Where to find local food

When it comes to food talk among tree huggers, local vs. organic debates tend to come up often. On a grand scale the right answer – local or organic boils down to many issues, but if you can aim for local and sustainable first that’s a good start in my opinion.

Local food is not all that tough to come by and it’s a smart choice in terms of eco-ethics. While it’s true that not all local food is certified organic, it doesn’t mean it’s not produced with sustainable methods. Some smaller farmers don’t want to go through the cost of getting certified or maybe they’re short on time, but since they’re local you can go and personally check them out. That’s a big deal. Yeah, Earthbound Farms and other big organic companies may be for sure certified organic, but can you make it to their company headquarters for a visit? Maybe not.

If you want to visit local farms and see how they’re doing, look for (or talk to the farmer) about issues such as water conservation, non-chemical weed control, minimal packaging, and short transport time for produce. For example when do they pick their veggies and then how long do they take to get said veggies to the local store or farmers market? Faster is better obviously. Double points if they make larger trips with more produce vs. many small trips.

To find local food in your area Local Harvest is one of the best places to start.

[image via stock.xchng]