Locally Grown and "Organic" are pretty much the same.
I buy organic because you can't truly have a naturally grown peach or tomato, or avocado in January.
Seasonal crops and vegetables are "seasonal" because they're grown within 500 miles of where you live.
Conventional produce, the stuff that you find in your supermarkets, comes from all over the place. Hybridized to be grown and shipped for "shelf-life" rather than for taste, nutrients, or any real "value" for that matter.
It's a wonder of our new markets what can truly be sold during the winter months.
When you factor in the fuel costs, the packaging, and the shipping, there's really nothing "green" about purchasing Conventional Produce.
Buying directly from local farmers, at a farmer's market will always be your best bet!
Most of the individuals that you meet at the Farmer's Market actually planted the seeds, nurtured and grew the produce that you're buying, and if you have any questions or comments about what they're selling you can ask them directly about their planting practices, and the processes that took place for them to bring their produce to you.
The produce that you find on your supermarket shelves during any given season could literally come from anywhere. And it could have actually been harvested days or weeks before it even arrived there.
Organic is more expensive because by law for corporate farms to claim "organic" there is an extensive and expensive certification that they must go through to ensure that what you're buying is truly "organic."
Local Farmers (myself included) would love to be able to sell quantity over quality, but I charge more because I know that my produce tastes better, I know how it was grown, and all of the back breaking, and sometimes heart breaking hardship that I went through to get it to you.
And even then I'm not charging that actual cost of production.
Which means that many of your local farmers are barely breaking even when we don't factor in the cost of labor in producing it.
That's how committed many of us are in growing food that not only tastes good, but is good for you!
Just for fun I want to share this youtube with y'all:
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVrIyEu6h_E[/ame]
Search your peelings, and you'll realize that
organic is just better!
