added 09/08/11
by Mary Saucier Choate, M.S., R.D., L.D.
Dietitian and Co-op Food and Nutrition Educator
There are many important reasons to choose organic and locally grown foods to eat. I’ve listed just ten for each kind of farming, but there are many more. Supporting this kind of agriculture, even with just a few purchases a week, keeps these farms thriving and supports their wide-ranging beneficial effects.
Ten Reasons to Go Organic
1. Organic practices mean fewer pesticide illnesses and injuries for farm workers and their children.
2. Animals raised on an organic farm must be fed organic feed and given access to the outdoors. The animals are not fed animal by-products, so have a lower risk of mad cow disease.
3. Organic livestock practices do not contribute to the creation of dangerous antibiotic-resistant bacteria, since antibiotics are not allowed in organic production. (Sick animals may be given antibiotics, but then may not be sold as organic.)
4. The use of hormones, such as rBST, used to boost milk production in cows, is prohibited.
5. No cloned or genetically engineered animals or plants are allowed to be called organic, and irradiation of any organic food is forbidden.
6. Organic practices can help reduce ground and surface water contamination and can safeguard drinking water supplies.
7. Organic farming practices maintain and build soil quality and minimize soil erosion. During rain storms, more water is absorbed into organic soils, and less will run over the surface and out of the field. his means that in years of drought, organic systems can actually out-produce conventional systems.
8. Organic crops are raised without the use of synthetic nitrogen-based fertilizers, municipal solid waste or sewage sludge-based fertilizers, or conventional pesticides, so they save the energy resources needed to manufacture, process, transport, and apply these treatments.
9. Organic practices conserve wildlife and encourage biodiversity. Studies have shown that organic farms can have significantly more wild plants in arable fields, more species of plants, more birds and higher breeding rates, more invertebrate arthropods (wild bird food), more non-pest butterflies, spiders and spider species, along with significantly decreased aphid numbers.
10. Organic producers also must follow a National List of Acceptable and Prohibited Materials concerning pest control treatments, fertilizers, and seed treatments that they use. All agricultural materials must be evaluated for their long-term effects on the environment and not simply whether they are synthetic or natural.
Ten Reasons to Buy From Local Farms
1. Large-scale organic farmers are sometimes like large-scale conventional farmers in that they may focus on producing just one crop (also known as monoculture), which defeats many of the ecological advantages that traditional, diverse organic farms provide. Local farms are generally small and must diversify to survive.
2. Eating local means more dollars stay in the local economy. This money circulates in and strengthens the local economy. When businesses are not owned locally, money leaves the community.
3. Locally grown produce is fresher. Food purchased from a local farmer has often been picked within 24 hours of your purchase. Fresh food tastes great!
4. Locally grown fruits and vegetables can include delicate and hard-to-find heirloom varieties that don’t ship well but are delicious and bred for flavor, not sturdiness or “ship-ability”.
5. Buying local food is seasonal. By eating with the seasons, we are eating foods when they are at their peak taste, are the most abundant, and the least expensive. We learn to look forward to spring fiddleheads and asparagus, summer peaches, fall apples, and comforting winter squashes and root vegetables.
6. Buying locally grown food means knowing exactly where your food comes from. This connection is important for children to learn and adds to the pleasure of family meals.
7. Local food is more interesting. Try finding purple carrots or specialty heirloom apples from a giant agribusiness farm. Local farmers can cater to adventurous local customers instead of a mass market.
8. Do you enjoy our northern New England landscape of farms, fields, and forests? Buying from local producers supports this kind of land use.
9. Local farmers often use organic practices, even though they may not be organically certified. The nice thing is, you can ask them face-to-face how they farm!
10. Preserving local farms helps us work toward regional self-sufficiency. While our local farms may not be able to feed us year-round, they are an important part of making sure our region has a supply of accessible food no matter what.
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