Organic vs Local: What’s a Parent to Choose?!
Organic vs local. We’ve all heard the debate. Or at least heard about the debate. But, if you’re anything like me, making sense of it all can be overwhelming. (And I live, work, and breathe this stuff.) Each “side” makes a compelling argument about why they are the better, healthier, more sustainable choice. (Here is a brief listing of the pro’s and con’s of each.) And, then there are arguments like this one that suggest neither is particularly sustainable. What are parents—who barely have time to read, much less analyze the net health and environmental impact of our food choices—to do?
I usually tackle a topic like this when I have a firm opinion to share and resources to point to (so you can come up with your own firm opinion). But, the truth is, I’ve been thinking about this for ages and haven’t come up with anything convincingly definitive. But, I have a gut feeling about what’s best for my family and, though I have no idea if it’ll be helpful, I thought I’d share it with you. It only makes sense as we find ourselves in the thick of farmer’s market season, opting for perfectly ripe, just picked, local conventional produce. (How come there aren’t more local organic farms!)
“Organic”—like so many food labels these days—can be hard to trust. (Quick aside: our friends at Cheap Healthy Good recently posted 26 Common Food Labels, Explained.) Many major organic brands are run by larger conventional food conglomerates that perpetuate industrialized food production and/or support chemical farming. And some say that with such lax FDA oversight, the organic label may not actually guarantee organic food. That said, the idea is that organic foods are free of pesticides and possibly even more nutritious (though, if that’s true, it may depend on how long it’s taken the food to get from the farm to your plate).
Local food is just that—food grown near you. It’s often more delicious since you get it much closer to the time that it’s been picked. And it’s said that it’s better for the planet since fewer fossil fuels are burned in transport from farm to consumer. (Though, if it’s conventional local food, what about the shipping of pesticides? Just asking.)
In general, I have decided that, at least while feeding small children, it makes sense to buy organic as often as possible. Though some say it’s no guarantee that I’m feeding my family toxic free foods, it’s the best bet. With children who have still-developing immune systems and who eat a larger proportion of fruits and veggies compared to their body weight (as opposed to adults), keeping pesticides off of our dinner plates is of paramount importance. Here are a bunch of other reasons to eat organic that Michelle and I discovered while researching ChowBaby foods.
But then there’s the incredible value of making sure that my ChowBaby gets to taste the perfection of a just picked plum, peach, or summer squash. What better way to learn about how delicious and versatile natural foods can be?! When I have the opportunity to provide that to him—which is usually when we get produce at our local farmer’s market—I can’t resist.
When buying conventional foods—local or not—I try, whenever possible, to avoid the organic dirty dozen (listed here, along with the 12 least contaminated fruits and veggies). Otherwise, especially in winter when local produce here is extremely limited, I stick to organic as strictly as possible. I get a little lax in summer. Local cherries (as you’ll see in a soon to be posted recipe!) are just too scrumptious to resist.
So there you have it. Because I have kids, I mostly opt for organic over local, except at peak produce times when delicious freshness trumps everything else. What about you? Do you think about organic vs. local? What do you choose? How does cost factor in? We’d love to know. And, in the meantime, here are some recipes to make with your produce—whether it’s local or organic or (if you’re lucky) both!
- Smoothies for breakfast, snack, or even dinner!
- These Chard and Mushroom Quesadillas were made with produce from our local market
- Two no cook dinner salads that make use of summer produce: Strawberry Arugula Walnut Salad and Watermelon Arugula Feta Salad
- An all-purpose, super versatile Blueberry Puree
- A scrumptious picnic salad of Tomato, Potato, and Quick Pickled Red Onions
- Strawberry Vanilla Rhubarb Lemonade
16 Responses to “Organic vs Local: What’s a Parent to Choose?!”
July 22nd, 2009 saat: 10:16 am
Great post! It’s always a tough question – local vs. organic but you laid it out really wonderfully here! I hope you don’t mind, but we’ve put you on our blogroll cuz we like what you have to say!
