A few years I sat down and wrote out a list of all the advantages of local and organic foods.  I got to about thirty-eight reasons and ran out of room on my pad.  These days I see a lot of straw man arguments where one benefit of local or organic is brought out and doubts are raised.  One example is the Stanford study proposing that there is as yet no firm proof that organic food is healthier.  Whether or not this is true, it is no reason to abandon organic.  Or someone talks about heated greenhouses in the winter in Minnesota to say that local foods don't help with global warming.  Of course not, but that is not the heart of local foods.  And what about my legal pad busting list of benefits?  Here are thirty-six.

 

farmer health	preserved traditions	beautiful landscapes	not breeding superweeds	higher profit margins	connection to the seasons
inspired chefs	farmworker health	groundwater quality	more food freshness	drought resistant	more rural independence
better soil health	strong biodiversity	reverses Gulf dead zone	climate friendly	avenue for transparency	intellectual capital builder
food variety	pollinator health	farmland preservation	culturally rich	good farm neighbor	little gov’ment subsidy
humane to animals	less pesticide residue	more local jobs	better food flavor	engages young people	educates urbanites
builds community	protects drinking water	keeps dollars local	saves aquatic animals	facillitates gleaning	allows food w/ cosmetic flaws

 

 

 

I for one am convinced.  Local and organic do so much to benefit the planet and people.  I want it.  

Which leads to a second and very big issue:  AFFORDABILITY.  

​Is local-organic affordable, is it worth it for the average, non-wealthy family?  This is a tough and important question, especially when we are talking about food sold at retail in a store and not direct at a farmers market.

Advocates have five responses and all five make sense to me.  

First, local/organic at the store is not always more expensive that conventional or California organic.  Buying what's in season is key here.  Local-organic squash at the supermarket in the middle of summer may the exact same price as its conventional or out of state rival, or even cheaper, for example.

Second, if we learn to cook more and smarter, we can stay on budget, even with higher-priced ingredients.  See Linda Watson's excellent book and website:  Cook for Good. Linda and others like Leanne Brown are teaching folks to eat well on a budget. 

Third, we should pay more for our food, to support farmers and their families.  Wages need to go up to support more folks buying good food.  This is a bigger struggle.

Fourth, when faced with high prices, families have choices week to week about which items they buy local and organic  --  no one expects us to buy only local-organic or even mostly local-organic.  That said, we can certainly benefit from buying a lot more local-organic than we have in the past.  For information on which produce really should be eaten organic, check out Consumer Reports' "Pesticides in Produce."  Or Environmental Working Group's Dirty Dozen report.

Finally, local organic food is often worth more than the alternative  --  fresher, better taste and nutrition density --  so paying more does make sense.  Make sure you are comparing apples to apples!

​What do you think?