Dr. Mercola June 07 2007 42,679 views
A new study has determined that transportation of organic produce causes an environmental impact large enough to cancel out any benefits. Researchers at the University of Alberta in Canada collected shipping data on organic produce from six grocery stores.
They found that most of the fruit and vegetables had been trucked in, and that organic produce tended to come from farther away than conventional produce.
Organic mangoes, for example, were shipped from Ecuador and Peru, whereas conventional mangoes tended to come from Mexico. The researchers calculated that the annual environmental cost for a city the size of Edmonton for transporting organic produce was as high as $175,000 Canadian, only slightly less than $183,000 Canadian for conventional produce.
Dr. Mercola's Comment:
The headline might have surprised you but it is indeed true. Buying local is becoming the new organic, because far less fuel is wasted in transporting it to you, but more importantly, it is nearly always fresher, which means it is far healthier for you.
The above study from Canada confirms this because most organic foods tend to travel farther and the extra fuel has a negative impact on the environment. Of course, this completely contradicts the philosophy behind organic foods, which is to grow food in a sustainable, healthy and earth-friendly manner. So the idea that organic produce is always better for the environment or your health is somewhat of a ruse, particularly if your organic produce is being grown in another country. As always, the best produce options for you are the in-season varieties that are grown locally (and many of them will likely also be organic). They're fresher, do not waste fuel being transported to you, and they taste like real, home-grown produce should: delicious!
The National Resources Defence Council (NDRC) also offers a great tool on their website that helps you determine what fruits and vegetables are in season in your state. Two good ways to find local food are visiting farmers' markets and using Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs in your area. Additionally in the next year I am hoping to introduce an organic hydroponic growing system which would allow you to grow healthy vegetables in the comfort of your own home.
So stay tuned for that announcement.
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My preference has been to buy organic - even if it comes from several thousand miles away. Because it sends a strong message to the local grower who is poisoning the land I live on and the water I depend on here locally (as well as poisoning me personally and my family and loved ones!).
Why should I pay / reward this person for doing what they do?
And what incentive is there for them to change if I keep paying them for doing what they're doing?
If they hear / learn that I - and others - prefer to pay a foreigner for organic goods then it's more likely they'll come over to producing organically. Of course they'll only be doing it for the money (if they really cared they'd not have used chemicals in the first place!)... but at least they'll finally stop polluting my local space and I can feel comfortable rewarding them for how they go about business, treating me, my people and our land.
As for the CO2 argument (assuming CO2 is causing global warming - about which there is now debate)... well, I'm doing what I can. Donations to tree-planting companies help. So does quietly planting tress in hedgerows around. And I'm raising the issue of 'food miles' with my organic supplier. He in turn is raising it up the line to his people. If more of us did the same
Thanks Dr. Mercola, I could not agree more! As a Clinical herbalist I have to import a lot herbs from all over the world but whenever possible I try to convince people to wildcraft herbs from there own area to “localize” the healing power of the plant. This is so true in herbs for allergies and for infections too!Chinese medicine is wonderful but when you apply something like Chaparral leaf to an infection it seems to work much better if it was collected from a 20 mile radius as apposed to even 300 miles away. Hmmmm........ Is God trying to tell us something?