Local or Organic?

Photo courtesy cowtownfarmersmarket.com

Should I buy locally grown produce or organic produce? My wife and I eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, and supermarkets aren't always a reliable source of quality produce, so the question has come up a time or two. But I have never known the best answer, so I did a little digging. I came to the conclusion that I just don't know.

According to the Organic Trade Association, organic produce is grown "based on a system of farming that maintains and replenishes soil fertility without the use of toxic and persistent pesticides and fertilizers...minimally processed without artificial ingredients, preservatives, or irradiation to maintain the integrity of the food".  Local produce is just that, local - grown locally and brought to market by small-scale farmers.

Locally grown produce supports local farmers, but is not necessarily organic. Timothy J. Lasalle, CEO of Rodale Institute, wrote a piece for treehugger.com claiming that "a dollar spent at a local business turns over seven times in that community, while the same dollar spent at a box store or chain only turn over 2.5 times." He goes on to describe the relationships developed with local growers and the advantages to forming those relationships, stating that talking to the growers and learning first-hand how their food is produced can "eliminate the uncertainties of agribusiness".

In the same article, Lasalle describes organic farming's potential to substantially impact carbon emissions, asserting that converting all tillable acres in the U.S. to organic practices "would be the equivalent to taking 216,000 automobiles off the road, or 25% of our country's CO2 emissions". Lasalle's ultimate position on whether to buy local or organic is that there is no "or", rather the decision should be to buy local AND organic. "Buy organic always, and encourage and buy local. Doing so is a direct investment in one of our very few, possible futures," he says.

Another contributor to treehugger.com takes the position that neither practice is sustainable as neither can efficiently produce enough food to feed the billions of people around the world. Her article can be found here.

Yet another writer (here) takes the position that neither is the better option, not necessarily because neither is sustainable, but because neither distinguishes itself as clearly superior to the other, or even to buying regular fruit at a supermarket. To her, it depends on the fruit. Apples don't grow in Texas, so she buys organic from the supermarket. Peaches are grown locally, so she'll shop around home for those.

So, local or organic? I have absolutely no idea. Maybe I'll just grow my own.