gas, and avoid the hike in price that comes with it at the grocery store checkout.

You can grow it yourself. You can find a farmer in your area and work something out. Or, the easy way, visit a farmers market.

There are several small markets in the Charlotte area open usually only on Saturday mornings, like the one in the Matthews town square for example.

These small farmers markets are very good, but the limited operating hours don’t fit everyone’s schedules.

“I like fresh vegetables, I’m out here every morning when they open,” said Virginia Johnson.

Johnson referred to the official North Carolina Department of Agriculture farmers market located in west Charlotte that is open seven days a week until 6p.m. all spring and summer.

“Everything on this table here is grown in Cherryville, North Carolina,” said farmer Kenny Baxter.

“We got ‘maters, cucumbers, squash, green beans -- all home grown and raised,” said Baxter.

He is one of many local farmers who set up a table at the large, covered farmers market located near the old coliseum on Yorkmont Road.

The food here is not only very fresh, in most cases it costs a lot less than it would in a conventional store and chances are it only needed a short drive in a pickup truck to get here.

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VIDEO: CHECK OUT THE CHARLOTTE FARMERS MARKET, CLICK HERE!

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“Even at the farmers market, you have to be discerning when you buy,” said Olive.

While the Sierra Club fully endorses farmers markets and buying local food as a way to be environmentally friendly, they say even here you need to ask questions.

“Seventy-five percent of the food and farmers there are from the local area; North Carolina, South Carolina, maybe even the mountains of Tennessee, but some come from much farther away,” said Olive.

Even at the farmers market, a small percentage of produce is trucked in much like it is at the grocery store, not really saving any gas, money or being any fresher.

The trick, according to Olive, is to just talk to the seller. Ask where they are from and where they got the fruits and vegetables if they didn’t grow it themselves.

Signs will also help you. At one farmers table there were signs that said “Fresh From Lincoln County” on some bins of food and “Gaffney, South Carolina” on others.

When asked about it, the farmer told WSOCTV.com he grew some himself and the rest was grown by another farmer he knows. He said they trade off taking it all to the market.

Also, don’t assume just because you buy produce at a farmers market that it is organic. Some is and some isn’t. Again, the best way to know for sure is to just ask.

For a slideshow of pictures taken at the Charlotte Farmers Market, and a link to find other farmers markets in the area, check the sidebar of this article.