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| Yes | 41% | 145 votes | Total: 357 votes | |
| No | 59% | 212 votes |
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Add to FavoritesWhen available, people should only eat locally produced organic food.
As hard as eating locally produced organic food seems to be, it is important to the health of the local economy, community and us.
Buying locally is good for the local economy, as it helps our local farmers stay in business. Many farmers all over North America are loosing their small farms since they can not compete with the large government subsidised farms.
Farmers are a very important part of our community. Farmers feed people. Support local farmers and you will be supporting your local industry.
Locally grown produce if not organic, have fewer pesticides sprayed than produce from large scale farms. Smaller farms tend to combine pest management techniques such as using beneficial insects along with spraying, providing the local community with healthier and better choices.
Fact: Billions of pounds of pesticides are sprayed on our food annually by the large intensive farms.
Locally raised meat products can have less if any antibiotics, hormones since the animals will have lived more humanely. Unhealthy animals require antibiotics and hormones to keep them alive, which is the case for most of the animals that end up on our plates.
You just cannot compare the taste and texture of locally raised meat to that of factory farmed meat, it is far superior. You can find locally raised meat generally at your local butcher. They usually have a great selection, and it's all fresh. The product is exponentially better than anything you get from the supermarket.
The health implications of pesticide use, antibiotics and hormones, are only starting to surface. What will its effect on the health care system be?
The price of purchasing organic food may be seems costly, however, is that price less or more than the price of our health? Many of our health issues stem from the products we consume.
Organic or small scale family farms are not as heavily subsidised by the government as large scale chemical farms, therefore, the cost to run these farms are higher.
However, if the government did not exclusively fund large scale chemical farms, it would actually be less expensive and healthier to purchase from small scale local and organic farms.
Oddly enough, it has been found in a few studies such as Productivity and Efficiency of Small and Large Farms in Moldova by Zvi Lerman and William R. Sutton, that small family farms actually produce more yield than the large intensive.
Citizens need to demand from their government a system that provides everyone with clean fresh food from local sources.
There are many organizations such as Local Harvest that can help you find farms, co-ops, even restaurants in your area that use locally raised products.
Learn more about this author, Debra Macapagal.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.
No
As ideal as it may sound, it really is not practical for most people to limit themselves to eating locally-produced organic food. There are a number of reasons why this is the case.
To start with, geographical location influences what is available at any stage of the year. Obviously tropical fruits and vegetables will not be available to people living in cooler climates and vice versa. It's only natural that many foods have to be transported considerable distances, even within the same country.
What's more, the producers of these crops benefit significantly from trading with markets a long way from their location. Most of these producers work hard to earn an honest living. They are dependent on consumers far and wide, who get to enjoy the taste, as well as the nutritional benefits, of the fruit and vegetables they cannot access locally.
Then, of course, seasons affect what is available in any given region too. So if people are limited to eating only locally-produced organic food they will be even further restricted. Not only will they not have the range of natural foods that are shipped from other parts of the country, but they will only be able to eat what's in season in their own region.
No doubt there are individuals and families who do live this way. After all, in bygone generations it was the only way many people could live when they relied solely on their own produce, or what was available for barter or at local markets. In all likelihood many of them ate a very healthy, balanced diet at that.
In many parts of the world, where people are isolated and/or poor, this would still be the normal way of life. It's even very likely that many such people eat a much healthier diet than too many people in western society who live on more highly-processed, high-fat, high-salt foods than what nature provides.
In our modern western society though, a large percentage of people do appreciate and benefit in many ways from being able to eat a vast range of foods. They simply would not have access to anywhere near as much variety if they relied entirely on locally grown organic produce.
People who have their own vegetable gardens and fruit trees can feast daily on an abundance of fresh produce that tastes terrific, has maximum nutritional benefits and is free from pesticides, genetic modification, etc. Even then they may want or even need to subsidize their diet with a number of foods that aren't grown locally though.
What's more, such relatively self-sufficient individuals make up a relatively minor percentage of consumers. Many people don't have green thumbs and/or don't have anywhere to grow a garden or the time to spend cultivating it. They are totally dependent on what others grow. This may include some locally grown produce that they buy from farmers' markets, etc. But still most people will need to buy more from their supermarket, and most of this will not be locally-grown.
Another reason why it's impractical for many people to just buy locally-grown organic food is because the supermarket is often so much more conveniently located than other sources. If their time is limited and the local supermarket is just a few blocks away, of course they will often buy their urgent needs there. It's undeniably better for them to buy produce that's not local, but is at least of reasonably good quality and nutritional value, than to not have fruit and vegetables at all a lot of the time.
What's more, while some locally-produced produce will be available at very good prices at farmers' markets, it won't all be organic. To buy organic is to pay top dollar. Many people simply cannot afford to buy organic. They have to choose what their income allows and for a significant sector of society this involves at least a certain degree of compromise. Indeed, for many people organic produce will be entirely out of the reach of their budget.
Of course it's not just fruit and vegetables that are involved either. What about all the cereals, grains, nuts, milk, meat, fish and the numerous products that are made from them?
As nice as it would be to have everything produced locally and organically, it really is not possible for families to access the immense variety of foods and their products which people use daily. If we want to enjoy the pleasures and nutrition of all these things, then we have to eat food that's transported from other places.
We all stand to benefit from this widespread sharing of produce. Certainly it's good to support local farmers and industries as much as we can. Beyond that, we need to eat food grown and produced in our own nation by far the majority of the time.
Yes, other countries rely on their exports too - and we rely on them to import our produce. However, where our own country is producing something well, I believe that's what we should be eating, rather than importing cheaper and sometime sub-standard produce, which threatens the livelihood of our own businesses.
It's a matter of trying to balance what tastes best, what is best for you, what's available, what's affordable and what's in the best interests of your own family, your own nation and then the global village.
As for me, I'd be very sorry if I had to just eat food that's locally grown. It would mean I would never get to eat bananas, mangoes, pineapples, melons, avocados, oranges and mandarins; drink cranberry juice; drizzle maple syrup on pancakes; savour the delicate flavour of Tasmanian salmon or barramundi from the northern waters of Australia; cook in olive oil; be refreshed by my morning cup of tea; enjoy a sweet curry on a bed of fluffy rice; or indulge in smooth, decadent chocolate or the occasional creamy cappuccino. I would be denied these and countless other culinary pleasures that benefit me in numerous ways.
I love to visit the farmers' markets when I can and buy up on produce that I am confident is as fresh as I could get, even if it's not organic. However, I also enjoy food I buy from the supermarket which has been grown and produced throughout Australia and some from beyond our shores as well.
Learn more about this author, Ruth Woodhouse.
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