Is Local or Organic Food Better? Making the Best Health Food Choices for Wellness and the Environment

Organic foods are big business, and for good reason: they are safer, easier on the environment, and often more nutritious than their "conventionally grown," pesticide-laden counterparts. In recent years, however, locally grown produce has become a competitor for organic food, prompting the question: Is local or organic food a better choice for the average consumer?

Local and Organic Foods: Definitions

Organic meat, produce, and packaged foods are sold with the guarantee of their organic label – a government-regulated certification that says that these foods and their ingredients have been grown without dangerous pesticides, herbicides, chemical fertilizers, or any other artificial agents.

Local produce means foods that have been produced locally, usually by small family farms rather than big agribusiness. Local foods support the local economy and may be fresher or cheaper than foods that have been shipped cross-country or from overseas.

Organic Foods and Health

Most people buy organic for the sake of their own and their families' health. Dozens of studies have highlighted that there are very serious risks associated with pesticides, from hormone disruption to birth defects, cancer, and autoimmune disorders.

Organic foods are free and clear of any chemical additives that might pose a risk to health. Studies show that organic produce has an additional benefit: organic fruits and veggies are often higher in nutrition (vitamins, minerals, antioxidants) than conventionally grown fruits and vegetables.

Organic Foods, Local Produce, and the Environment

Another important aspect of organic farming is the care taken in preserving the earth's ability to grow food crops and support health ecosystems. Run-off from pesticides can kill animals and disrupt the food chain near conventional farms, but organic farming doesn't poison the land.

However, organic produce is usually shipped significant distances before being sold – using fossil fuel resources and creating pollution as it travels from farm to table. Local produce avoids this evil if it's grown, sold, and eaten within a few hours' drive (or less). The shorter travel distance also means that local produce is fresher - and often less expensive - than fruit and veggies that are grown across the country.

Local vs. Organic and the Impact on Local Economies

Proponents of local food believe in supporting "local economies" by buying from your neighborhood strawberry farmer instead of an organic strawberry giant down in California. The concept of social responsibility plays a big role in the organic vs. local food debate.

Finding Food that is Healthy, Local, and Organic

Which natural food shopping pick is best for health, budgets, farmers, and the environment? It's not an easy question to answer. In an ideal world, everyone would be able to enjoy fresh, local, organic produce all at once and all the time. In the real world, it's sometimes possible to find food that is both (by asking around at farmers' markets, for instance). Often, though, the choice between local and organic produce is a personal decision based on many factors.

Organic food isn't always available, and neither is local food (especially if you live in a large city). The best anyone can do is learn about the issues and follow his or her own conscience.

Jul 8, 2009 12:13 PM

Guest :

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.