Thursday, June 14, 2007

Fruits and Vegetables

An easy question...

Do you think local organic fruits and vegetables are better for you than imported or pesticide covered fruits and vegetebles. I'll give you a hint, organic and local is better for you due to nutrient content, and better for the environment because of low petroleum use in transport.

Difficult questions...

When you are looking at fruits and vegetables do you pass over those with blemishes or that have been slightly eaten by insects?

If you think that organic local is better, why do you demand a product that can only be produced with chemicals?

2 comments:

Emily A. said...

I love organic...and i wish there was more local produce available.

Susan Och said...

In my area the best farmland is in demand as "view property" as we are within spitting distance of Lake Michigan and Grand Traverse Bay. I buy local over organic because that's one way to slow down the process of carving up orchards to build starter mansions. Buying local also supports my local economy, which is no small thing in the one-state recession called Michigan.

We also participate in a food buying club, buying food in bulk. A year ago I started noticing that more and more of the stuff labeled Organic was also labeled Product of China. I found that creepy even before the pet food debacle. What could Organic mean in a country where industrial pollution goes unchecked and slave labor is tolerated?

Item three: My CSA Farm neighbors dropped the Organic moniker when the USDA Certified system came in. They told me that the paperwork requirements for the Organic label were just too time consuming. They wanted to be farmers, not compliance officers.

They told their customers: "You know us, you know our farm, and we hope you trust us, even if we don't have a USDA sticker." They lost no customers, even gained a few.