Local vs Organic--Which one do you prefer?

[Julie]

I just read this article about making a choice between buying locally or organic, and now I'm curious. Ideally, we'd all have locally grown organic food at our fingertips. If not, what's more important to you: local or organic? Share your thoughts...

[Kim Ridley]

Hi Julie,

Thanks for this great question! Both are important, but in a situation where I had to choose between local food or organic food grown far away, I would go for local food from small local farmers.

Here in Maine, we eat that way in the summer. I try not to buy any supermarket produce, even if it's organic, starting in mid-July and running through September. We grow most of our own veggies and what we can't raise we buy at local farms. Some, but not all of the farms, are organic. I try to buy extra produce from local farms to freeze or can as well.

Not only is eating fresh local produce an incredible pleasure, but it also helps support the local food economy, which will become even more important as we deal with peak oil. It's also just a great way of showing gratitude to the local farmers, who are real heroes.

[LiaMack]

I prefer organic, however, if it has to travel 1500 miles to get to my table, I'd take local over organic. I'm supporting local agriculture and usually only the organic farmers anyway. Some local farmers aren't organic yet they practice organic farming - they are just not certified organic.

[Afriendof B]

I've probably said enough on this topic elsewhere, but...

1st. Local Organic (for me Local is within 20 miles of my home. See Living Locally or my blog posts for more on this.)
2nd. Local
3rd. Regional Organic
4th. Commodity Organic (at this point there isn't much difference in the quality, safety, or the producers.)

[Julie]

i remember your writing, Afriendof B. what a great challenge to keep it within 20 miles from home. that's great!
local food is important to us. but for my little baby, i prefer organic (especially for things like berries). thankfully, during the summer i can grow most of our veggies in my own garden.

[Afriendof B]

Kid food is a tough one!! Finding good, fresh, local fruit year round is almost impossible. We use a lot of season extenders for the veggies and do pretty well. For fruit we have been freezing (we still have about 8 lbs of fresh frozen blueberries in the freezer, and the kids like them mostly frozen. My son wont eat the fresh ones, but he will eat the frozen ones by the bowl full), drying, and bottling. It's not quite as good as fresh, but it is much less suspect.

[Julie]

great idea! i should do more freezing of our fruits and veggies. my daughter would love frozen blueberries (or really anything i put on the highchair tray!). thanks for that tip.

[Kimberly Maria Newton de Klootwyk]

Definately needs to be both. It cannot be considered "organic" in my opinion, if it is using tons of fossil fuels to get to my table.

this is not to say that I do not consume organic coffee that definately does not come from my local California farms...

[Brenda]

Organic! I want to know my food has no pesticides.

[TC]

Local and organic - or organic.
If the issue is the amount of fossil fuel that is used in transportation, I'd be curious to see how much fossil fuel is used in the production of the local non organic food. We'd have to factor in the amount of gas used to truck in the pesticides to the local area, the impact they have on the local soil and ecosystem, the fossil fuel used to spread the pesticides not to mention the actual manufacturing of the pesticides themselves. For me, I prefer organic and local whenever possible. But - I am a java junkie and haven't been able to grow coffee myself so organic shade grown at least mitigates the amount of fossil fuels consumed in the process of getting to my cup. With our food system being as broken as it is - I would prefer not to use the toxins directly on the soil. But that is my take on it.

[Brenda]

TC, you can find organic coffee online and order it that way but I'm uncertain if it will cut down on the fuel costs but it does taste wonderful as in everything that is free of pesticides. I'm engrossed in reading Silent Spring by Rachel Carson which makes me even more aware of how damaging pesticides are in our cycle of nature - from the pesticides sprayed on hay which the cows eat, to the hormones in milk, eggs and butter that we eat. So eating organic is common sense to our physical well-being. I do admire all you organic farmers living out in the country and keeping the soil free of toxins.

[TC]

I would love to be able to live up to being a farmer - but the reality is I live rurally and am still dependent on getting random food from town. That is where I get my organic shade grown coffee from. ; ) But we all do what we can to lessen our foot print. Rachel Carson's Silent Spring was such a revolutionary book - Have your read The Ethics of what you eat? It's really good - Peter Singer is one of the coauthors.

[Barbara Bitzer Richter]

Hi Kim,

I would like to start a community garden in my neighborhood. While we do have many organized CSAs, I am looking to work with my real neighbors to share the work and harvest. My property is not well suited for a large garden, but my retired neighbor has a beautiful fenced in garden space. Do you have any tips on organizing a neighborhood garden?

PS...I look forward to seeing you again at the Monadnock Waldorf School on April 4. Get in touch with me if you can. Barbara