What do you think is better?

Jynxey

I try to be conscious of the food I buy, buying local and organic are two important factors that go into my food choice.

So my question is, when you can't buy local AND organic, which are you more likely to go with. Local non-organic, or organic non-local? 

LemonLover33

I prefer organic over local. Organic will always take priority over carbon footprint except when I don't agree with business practices (like Horizon will never be in this household). When I can't find organic then I do local. Priorites!

Jynxey

LemonLover33:

I prefer organic over local. Organic will always take priority over carbon footprint except when I don't agree with business practices (like Horizon will never be in this household). When I can't find organic then I do local. Priorites!

 

I don't know the story with Horizon and their business practices. Enlighten me? 

jmhaumann

I try to do both as much as possible too. One thing to keep in mind is that it is expensive for small farms to become certified organic. Talk to your local farmers to know about their practices. If they do things you don't like, I would buy non-local organic.

GRKaters

Local

 

Mrs.MauiBride24

Local

JenD1018

I would prefer organic over local.  But as someone mentioned, it's hard for small farms to get organic status, so I'd talk to them about their farming practices first.

Jynxey

jmhaumann:

I try to do both as much as possible too. One thing to keep in mind is that it is expensive for small farms to become certified organic. Talk to your local farmers to know about their practices. If they do things you don't like, I would buy non-local organic.

 

JenD1018:

I would prefer organic over local.  But as someone mentioned, it's hard for small farms to get organic status, so I'd talk to them about their farming practices first.

 

Good point! That is often times something I completely overlook.  

jennyk213

I'll always go for the organic option, whether certified or not.  I'm fine with buying transitional or non-certified as long as I can talk to the farmers or know through the co-op that they're grown that way.

If I don't have an option for organic produce, I don't buy it.

CDMay2006

Local and responsible > organic

SuperGreen

CDMay2006:

Local and responsible > organic

Ditto this.  I would rather have local food where I ask which farmers spray and which don't than organic food from halfway around the world.  That's just not sustainable.

SuperGreen

Jynxey:

LemonLover33:

I prefer organic over local. Organic will always take priority over carbon footprint except when I don't agree with business practices (like Horizon will never be in this household). When I can't find organic then I do local. Priorites!

 

I don't know the story with Horizon and their business practices. Enlighten me? 

I buy organic milk from either Organic Valley, a regional network of local cooperatives, or a local to me milk that I can't remember the name of the farm of at the moment.  Comes in glass bottles.  Same as chickens, organic milk means no artifical hormones or antibiotics, and are fed organic feed.  It saddens me to know that this means most organic milk brands don't treat their cows well, Horizon being one of the worst.  These cows are fed organic corn, which makes them sick because cows are supposed to eat grass, and they're held in feedlots with no access to the outdoors and milked by machine three times a day.  Conventional and some organic dairy cows are literally milked until they are completely spent, them they're turned into cow by-products like tallow (fat) that are fed to beef cows.  It's a disgusting cycle.