No choice
Local and organic for me
By Deborah Madison
June 8, 2007
Local might be the new organic, but I find the question “local or organic?” an odd one. I know local, and I want organic, but why not choose both local and organic? That’s the headline I want to see on the cover of Time.
If I have to choose — I mean, if I really am forced to choose — I’ll go for local over organic, and I’ve been saying that for years. But I don’t choose that lightly or without consideration for my locale: northern New Mexico, where farmland and farmers are scarce and water even more so. If I still lived in northern California, I might be singing a different tune.
I am pretty familiar with who our farmers are, who’s organic, who’s not, and in some cases, why. I once listened to a farmer in tears as she revealed her decision to spray a section of her otherwise organic farm. The insects were devouring a particular crop of greens, and she needed that crop or would face an extremely hard winter.
She was up against the wall.
But it wasn’t just the bugs that were her problem. It was her customers, too. Yes, we earnest farmers’ market shoppers were adding to her woes.
If we had been willing to overlook the bug-eaten holes in her greens, spraying might not have been a thought, but we weren’t. Nor do we want a wormy apple, even when we know that coddling moths are a big problem here. Can you blame a farmer for spraying if the customer won’t buy an apple that houses a worm?
We would, it seems, rather have pesticides on our fruit than deal with its occasional slender denizens.
Maybe we need to meet the local farmer halfway when we say we want organic and support him while he figures out how to beat the coddling moth. Maybe we could relax about greens with holes in them, whether the holes were put there by previous six-legged diners or from sharp pellets of hail (which are also known to decimate a crop and with it, a good chunk of a farmers’ income).
We need to participate by acting more like partners with our farmers, shouldering up to the holey leaves and wormy apples.
Of course, organic food doesn’t always mean blemished food. But sometimes it might.
Another us/them argument I’ve heard is that we should have organics-only farmers’ markets. I definitely prefer to buy organic — whether certified or not — and I know some farmers who choose not to certify; either they feel that their standards are higher than the national standards, or they don’t relish the cost or the paperwork involved in certification.
But I’m not in favor of having our farmers’ market be open only to organic farmers. Why? Because if non-organic or non-certified farmers have to quit farming because they no longer have a market in which to sell, they risk losing their water rights, a loss that pretty much lasts forever where I live.
The loss of a farm, a farmer, and water is serious loss. Better that the farmers stay farming. And maybe one day they’ll change; I have seen conventional farmers watch their organic neighbors’ successes and conclude that maybe organic is something they should think about. I’ve seen them become organic farmers. When that happens, we get local and organic.
Finally, I am not a fan of the insipid-tasting organic produce that fills the aisles of supermarkets. The real question is not so much organics versus local as much as it is Big Organics from far away versus the local organic food from your farmers’ market or CSA. That’s the real choice, and I’ll choose my local organic offerings every time. Why? They taste better, they’re fresher, they didn’t travel 1,500 miles (or more), and the plant varieties are more interesting.
Buying locally supports my local community and keeps farmers farming. More often than not, local organic foods are the products of complex farming methods that build soil rather than simply refraining from the use of something that’s been banned. Plus, local farms keep the landscape beautiful for all of us to enjoy as well as eat from.
And farmers are good and important people to have in our communities.
When we say “local or organic,” it sounds as if local food can’t be organic. That, of course, is ridiculous. It can be and it is. After all, that’s where Big Organic got its start. Let’s have it both ways — local and organic.
Deborah Madison is the author of numerous award-winning cookbooks, including Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. She lives in New Mexico.
Also on Culinate: Deborah reminds us to savor the taste of local foods and gives us plenty of ideas for hot, whole-grain breakfasts. And read Roz Cummins’ interview with Deborah Madison.
Local Flavors | |
| Deborah Madison, the celebrated cookbook author and local-food advocate, feeds us with her monthly reflections. Her book Local Flavors is newly out in paperback. | |
- It takes a village to make a garden — Cultivating — with help
- A green dinner — Spring means green food
- Youthful inspiration — Hurrah for kids in the kitchen
- Pomerol and polenta — Why save special wine for special occasions?
- Writ large — Behold: the handwritten note, the smudged recipe
- Kitchen cleanup — Confessions of a hoarder
- Home and away — Celebrate the season wherever you are
- Ten years later — Vegetarian cooking (still) for everyone
- Relearning old lessons — How to buy local meats
- School lunch abroad — Another way to eat
- Everybody’s sweetheart — A rainbow of cherries
- Cake plans — Finding the perfect birthday cake
- No choice — Local and organic for me
Want more? Comb the archives.
