Organic Food and Locally Grown Food: Are They the Identical?

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In the U.K., consumers are gobbling up organic food by the bushel. In fact, according to the Organic Centre Wales, "Direct sales of organic food through box schemes, farmers' markets and farm shops grew by more than a third to L144 million during 2004." And these numbers have continued to rise as shoppers turn out to be increasingly concerned about the extended-term effects of the chemical fertilizers and pesticides utilized on crops grown by non-organic farms. While most individuals agree that organic food is preferable more than non-organic, a debate has begun about the source of organic foods. For example, is imported organic food as desirable as UK organic food?

Making the Situation for Nearby Organic Food

Those on 1 side of the debate insist it does not matter exactly where organic food is grown rather, the how to be efficient crucial aspect is that the food meets stringent requirements to make sure that it is truly organic. These on the other side of the debate are equally vehement that locally grown organic food is dualism preferable to imported click for relationship advice organic food, both because the fossil fuels used to transport imported organic food add to global warming and due to the fact UK organic food supports local farmers.

Advocates say that you can locate UK organic food at an organic farm shop, or even arrange for organic food delivery right to your door. You can even uncover organic fish, such as organic trout from an organic fish farm. There, the organic trout may possibly live in 400-year-old spring water and eat natural shrimp that comes from organic watercress beds.

These who favor importing organic food point out that an organic farm shop will only have seasonal foods, which severely limit the alternatives shoppers have when preparing meals. Imported organic food, they say, retains its superior nutritional top quality although delivering a bountiful assortment of fruits and vegetables.

Some folks, of course, take the middle ground, and opt to pick their foods from an organic farm shop when what they want is in season and shop for imported organic food the remainder of the year.

The Bottom Line

Individuals may possibly differ in their opinions about whether or not or not to limit one's consumption of organic food to that grown locally, but virtually everyone agrees that organic fruits, organic vegetables, organic fish, and organic meats are preferable to those that are grown with chemical fertilizers, insecticides, and fungicides.

At the moment, non-organic growers are authorized to use more than 1,000 chemical compounds on crops. This translates into every thing from soil erosion due to more than-farming to hazardous toxic runoff into our drinking water. Growing food organically is a way to reverse this trend. With more than 700,000 hectares dedicated to UK organic food, farmers are trying to meet customer demand. Still, some markets import virtually half of the organic food they sell. As for who will win the debate over locally grown organic food vs. imported organic food, only time will tell.