Organic Food or Local Food: Which is Better?
In an ideal world, maybe all of our food could be both organic and local, but very few people can eat that way nowadays. Until recently, the emphasis was on organic food. Then, with the rise of the “locavore” movement, people began to realize the advantages of locally grown food.
If you haven’t come across the word locavore before, don’t be surprised. It was the 2007 word of the year for the Oxford American Dictionary. In other words, it’s a new term. Locavores are people who eat as much of their food as possible from local sources. Some people experiment with just eating food grown within about one hundred miles from their homes. This means that they are likely doing without coffee, bananas, avocados, and other tropical delights.
But most locavores are simply focusing on getting whatever they can locally, either from farmers’ markets or from their own gardens, and filling in as needed with things from further away.
Why is this going on? People have realized that food transported many miles, often many thousands of miles, isn’t so environmentally friendly. There are significant energy costs for the transportation. Of course, if we are talking about fresh produce, it may not be so fresh by the time they see it in their local grocery store. Locally grown produce often tastes better, and it may well provide more vitamins and minerals.
There are some arguments against the locavore movement. For example, some third world countries rely heavily for income on the sale of their produce. One writer calculated that tomatoes grown in the fields of West Africa and flown to England used less total energy than tomatoes grown in greenhouses in nearby Europe.
Returning to the question of organic food and local food. It’s usually not possible to know which one is going to be healthier for you, on a meal-by-meal basis. Research has shown repeatedly that organic foods are healthier than non-organic, which makes sense. They are not drenched with chemicals, and they may be grown on soils that are better cared for, with organic compost worked in. However, with the advent of mass consumer organic foods in chain stores, much food labeled organic may not be that well grown.
The best thing is to just do whatever you can to eat in a healthful way.
January 9th, 2010 at 2:23 pm
We are often told that we have to make a choice between buying local and buying organic. In fact, this is a false choice. Local and organic are not in competition with one another. On the contrary, they embrace many of the same values. They both emphasize support for the farmers involved in food production. And they both encourage people to consider the environmental impacts of their purchasing decisions. Plus, as more and more local farms make the shift to organic, the choice between local and organic disappears: to buy one is to support and reap the benefits of both.
What should you do, then, if you are in the grocery store and the option to purchase locally grown, organic products does not exist? Which type of product should you choose?
When faced with such a choice, consider the following: organic offers a range of benefits that non-organic local products do not. Because they are regulated by the federal government, products bearing the organic label must meet a strict set of production/handling guidelines. They must be made without the use of toxic and persistent pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, and genetic engineering. Additionally, they must not undergo irradiation or contain ingredients made from cloned animals. Local products are not held to any such standards, and therefore cannot be counted on to meet any of the aforementioned criteria. And, because the term “local” is itself undefined, no guarantees can be made about whether a product is, indeed, local!
Organic products are also distinct with respect to traceability. In order to meet federal regulations, careful records must be kept about every phase of organic production. This means that everything from the source of the seeds to the way the products are placed on store shelves must be documented. Moreover, each of these steps must be verifiable by a third party. Local products, by contrast, are neither required to provide such documentation nor to undergo third-party review. As such, no guarantees can be made about where local products come from or how they are handled.
Does this mean you should abandon buying locally made products? Not at all. Instead, it means you should be thoughtful about the local products you choose to buy. If they are labeled organic, you can feel confident that they have been produced in a manner that not only supports personal and environmental health, but also helps to ensure product integrity from the farm to your family.