As a child, you may have gone apple picking at a local orchard, raided a wild raspberry patch or had a few tomato plants in your backyard. But more likely than not, you now feed your family fruits and vegetables that you pick up at the local grocery store. And fair enough – the convenience of one stop shopping, reasonable prices and just force of habit drive many of us to pick up our spinach where we get our pet food and detergent.
But does it matter? Most of us pass by farmers’ markets every week, but are beets there the same as beets elsewhere?
There is nothing inherently bad about the carrots in the produce section at our favorite superstore. The government regulates the production and import of food and we are largely protected from any major threats. But perhaps the better question is what do we lose when we don’t choose other sources? What does eating locally really offer, and how does it differ from what’s two aisles down from the greeting cards?
The definition of eating locally is a loosely used term. It is generally considered appropriate for describing products grown within 100 miles of your home. Conceptually, it’s meant to describe eating foods from a small to midsize farm operated by independent growers. The meaning then, of eating locally is pretty straightforward, but the benefits are far more diverse:
Frequent flyer miles. Most produce stocked at chain supermarkets is provided by large industrial producers, based both in the U.S. and abroad. Estimates put the average travel distance of such food at 1,500 to 3,000 miles. By definition, that means that these items need to be picked a good deal of time in advance in order to make that journey and then be processed at a distribution center. That’s a lot of miles on your zucchini before it hits your plate. Contrast that with a purchase from your local farmers’ market, where the vegetables have likely been picked in the last 24 to 48 hours.
Uniformity and modifications. There’s a reason that well-traveled produce is not rotten by the time it hits the store shelves. It’s either been picked before it’s fully ripened, or it’s a specific variety with more durability. In many instances this durability is achieved through genetic modification, which consumers don’t know about since laws do not mandate any such labeling. While this food may be alright to eat, you lose flavor, and nutritional value, from food the earlier you have to separate it from the parent plant and the longer it is off the plant.
Since only a few varieties of products can withstand the strain of conventional produce processing and shipping, most institutional growers have monocrops – large farms of just one product. Unfortunately, that takes a toll – it weakens the soil, contributes to erosion and limits the variety of vegetables that you can get. Did you know that there are at least eight different types of zucchini? The problem is, growing all of them (or even more than one or two) is not economically efficient. Which brings us to …
The bean counters: economics. Naturally, conventional food growth is designed to be profitable. It’s easier to take advantage of economies of scale, which is why monocrops make a lot of sense when you are producing thousands of heads of cabbage per harvest. Food that is locally grown is coming from a smaller operation that is almost always highly diversified and cannot benefit from bulk purchase because of the smaller scale of the business. Bottom line, your farmer’s market purchases might be higher than your grocery store’s. However, you are not paying more for the same product, but arguably, a more flavorful, more nutritional one.
And what about organic (and also Organic)? Ah, the big O. Organic (with a capital O) food that is food that is certified by the U.S. government has having passed a series of tests and processes that, among other things, mean that it has not been treated with synthetic fertilizers, does not include GMO seeds, and has not been grown with conventional non-organic fruits and vegetables. In order to be Organic, you must receive actual certifications and undergo regular government inspections. But the well-kept secret is that a lot of local farms are organic even if they are not Organic – it is costly to undergo all the tests required to be officially certified – but many local growers also use ecological practices that in some cases are superior to Organic.
“Organic is about production values that forbid harmful pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers. Even industrial organic production is better for the soil than conventional,” says Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University, Marion Nestle, Ph.D, M.P.H. These values are important to Nestle, who buys organic whenever she can. Organic food that is grown across the country or abroad is certainly better than the same long-distance conventional food, however, it just is hard to be as fresh as (o)rganic food that is local.
Think of Your Children
As children’s palates are still developing, early exposure to the more flavorful taste of earth-friendly, recentlypicked produce is more likely to result in healthy eating habits with a bias toward fruits and vegetables and less sugar. Food drained of its flavor over the course of a long transport has less chance of competing with the appeal of artificially flavored snacks.
Thankfully eating locally is getting easier and easier. The number of farmers’ markets in the United States has nearly doubled in recent years, increasing from 4685 in 2008 to 8284 in 2014. In addition to the local roadside produce stand, you can also participate in a Community Supported Agriculture program (CSA). A CSA allows you to support a farm or group of farms by owning a share in the harvest. And when you dine out, there are an increasing number of farm-to-table restaurants that build their menus off of foodstuffs they can source from nearby.
Eating locally is an active choice. But it’s one that supports the community economy, enhances your enjoyment of the fresh fruits and vegetables you eat, and even connects you to the land. There are a ton of benefits to the rapid globalization around us. But there is also a lot of value in our own backyard.
Virginia Schiffino, mom of two, is a former corporate attorney turned food entrepreneur. Schiffino is a partner in Happy Belly Baby (happybellybaby.com), a food company based in Mamaroneck, N.Y., which produces fresh, seasonal baby food using organic produce from local farms. You can find Happy Belly Baby’s preservative-free purees in the freezer section at Mrs. Green’s Natural Market stores and Palmer’s Market. They are also available at various farmers’ markets in Westchester and online for national delivery through FarmtoPeople.com Happy Belly Baby has recently launched a Kickstarter campaign to help bring their products to stores nation-wide. https://www.kickstarter.com/ projects/1521114863/happy-belly-baby.
