Local Vs. Organic

Until recently, many consumers thought that buying organic was the best way to choose food that was good for them and the environment. Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma, with its reports on industrial organic farms and the distances traveled by some organic foods, convinced many that eating locally might be better for the environment than eating organically. Food that travels the shortest distance not only tastes fresher but has a smaller carbon footprint.

“The demand is for food that’s fresh, pastured, and local—not organic,” says Jennifer Curtis, director of NC Choices. Simon “Cy” Rich agrees. The former chair of the Nicholas School’s Board of Visitors sells his pasture-raised Jubilee Farm beef through Weaver Street Market in Carrboro. Everything is organic about his operation, but the slaughterhouse where his beef is processed is not, so he can’t call his product organic. But it doesn’t matter, he says. His market research has shown that calling his beef “grassfed natural” helps exact a premium price, and being able to call it organic would not add a cent to its value.

Eliza MacLean uses the term “beyond organic” to refer to her farming practices. It’s a term that’s gaining traction in the farming and eating communities. It loosely refers to raising animals in a humane way, feeding them species-appropriate foods, and selling products locally, where you can look your customers in the eye and tell them you did a good job raising their food.

–Lisa M. Dellwo