Local vs. Organic Foods

LOCAL

What IS local food? Generally speaking, it is food that comes from your local city and in some cases the state, as a general statement.... within 100 miles of where you live. Although local food doesn't always mean that there is no use of pesticides, there are several advantages to eating them.

1. Taste
Local foods are by definition seasonal, at the peak of the particular growing season, consequently tasting much better. Check out what's in season here... http://www.chefkendra.com/seasonal_produce_chart.htm.
2. Health
The distance the produce has traveled from farm to shelf is less, so essential vitamins and nutrients are retained.
3. Diversity
About 96 percent of commercial vegetable varieties have gone extinct and buying local preserves the heirloom varieties. (2) "Simply put, a vegetable is classified as an heirloom if it is open-pollinated and has been cultivated for over 50 years. Heirloom seeds have typically been passed down by families from generation to generation. These are the same seeds our ancestors used to grow their vegetables, herbs, and fruit." (3)
4. Community
Meet the farmer that grows the food, other people concerned about healthy food choices, and support your local community!
5. Environment
Small farms restore and revitalize the soil unlike large commercial farms. (2) In addition, industrial agriculture promotes food borne illness, increases bacterial tolerance to antibiotics, and has been linked to several strains of influenza. Most importantly, it didn't have to travel 1500 miles to reach your plate saving precious fossil fuels. Simply put, eating local is better for the environment.

Despite the overwhelming advantages to local food, many people are concerned about the price. Local food is more expensive because it reflects the true price of growing food without the aid of government subsidies, "cheap oil", and underpaid labor. The unseen costs of the cheaper, farther traveled food in the grocery store chains is in the commodity food taxes we pay , the harm caused to the environment, and the lower quality of the produce. Unlike organic standards, which entail specific legal definitions, inspection processes, and labels, local means different things to different people, depending on where they live, how long their growing season is, and what products they are looking for." (1)

ORGANIC

A movement that hails back to the old ways of farming, organic farming seeks to return to "natural" methods. First, pesticides, herbicides and insecticides used ideally should be organic (naturally-occurring) and not synthetic. In Jonathan Safran Foer's EATING ANIMALS, he says that "for meat, milk, and eggs labeled organic, the USDA requires that animals must: (1) be raised on organic feed (raised without most synthetic pesticides and fertilizers; (2) be traced through their life cycle; (3) not to be fed antibiotics or growth hormones; and (4) have 'access to the outdoors'." Although a popular new commodity, organic food only accounts for 2% of the food consumed in the United States.

Ideally, organic foods are to be strictly monitored and regulated and must meet certain requirements given by the USDA. Whether or not this is actually the case is a hotly debated topic.

Limitations and Problems with Organic Food

1. The corporate market is getting involved in organics, meaning less and less money and opportunity for the small farmers.
2. Large-scale monocrop organic farming would still fail to sustain healthy soil like diversified agriculture (4).
3. Organic doesn't ensure proper treatment of farm workers. (4)
4. The ability to afford organic food is still a racial and social class issue.


It seems that in the choice between organic and local foods, each has its own benefits and downfalls.

Sources:
1. http://www.sustainabletable.org/issues/eatlocal/
2. The Locavore's Handbook by Leda Meredith
3. http://www.veggiegardeningtips.com/defining-times-for-heirloom-vegetable-varieties/
4. Cook, D. Christopher. Diet for dead planet, How the food industry is killing us.

Join the Locavore Movement:
http://www.localharvest.org
http://www.communitygarden.org
http://www.slowfoodusa.org/
http://www.nrdc.org/health/foodmiles
http://www.foodroutes.org
http://www.eatlocalchallenge.com/