July 22nd, 2009 saat: 2:05 pm
i’m with you stacie- i can’t resist farmer’s market freshness!!! And it’s such an important educational experience to take your kiddo to the farmer’s market or CSA with you. Shopping at a grocery store or freshD doesn’t give them any sense of where food comes from.
Also, since i can never remember the dirty dozen when I’m shopping, i downloaded the EWG’s iPhone app and it’s brilliant! check it out here: http://www.foodnews.org/index.php
July 22nd, 2009 saat: 4:03 pm
This is a good start. As an organic farmer and food processor, I only take issue with the statement about organic being hard to trust. Of all the government and private agencies that have oversight on my operation I can with all confidence say that the organic inspections are by far the most stringent and thorough. It is a top to bottom audit that takes days not the mention the 400 hours/year in staff time for all paperwork, record keeping etc., and I’m a small family operation. It would be hard to scam. That’s not to say that some don’t, but I have yet to experience it. Also don’t forget that “Natural” “IPM” “Pesiticide Free” “Local” “Cruelty Free,” you name it, are not third party verified certifications. Even my Fair Trade certification is a paper audit (I make the only Fair Trade Organic preserves in the nation). And while I shop at my local farmers market, and am sometimes a vendor, I do have concerns that we as consumers are over-romaticizing our relationship with farmers we meet to the point of believing any label that farmer chooses to claim. I tend to trust to, but I always here the voice of one long time organic farmer in my area that once said: “Every crook is local to someone.” He knows well that corporate farms are the only crooks and even those are local to someone. So for me and my kids, it’s local whenever possible, and in my area that is almost always local or regional. I choose local conventional in a few rare situations. If we demand organic at our farmer’s markets, farmers will meet the demand.
Thanks for your post
Timothy Fitzgerald Young
Food For Thought
Honor, MI
July 22nd, 2009 saat: 4:19 pm
I too have really struggled with this one…
I think the eating locally question is a little more complex and should not be written off so easily. The farmers markets where I live in Brooklyn have alot of farmers who are not actually certified organic but they don’t use pesticides. And so they cannot say they are organic but really they are. And the reason why I know this is because at a farmers market, you can talk to the grower.
You also touched upon an important point, food that is fresher is definitely more nutritious. And our soil has been getting more and more depleted so that our food is not packing the punch it once had.
Also, local produce preserves local farmland and that’s really important. It’s really hard to turn a subdivision back into a farm.
Strawberries for examples don’t always use alot pesticides they use fungicides (and I could be wrong about this) but when they are grown to be sold locally (or for pick your own) I don’t think they use as much of this stuff as some huge industrial farms from say, Bakersfield, CA. Believe me, I love the work that the Environmental Working Group is doing and the dirty dozen list is a great resource but I think they present the pesticide levels from only one kind of farm (industrial).
July 23rd, 2009 saat: 7:27 am
Fantastic Post! This has been a long time concern of mine as well, particularly now that I have children of my own. I wrote about a recent experience of mine that directly touches on this debate when I was busy coordinating a berry picking trip. Check it out here: http://www.zomppa.com/2009/06/04/eat-local-die-trying/
July 23rd, 2009 saat: 8:51 am
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the local vs. organic debate. The Organic Trade Association would like to provide an alternative perspective on this topic.
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.
July 23rd, 2009 saat: 8:57 am
Amanada:
We risk doing a disservice to all “certified” organic farmers when we take at face value the “organic practices” or “pesticide free” claims of farmers at our farmers markets and then state that they are “practically organic.” As an organic farmer I can assure you the lack of pesticides accounts for about 5% of the benefits of organic production. It’s an entire regime that assures the whole chain of custody from seed to your grocery bag is protected from all kinds of potentially toxic inputs and unsustainable farming practices. It’s not perfect, but there’s no comparison to the hoops a “certified” farmer goes through compared to some simply claiming “pesticide free.”
I buy tens of thousands of pounds of organic fruits and vegetables from local farmers for my business and you’d be amazed how many times I’ve visited farms claiming organic “practices” only to find that they aren’t even in the ballpark. These are well intentioned people, only ignorant of what organic truly encompasses….as I was before I made the switch to organic 14 years ago.
