Local vs. Organic Food

Introduction
When it comes to the great debate over whether it is healthier to eat local foods or organic foods, there are arguments to be found on both sides. But at the end of the day, one has to decide what one is really seeking to achieve by choosing one side over the other. Organic foods are typically labeled or certified organic, meaning they are non-GMO and thus are naturally grown. Local foods are typically fresher and seasonal, meaning they are going to have a more authentic and more robust quality and character to them (though there is no guarantee they are raised or grown non-GMO). Nonetheless, consuming local foods comes with the added benefit of supporting local farmers and the local economy. Plus, with local foods, one is more likely to be able to know for sure that one is getting quality foods from quality farmers whom one can inspect with one’s own eyes, get to know on a social level, and be more confident in the quality of foods one is consuming. The same cannot be said for foods that come from halfway around the world, even if they are certified organic. This paper will show why when it comes to the question of whether local vs. organic is better, local should always be the number one preferred choice.
Pro: Why It is Healthier to Eat Local vs. Organic
· Eating local means getting fresher food than eating organic, which is often shipped halfway around the world, spending a few days in transit, before arriving at one’s local grocer, where it may sit on the shelves for another week before being purchased (Heather, 2011).
· Fresher foods are among the healthiest foods a person can eat, so it makes sense from this point of view to always eat local, as it will be farm fresh and straight from the farm to one’s home in a quarter of the time it takes for food from another country or state to make it to one’s house (Healthline, 2018).
· Fresh food from local farms means that fewer hands are involved in processing the food, which means that there are likely to be fewer potential contaminants on the food (Trimarchi, 2018).
· Transported food from other states or countries sometimes has to be treated with chemicals to ensure that it does not get spoiled—but locally grown food does not come with this risk (Healthline, 2018).
· Foods that are frozen (even if they are organic) are often blanched, which means their texture is changed and they may also be treated with ascorbic acid to prevent spoliation (Healthline, 2018).
· Eating locally produced food is actually good for the environment, too, as it reduces the carbon footprint left behind when produce is tracked across the U.S. for thousands of miles just to get to one’s local grocery store: all that fuel spent transporting produce means pollution for the atmosphere, which is damaging for the environment and ultimately poisonous for everyone’s health—including your own (Trimarchi, 2018).
· Locally grown fruits and vegetables can be picked at a riper stage since they are not going to be shipped for thousands of miles and do not need to last for more than a week after they are picked; locally grown foods can be picked when ripest and then taken to market at a local market and sold immediately—and because they are at their ripest when picked, they will be packed full of more nutrients and vitamins than fruits or vegetables that are picked early (O’Born, 2019).
Con: Reasons Why People Disagree
· Consuming organic food is actually better for the environment (regardless of the trucking/transportation claim) because organic food sequesters carbon dioxide and if all 434 million acres of U.S. farmland were converted to organic farms it would be the same as taking 800,000 trucks off the road and reducing the world’s carbon footprint by that much—which would help the environment and be beneficial to people’s health (Rysavy, 2018).
· Organic food is free of pesticides that even local farmers may use—so just because it is locally grown does not actually mean it is free of harmful chemicals, while organic food is necessarily free of those chemicals, which means it is safer for you to consume (Debate, 2018).
· Organic foods are free of antibiotics and hormones as well—this means that the food you are getting is all-natural, they way it was intended to be; and local farmers cannot give that same assurance: so just because food is locally grown or raised does not mean it is free of antibiotics or hormones used to pump up livestock (Wadyka, 2018).
· Organic means it is not genetically-modified. GMOs can cause cancer and thus they should be avoided at all times. Organic foods are free of GMOs, so they are safer than locally grown foods, which are not certified and which means people do not have the same assurances (Goldberg, 2014).
· Organic livestock is given year-round access to the outdoors—which means that animals are treated more humanely when the meat is certified organic, and this is yet another guarantee that locally raised food may not come with (Goldberg, 2014).
· Going organic means that there are not only no chemicals in one’s food but it also means fewer chemicals are going into the earth. That may not be the case with local food. Local farmers might still use pesticides and other chemicals, which then seep into the earth and can contaminate water supplies, which is definitely unhealthy for people (Rysavy, 2018).
· Organic farmers also have to engage in crop rotation, which prevents soil from being depleted, which means that the crops they grow are getting the maximum amount of nutrients from the earth—and this may not always be the case with local farmers, whose crop rotation practices are not going to be regulated by the government since they are not applying for an organic label (Trimarchi, 2018).
