Organic Food--Locally or Globally Grown?

The Pros and Cons of Where Organically Food is Grown

 

 

Of course it matters where organic food originates!  However, what matters most is, "Is the consumer getting what he needs?"  You and I need nutritious food.  If our food has traveled long distances, by the time we purchase it, prepare it, and dine on it--even if organically grown--it's weary, maybe a bit limp, and has lost not only nutrition but taste.  Moreover, transportation, whether 10 miles, 1,000 miles or still more, has contributed to the "carbon footprint,"  making overall life on planet Earth less sustainable.

 

But Do You, or Your Neighbors, Grow Your Own

Organic Coffee, Coconut, or Bananas?

 

Is there a farmer alive who can dine exclusively on what he raises organically?   Certainly, if he chooses to forego foods that most farmers, and virtually all consumers, seek at least now and then.

 

In other words, the organic food movement needs balance between locally-grown and globally-produced products.

 

The Economics of It All

 

What we're willing to pay pretty much trumps source of origin.  We're willing to pay for organic coffee, organic coconut, and organic bananas, because Farmer Jones down the lane can't grow them, nor can any distributor obtain these products locally grown.  These organic items must be imported. 

 

On the other hand, we hopefully may have a choice as to whether to buy organic string beans at a local farmers market or from a store that derives them from who knows where?  We may pay more for locally produced items (though quite often even less) or we may "save" by shopping at the big box store that purchases in bulk from far away.



As Regards Organic Food, "Caveat Emptor"

 

When you or I shop for organic food, the ancient saying caveat emptor or "Let the buyer beware!" applies as with any purchase.  The more informed we are, the better it is, not only  for us individually, but for our families.  We not only need to be sophisticated about what purports to be "organic," but we need to weigh the pros and cons of place of origin (where the tomatoes come from) and how much a decision to buy will cost us.

 

Farmers and Distributors Face Similar Decisions

 

Every farmer, every wholesaler, and every storekeeper faces comparable decisions--but risk their businesses financially!  A consumer can buy or not.  At most he risks not having the organic food he wished to purchase.

 

Distributors and farmers need a keen sense of the market.  If I  raise this product or if I stock this item, will someone want to buy it at a price at which I can make money--not lose money?  Or will the businesses to whom I want to sell choose to import the item instead of buying from me? 

 

Moreover, both farmers and distributors face the risk of spoilage, far less of a problem for you or me, unless we, as consumers, buy more than we can eat or safely store.

 

Local or global, all members of the organic food movement face decisions,

 

big and little!

 

 

 

 

Increasing Publicity of Organic Food Businesses

Major Daily Newspaper Highlights an Organic Food Business

 

 

San Diego's daily newspaper, U-T San Diego (formerly The San Diego Union-Tribune), in its Business Section, April 9, 2013, featured Organics Unlimited, a San Diego business that imports and then distributes organic bananas to customers such as Whole Foods and Jimbos.  The bananas come from Ecuador and Mexico.

 

In this nearly full-page article, lavishly illustrated, the paper describes the company's founding and current banana and distribution business whose sales now top $10 million. 

 

The company competes against giants such as Dole, Del Monte, and Chiquita but unlike these Goliaths all its bananas are organic!  However, Chiquita is also a customer, for it buys Organics Unlimited bananas and under the Chiquita name distributes them in Japan.  Moreover, a Japanese wholesaler discovered Organics Unlimited and now Japan gets organic bananas directly from Organics Unlimited and indirectly via Chiquita.

 

A Woman Owns This Organic Business--And She Cares!

 

San Diego's Organics Unlimited was founded and is owned by Mayra Velasquez who as a sixth-grader in Mexico began helping her parents' banana plantation business export from Colima and Jalisco in the 1970s, because they knew no English and she did.

 

Mayra wants people to know that "organic" is not just a label.  It helps the environment, it  promotes healthy living, and the more awareness of this, the better!

 

She distributes not only under the Organics Unlimited label but also under the GROW brand that stands for "grow resources and opportunities for workers."  GROW adds a surcharge of 60 cents per box of fruit to support funding that improves the lifestyle of workers in the fruit growing regions.