So while your local farmer may think he’s farming organically, without third party verification, you risk your health and that of the planet via everything from well intentioned, but misinformed farmers to outright crooks. Unfortunately there are likely some of both at most farmers markets.
These are tough decisions for all of us and in the end, it’s all about my kids. No compromises. I encourage all my farmers at our market to go organic, assuring them I’ll be their customer if they do. I fear if we give them credit for being “practically organic” when we really have no way of knowing what that means, we take away their incentive to put in the effort to do what it really takes to be certified.
I’ve been a strong supporter of local, initiating a “local at any cost” purchasing policy when I founded my company in 1995. But, I feel strongly that local is no replacement for organic. After all, factory farms are local to lots of people. While we will all come down on this differently, my experience as a farmer, processor, consumer and parent, drive me to focus on organic first and local whenever possible. Fortunately I most often can do both. And if I can’t, going without is an option.
Peace,
Timothy Fitzgerald Young
Food For Thought
Food For Thought
July 24th, 2009 saat: 1:42 pm
I hear you Timothy, I wish I could have what you have available to you.
I would love to bring you in to my local food shop in February and show you the quality of the (organic) fruits and veg flown in from god-knows-where and then the price tags. You would fall over from sticker shock.
July 24th, 2009 saat: 1:43 pm
…by quality, I mean the lack thereof…
July 24th, 2009 saat: 3:08 pm
I do live in an epicurean paradise, but it gets challenging in the winter.
July 25th, 2009 saat: 1:42 am
I live in an incredibly rural area. So, I have always been lucky enough to have many farmstands close to me. I have been noticing lately that many of these farmstands don’t actually grow alot of the food that they are selling. Much of it is the same stuff that I can get at my local grocery store! I don’t get this!!
This time of year, I am a regular at the local road side stands set up by hobby farmers (who often have day jobs and have to rely on people’s honesty to leave money for what they take!). I am stocking up and freezing and jarring as much as I can!
July 28th, 2009 saat: 4:15 pm
that’s great that there is a community of hobby farmers around you who are doing their best to find time to plant and grow food. i want to be a hobby farmer one day. well, actually, i want MICHELLE to be a hobby farmer one day (lol), so that i can share in her crop. my dream is to raise sheep and make cheese. one day…
July 28th, 2009 saat: 4:26 pm
Thank you all for your thoughtful comments. I’m so glad that this sparked a bit of conversation. It’s the only way I know how to work through these issues.
Timothy and Amanda: Great points. Timothy, I especially appreciate your very specific point of view as a farmer who’s invested in and intimately familiar with both the local and organic side of things. I’m glad you’re here.
It’s like our friend from the Organic Trade Assoc said: choosing between local and organic is a false choice. Or, at least, it should be. But, when forced to choose, i think there is a lot of great fodder for thought here which can hopefully help make the decision easier.
July 29th, 2009 saat: 9:01 am
[...] my best to explain. Part of the inspiration for this topic comes from (finally!) getting to read Stacie’s parenting post from last week about choosing organic or local for our kids. It sucks that it’s even a decision we have to make as food-loving parents. So when I get the [...]
July 29th, 2009 saat: 11:16 pm
This is a topic I think, er, obsess over often. I go to great lengths to find local *and* organic, but like you, at the end of the day I’m more concerned about how something is grown than where. And I get that organic certification isn’t perfect but like Timothy said, it’s the only certification that guarantees a certain level of chemical-free (and GMO-free) — all those other feel-good claims like naturally-grown, etc. are unverified, so at the end of the day unless it’s a vendor you trust from your local community, how do you really know?
And like Chrissy – I was floored the day I stopped in a Jersey farmstand and saw California plums! I’ve learned not to stop unless they have “grown here” signs prominently displayed.
July 31st, 2009 saat: 8:08 am
[...] ‘organic’ debate goes on. A definite read—especially if you enjoyed my recent organic vs local post (via LA [...]
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