There was an interesting editorial and rebuttal today on the “Woman to Woman” blog of the Atlanta Journal Constitution on whether people should invest time and money in local, organic food. Aside from the common juxtaposition of words that implies local and organic are synonymous, the short article touches on some interesting points. Not a lot of facts, but some food for thought.

I was hoping for a good discussion in the comments section, but it is a bloodbath of liberal vs. conservative. Maybe we can do better here with some intelligent, respectful discussion of this complex topic. Anyone game?

1. Dawn Says:
   March 17th, 2008 at 6:22pm

   Game here! =)

   Never should those two words )organic & local) be used interchangeably! Best of course is to consume food that is BOTH, but barring that which, admittedly isn’t always possible, then one or the other is dependent on factors involving both the *item* and the *purchaser*. (this is why blanket articles that A is better than B *for everyone* annoy me!)

   When you add in many people’s concern for humane food products as well - we’ve never put so much thought into our food!

   It comes down to availability, budget, and honestly what’s important to you. Will I buy non-organic winter squashes? Yeppers - b/c we eat it rarely. Will I buy non-organic tomatoes? Not on your life since all of us including my 10 yr old eat them like candy.

   Also, that a chunk of the article is about ‘feeding the starving’ or not is outright absurdity. That issue is FAR and beyond pesticides/fertilizers and if it WERE I would expect to see *piles* of activist agencies supporting their use. That issue requires tackling government corruption and a host of other eco-attacking ‘advancements’ that have little to nothing to do w/ food.

   I’m somewhat saddened by the article as a whole since it almost seems as if the attitude of war in the comments was precisely what the writers were aiming for. *sigh*



2. Dawn Says:
   March 17th, 2008 at 6:31pm

   Also, here’s a handy list to help prioritize your organic purchases (when you can’t get the farmer’s market goodness!) so that you DON’T throw money after things that retain negligible amounts of residues.

   http://www.foodnews.org/walletguide.php

   =)



3. Sara Says:
   March 17th, 2008 at 6:57pm

   Thanks for the link, Dawn. The Environmental Working Group is one that I have respect for, even when I don’t agree with them. The cool thing is that we can grow at least 10 of the “worst 12″ right here in Central Texas!

   Personally, at Wild Type Ranch, we subscribe to “Earth Friendly”, a term coined by Texas A&M that represents the practical blend of traditional and organic.



4. suzannabanana23 Says:
   March 18th, 2008 at 1:05pm

   Hi — I’m game, too! As some of you may know, my husband used to run an organic restaurant and even now we grow a lot of our own food. We have even sometimes discussed getting into organic farming an a commercial scale ourselves. But I have been surprised to learn that the organic regulations (as overseen by the USDA) are not actually science-based — they are for a marketing label. And some of the decisions made by the National Organic Standards Board recently just don’t make sense from either a sustainability OR a scientific point of view. AND if we wanted to get into natural, local farming I think the organic label would be too hard to reach for — often for reasons that don’t make sense. Anyway — I’m all for healthy, good, locally grown food. But I hate that an entire food niche has been developed by demonizing the honest work of regular farmers. I’d love to hear what other folks have to say about this.



5. Sara Says:
   March 18th, 2008 at 4:29pm

   It IS a shame that so many of these food choices (local, organic, humane, etc.) are presented as adversarial to mainstream food production. As a small producer, the only way I can HOPE to pay the mortgage on a ranch in central Texas is to go for the niche, direct marketing of my beef, and also to target my breeding stock to producers doing the same.

   Many of our friends and colleagues aren’t located where that is an option for them, or don’t have the right skill set needed. It takes a real commitment, often financial as well as in principle, to go for the organic label or pursue the local outlets.

   I love my local food, and my local food customers. I happen to believe that going local is good in many, many ways. But, that doesn’t mean I have anything against the farmers and ranchers out there that produce the bulk of America’s nutrition.



6. Mandy Says:
   April 11th, 2008 at 11:10am

   I frequent the local farmer’s market in Saratoga Springs, and many of those farmers do not have a USDA organic label because they cannot afford the certification. Among themselves, they have agreed upon terminology that defines how the food is produced (i.e. organically) and stick to it. As a consumer, I understand their reasoning behind it, and go to those stands that have “naturally raised/grown” signs. Locally, we know this is how it works. We know these people–they’ve been selling here for years, and they know us.



7. Sara Says:
   April 14th, 2008 at 10:06am

   Locally, this is a great system. I do the same thing with my Farmer’s Market customers, who understand what my production systems are. On a larger scale, all those labelling rules are a necessary evil to put SOME sort of standardization across brands. Unfortunately, as they get marketed, those labels often come to mean something completely different in the mind of the consumer relative to how they are defined by the USDA.