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There are 7 comments on this item
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1. by anonymous on Jun 9, 2007 at 2:53 AM PDT
Thank you Deborah for trying to make sense of a real problem facing consumers and farmers today. I will try to use your ideas when I go shopping for produce at my local farmers markets.
Chef Tom Beckman
Chicago, IL
2. by anonymous on Jun 10, 2007 at 8:03 PM PDT
I love you. You are looking beautiful.
(I’m not a stalker. I’m your biggest fan.)
3. by Claudia on Jun 11, 2007 at 9:32 AM PDT
Local vs. organic is an issue that plagues many consumers today; Deborah Madison makes a great point in advocating a combination of the two, or at least some kind of compromise. When it comes to “big organics” from far away, local food from non-certified organic farms may be the better choice.
A great tool to find sustainable food sources and small local farms is Sustainable Table’s free online directory, www.eatwellguide.org. The vendors listed there (including farms, markets, bed & breakfasts, restaurants, and more) sell sustaianably raise meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy. Check it out! It’s a pretty awesome resource.
4. by Luke on Jun 11, 2007 at 11:01 AM PDT
This is a great article... Organic has started to become a rather complicated word. Now that we have “organic” potato chips, I hear people assuming they are healthy for you just because they are organic. The same thing happened with the term “100% natural”.
5. by susan on Jun 12, 2007 at 3:27 PM PDT
What an excellent column. Welcome to Culinate! I’ll be eagerly anticipating your offerings each month.
6. by junglegirl on Jun 13, 2007 at 12:31 AM PDT
It seems we must communicate our need for local farms to the local government. Local farmers who provide for the community should get significant tax breaks, etc (I’m not adequately informed on real estate/land taxes) that makes their decision to provide food for people a viable one.
Also, it remains to be seen whether or not it’s possible to provide enough diversity in a large, organic factory-farmed field to prevent bug ‘holes’ and infestations. Does any of these large scale, commercial organic farmers know enough about how to farm healthy, bug-free produce? It requires the sort of diversified, integrated farming that is generally only managed on small farms, by people who are willing to put in the extra care because they know that’s the only way to get bug-free, healthy produce. Can that be done on an organic factory farm? Maybe. In a perfect world.
Personally, I prefer to shop from organic farmers markets where I know the people who grow what I eat. It makes an enormous difference, in not only my well-being but for global well-being, on so many levels. And well-being is THE reason we eat.
Also, fortunately, I happen to live in a small town where the tiny local health food store supplements it’s Cali-farmed organic selection heavily with great, local organic produce. But why isn’t it all local? Partially because the land here is outrageously expensive for anyone, let alone a small farmer. It’s out of balance, at the moment.
I think that Whole Foods and other stores that are attempting to sell organic produce on a large scale should be deeply involved on the local level of each of their locations, encouraging local or state legislation to create space for the small farms they buy from. Do we need a FarmAid redux? Apparently, YES! It’s now an even greater issue, at least, it is if we want healthy, organic food.
7. by netineti27 on Jun 19, 2007 at 10:53 AM PDT
Great article, and comments as well. It is important to also note that alternatives to USDA Organic certification do exist.
I work for Certified Naturally Grown (CNG), a certification program created in 2002 specifically for farmers who grow organically and sell locally but may not have the time and/or money to pursue USDA Organic certification. Certified Naturally Grown is designed to supplement the agri-business focused National Organic Program by recognizing small, local, organically committed farmers for their sustainable practices and giving customers assurance that CNG farmers adhere to specific, publicly-documented standards.
Certification through our program requires an application process, an annual inspection, and publication on our website of documents signed by the farmers and their inspectors. Certified Naturally Grown bases its standards on the National Organic Program, but improves on these standards where necessary (particularly with respect to livestock living conditions and access to pasture).
Currently almost 500 farms in 48 states are Certified Naturally Grown. CNG is a private, independent, non-profit grassroots effort that runs primarily on free-will donations from farmers and supporters, it’s nationally recognized and endorsed (http://naturallygrown.org/supportive-orgs.html), and is a legitimate alternative to the “non-local certified organic vs. local non-certified” conundrum discussed by Claudia on June 11th (Quote: “When it comes to “big organics” from far away, local food from non-certified organic farms may be the better choice”).
Hope you all spread the news! There are probably a few farms in your area that would be interested in CNG. For more information about the program, you can visit http://www.naturallygrown.org.
Best,
Jivan Lee
Program Coordinator
Certified Naturally Grown
jivan@naturallygrown.org
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