The perennial argument of which is greener, Organic or Local food?
This is a new discussion based around an
old ecolocal post by
Jane. My view is that Local food is better, even if it's not Organic, the lesser food miles still count. In that respect, the
100 Mile Diet is great resource for eating local if you're in the United States. For those of us in the UK, have a look at this postcode-based search engine for local producers.
Elsewhere, there are more and more articles cropping up on the web about this issue, like this one:
"Sometimes, though, local versus organic is a false choice--sometimes you can't find organic, or the local choice is bad"
The more I read, the more the 'local' choice is the better one, especially now that more and more supermarkets are pushing organic food in large quantities, causing the producers to cut corners once again.
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Personally, I would take locally grown over organic. In our grocery stores, the organic food always is bruised and half rotten. I at least know that locally grown has less chemicals on it to keep it ripe.
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That's a good point ,the local food often looks more appealling than the organic, but is that because we have got used to having "perfect" fruit and veg that has been grown using chemicals to get them just right, then waxed (in the case of a lot of fruit) to get them to shine, yet organic produce is "as is", therefore not as shiny or regular in its appearance? If you smell it, it just about always smells better - it smells of what it is! Organic produce is less likely to be forced, therefore is a natural product.
Having said that, I think that htere are many things where local is MUCH better... potatoes being a key one... season is also important.
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