Weigh the difference: Organic certified or local?

I try to purchase as organic as possible, but given the choices you gave I would go locally produced conventional. I find that most locally grown produce is grown organically, but not certified. Even given the choice of a locally produced product with synthetic fertilizer and certified organic shipped up from the lower 48 I would probably go local. I consider my local area within the state so it may be shipped from the Matanuska Valley 300 miles away.

A couple of issues I've always looked at when using any product is transportation costs and corporate overhead. When we buy an organic, possibly packaged product from even a green, environmentally friendly corporation there are many hidden issues that impact the environment. To get a particular product from the ground to your table involves farming, transportation, marketing, pruchasing, executive salaries, IT costs, taxes, maybe packaging, and more. Even though jobs with a decent company are supported I will usually choose any product that has the closest path from producer to me.

 

I'd buy local. Transporting certified food over long distances is not sustainable.
Also if I buy local, I know the farm the food came from. That way I can learn whether Full Belly Farm carrots taste better than XYZ Farm carrots.

 

i'd buy something else that was both organic and local. i'm lucky i have a wonderful coop where i live... that i happen to work at.

 

I don't buy much bread, I prefer tortillas. Not a big fan of carrots either because of our soils they can't be grown locally. Tomatos, lettuce, green peppers and onions are my staples. And I grow most myself.

If faced with your original choice I'd opt for the bread.

 

Local Produce anyday of the week. Pretty much all the local produce in my area is Organic anyways and some of them are starting to make a lot of money in other parts of the country with their produce.
My reasons for choosing local over organic is mainly because I don't agree with fresh goods being transported for weeks/months on end. Sure, they may be organic, but by the time you've purchased them, they certainly ain't fresh or nutritious. Not to mention the mileage, fuel consumption etc of transporting the produce in the first place.

 

I'd buy local because it is one step closer to sustainablity. I try to buy organic as much as possible, but I'd have to go for local given a choice between the two. Luckily for me, most of the local stuff I get is organic.

 

Local.

OH and...I've got an interview there on Monday.

 

Organic. I don't care if it's trucked in from Mars.
I have a cousin who studies environmentally aquired cancers, specifically ones suspected to be caused by synthetic fertalizers and pesticides, so I am kinda turned off from the non-organic sector.

Now, I know the diesel that was burned in order to get it too me isn't much good either, however, their has been a surge in local growers turning organic (YAY!) because they saw a heavy demand for it in the supermarkets and decided to jump on board. I will be purchasing more local organics as they become available to me.

 

Hmm..may I assume the grocer is local rather than a chain? If the grocery is a chain, my answer changes to "I have a very slight preferance for 'local'."

 

Here we have the "Alaska Grown" program. Products certified to be produced here can lable their product with the "Alaska Grown" logo. So if I am buying at a chain store in town I will pick these products first, organic or not.

 

The problem with any labeling program, be it "Certified Organic" or "Alaska Grown" is that it is rule driven. Any producer who meets the requirements gets the label.
I suspect that there are products that meet the requirements of "Alaska Grown" (and get the label), but the money spent on those products goes away to some non-Alaskan corporation. If the intent of "AG" labeling was to help the local farmer, it is incomplete. If the intent was to identify food that has traveled a short distance, then it might be called a success.

Buying based on labeling is will get you food that meets specific requirements.
Buying local (i.e. knowing the farmer) allows you to buy food that meets individual, hard to codify requirements. "Tastes good" is one example of a hard to codify requirement.

 

Mike, that's an excellent point. I should ask some of the growers at the farmers market what their take is.

We are fortunate in that we grow about 50% of our own veggies. The first to stop to purchase is the the neighborhood farmer, then the farmers market, and lastly the "AK Grown" products at the chain store. Nothing like buying a product from the grower who still has the dirt from which it came on his hands.

 

The statments about the AG program are speculative. While there may be sub-sub-clauses on the conditions, my main point is that ANY requirement/label system invites people to meet the requirements while avoiding the intent.

 

Speculative, sure, but worth looking at. Those carrots that may indeed be grown in Alaska could be profiting Kraft Foods for all I know.

 

Local. Food miles is a subject that has been dear to my heart for some time. For a while in a local supermarket had a small organic section of F&V that had come from Sydney, 800k away. Kinda missing the point!

 

Most people who claim to want to eat organic, usually say it's for environmental reasons...as a lot of the conventional growing uses pesticides and herbicides which run off into our water system (but also goes into our bodies)...HOWEVER, I believe that trucking stuff in damages our environment MUCH more than some pesticides and herbicides. We can filter our water, but filtering our air is a totally different story

 

Presactly! Anyways, scientists do tests for carcinogens and you'll find that most things are likely to give you cancer or whatever. Surely, the environment and the atmosphere are more important in helping to sustain the world in the future than for just your lifetime?