Personal Position
My personal position on this matter is that, yes, local food is better in spite of the obvious advantages of buying organic food. Of course organic food is going to come with all sorts of guarantees about how healthy it is because it was certified by this or that labeling agency and is being regulated by the government—but the reality is that these labels, just like government regulation, do not always mean what they say they mean. Just because a food item has a label does not mean it is 100% organic. To be 100% organic and free of GMO or other hormones, etc., it actually has to be specifically regulated for those purposes. Just to get an organic label, a farmer only has to meet a certain threshold of criteria, and that is not 100% organic. So a consumer may think he is getting a 100% all-organic food item, but really he is just getting something that is mostly organic.
However, when it comes to locally grown food, one can know exactly what one is getting because he can get to know the farmers and ask them directly what they do, what their practices are, and so on. One can drive out to the farm and get to know the farmer’s methods with his own eyes. He does not have to rely on a label for information when he can see for himself what is going into the food he purchases.
Additionally, local food is going to be fresher and more nutritious than food that comes from halfway across the U.S. or from another country and has to spend days just in transit. Food that comes from faraway, regardless of whether it is organic, is not going to be picked when it is ripe (otherwise it would rot by the time it gets to market). And if it is not ripe when picked, that means it is not going to have as many nutrients and vitamins in it that are good for people. If food is going to be consumed, it should be consumed fresh.
Fresh, local food is always going to be better than organic food that comes from a great distance. Fresh, local food is also more than likely going to be produced by farmers who grow and raise food organically—not because they want the government to regulate them but because they want to produce natural food that is good for people and that people will want to eat. Local consumers who buy from local farmers at local farmer’s markets are going to be among some of the most informed food consumers on the planet. They buy locally because they want healthy food. They are sensible about what they eat, and local farmers know this, which is why they are going to grow food and raise livestock that people will want to eat. Chickens will be free range and no hormones will be pumped into beef. Local growers are thus very likely going to be organic—so there is no reason to wait on organic food sent from thousands of miles away.
Local food is also seasonal which gives the dining and dieting experience a more natural and authentic quality. Seasonal foods are seasonal for a reason—i.e., that is the way they are intended to be eaten by nature. When one’s diet is natural, one feels better and is likely to be of a more able body and mind. Local food is going to be about as healthy and nutritious as food can get and part of that reason is because it is seasonally grown and delivered. That means crops will be rotated in and out of the farm all year long (so no need to have to depend on organic farmers from thousands of miles away and to trust that they are being regulated, which is probably not always going to be the case.
Conclusion
Local foods are best because the local farmers are going to be held accountable by the market—the people who consume their products. They are not at a remove from the community: they are in the community. So they are going to be good growers. It is not the same for growers a thousand miles away: they have no reason to be the best; they may receive a regulator every so often, but it is nothing they are going to feel threatened by. That is why buying local is always going to be the healthiest move a consumer can make: one knows that one is getting high quality food because otherwise the farmers selling it would not be inn business long—the community would run them out. For a farmer from another country, this will not always be the case.
References
Debate. (2018). Is organic food healthier than non-organic food? Retrieved from https://www.debate.org/opinions/is-organic-food-healthier-than-non-organic-foods
Goldberg, H. (2014). People Still Don't Know the Difference Between "Organic" and "Local". Retrieved from https://time.com/2970505/organic-misconception-local/
Heather, X. (2011). The local vs. organic debate. Retrieved from http://www.intuitive-nutrition.com/the-local-vs-organic-debate/
Healthline. (2018). Fresh vs Frozen Fruit and Vegetables — Which Are Healthier? Retrieved from https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/fresh-vs-frozen-fruit-and-vegetables
O’Born, S. (2019). Local vs. organic food: the great debate. Retrieved fromhttps://canadianfamily.ca/food/great-debate-local-organic/
Ryvasy, T. (2018). Is organic or local food better? Retrieved from https://greenamerica.org/organic-or-local/organic-or-local-food-better
Trimarchi, M. (2018). Is it better to buy local or organic food? Retrieved from https://recipes.howstuffworks.com/local-or-organic.htm
Wadyka, S. (2018). Farmer’s market produce. Retrieved from https://www.consumerreports.org/fruits-vegetables/farmers-market-produce-local-vs-organic/