Clutching an overstuffed plastic bag of snap peas, Bob Maclean emerges from J&F farmstand in Derry with a smile. He and his wife, Betty, have ditched the produce aisle at their local supermarket for their weekly visit to the farmstand.

“It makes a big, big difference,” Bob Maclean says. “It’s not like the junk you buy in the store.”

The Macleans are regulars at the farmstand | and they’ve got plenty of company. In fact, the pair are among a growing number of consumers across the country and in New Hampshire who are becoming more health conscious. Whether it’s making a special trip to a local farmstand or looking for the organic label in the supermarket, more people are looking for fresh food and locally produced food.

Finding it isn’t always easy. Much of the produce in local supermarkets has been shipped across the country, sometimes even from another country. That means more people are looking to local farms for food.

“I won’t eat any imported fruit or vegetable,” said Gert Gagnon, 67, of Raymond, a regular at both Kingston and Exeter’s farmer’s markets.

Gagnon buys almost all her fruits and vegetables from local farmstands, rarely from a supermarket. Instead, she stocks up on produce from her own garden and from local growers.

“When you go to the supermarket, you know it’s been sitting there a while,” she said. “I very seldom go into one.”

Richard Uncles, director of regulatory services for the New Hampshire Department of Agriculture, said he has seen substantial growth in the popularity of farmer’s markets over the last few years.

“People are looking for local food,” Uncles said. “That’s where these trends are going.”

Tainted food incidents | particularly the E. coli infections associated with fresh spinach last year | have more people concerned about where their food comes from.

“Each one of these outbreaks brings up things into people’s minds,” Uncles said. “People are afraid of factories handling their food.”

That has meant booming business for farmstands and local farmer’s markets, especially in Southern New Hampshire.

“I’ve noticed it in our area especially,” said Emery Pittman, owner of Pittman Farm in East Hampstead.

Pittman is a regular at weekly farmer’s markets in Kingston and Exeter. He also sells his produce at his own farmstand. He said he has noticed that people have become much more health conscious in the last few years, and they’re asking a lot more questions about chemical and pesticide use.

Gagnon, the Raymond resident, is one of those people. She said she likes buying from Pittman because she knows he doesn’t use any pesticides.

“I don’t have to wash a thing when I buy from him,” Gagnon said. “And I’m very particular when it comes to my fruits and vegetables.”

Local supermarkets have tried to cash in on the trend and look for local produce suppliers.

A Shaw’s Supermarkets spokesman said the company has found customers prefer locally grown produce to that trucked in from out of state.

“It’s becoming a larger and larger category,” said Mark Hardy, produce manager at Shaw’s in Derry. “And we’re trying to keep up with the demands.”

Shaw’s isn’t the only major supermarket chain thinking | and acting | locally. Hannaford Supermarkets has become a major supplier of locally grown and organic produce. The company’s strategy has been to identify all local growers in each store’s area and supply customers with as broad a selection as possible.

“We will go out of our way to get it locally,” said Caren Epstein, Hannaford corporate spokeswoman. “We have one of the more aggressive locally grown programs you will find.”

Hannaford looks to 24 growers in the southern part of the state alone, Epstein said, but even that’s not always enough. She said the company constantly tries to identify more local food producers to supply its stores.

Phil Fernando, owner of J&F farm in Derry, supplied Shaw’s Supermarkets with fresh produce for more than 10 years, but when the demands became too great, he had to back down.

“I could supply them with corn for 45 to 60 days,” Fernando said. “But they wanted corn for four to five months.”

It’s not just locally grown food that supermarkets want, but organic products, too. Hardy, the Derry Shaw’s produce manager, has been with the company for 10 years. He said he has noticed a dramatic increase in the number of organic products on the supermarket’s shelves.

“When I first started, there were about 10 to 12 items,” Hardy said. “Now there is over 100.”

Hannaford carries more than 3,500 organic products in each of its 159 New England stores, Epstein said, with more than 160 of those products found in the produce aisle. The chain is organically certified by San Diego-based Quality Assurance International.

The approximately 100 organic farms in New Hampshire represent a gradual increase over the last 20 years, according to Uncles. Most of those farms are in the northern part of the state. The southern half tends to have more farmer’s markets and nonorganic farms, he said.

Nationally, the organic industry is experiencing a 20 percent growth rate in consumers a year, according to Ronni Cummins, the national director of organic consumers associations. That’s a trend he expects to continue | and grow.

“People are concerned about their health,” Cummins said. “That’s a big trend across the country.”

Still, organic products make up just 3 percent of total food sales, according to a 2006 survey done by the Organic Trade Association.

One of the primary reasons for that less impressive bigger picture might be cost. Plain and simple, organic produce costs consumers more and not everyone is willing to pay the price.

“I think there will be a market for organic products if more people buy them, because then the prices should come down,” said Carol Simone, owner of Natural Marketplace in Salem. “Right now, I think people are looking for the farms. They know it’s fresh and picked that day. I’d go out of my way for that.”

The movement by consumers to farmer’s markets and farmstands is reminiscent of the past, according to Cummins of the national organic association. Back in the 1940s, most people got their food from their own farms or from local farmers. Cummins said he thinks consumers are headed back in that direction.

“Sixty years ago, everything people bought came from a 100-mile radius,” Cummins said. “That’s probably going to happen again. People are getting back to the natural ways of food.”