Is it better to purchase organic produce with no pesticides that has been trucked but contributes to fossil ?

fuel emissions or locally grown produce from a farm that uses pesticides? How effective are individual decisions in solving environmental problems? Is it better to purchase organic produce with no pesticides that has been trucked but contributes to fossil ?I feel it is always better to buy locally raised foods direct from the farmer. Even if the farmer is using poisons on his crop and bad soil practices. An informed customer can always change how the farmer grows things by talking to the grower and telling them what they, the customer, wants to buy. Any farmer looking to make a profit and pick up customers will change.



That said, it is best to find the local grower who grows using sustianable methods and was at one time certified organic. I am such a grower and I gotta say despite the problems the USDA is having with industrial organics, in the past before the USDA was the organic overlord it was worth getting certified as you learned a lot (and I do mean a lot) about how to farm organically. Growing organically is complicated but I feel very much worth the trouble as the food quality tends to be higher.



I think individual descisons about how to exist with the environment are incredibly important. yes it is useful to have large governing bodies setting examples but it is up to the individual to act.Is it better to purchase organic produce with no pesticides that has been trucked but contributes to fossil ?Organic does not mean no pesticides. It has more to do with New Age beliefs that there is a life force in things and if you produce food using organic methods it will nourish your life force better than food produced without that system, and that synthetically produced chemicals do not have that life force or it is destroyed by heat.



There is a list of approved for organic production pesticides. Often organic growers use them while at the same time avoiding using the term or even admitting to themselves they are using pesticides.



In general, I would say I would say the balance of things tends to favor locally produced things. Judicious, legal use of pesticides really shouldn't be a deal breaker.



Did you know there are many more pesticides and fertilizer used per acre in cities than on farms? Green, weed free grass is a real monster for resources.



I would also point out, that there is now a growing market of producing food in oversea, cheap labor countries and bringing it to the US to sell at premium prices. Frankly, I think you should, in general, avoid food produced in China, India and such places. There might be a certificate saying it is something, but paperwork tends to show up in such countries in a response to money, not practices.



For instance one example with a national grocery chain recently came to light. They were, and are selling a lot of certified organic produce from China. Well what happens is they hire a certifying agency. That certifying agency sent two inspectors to China. They did not go out to the farms because foreigners are not allowe to inspect farms in China. Instead, they sat in ports and the Chinese provided them with paperwork that said the food was produced using organic techniques.



Here's the thing. The food was worth premium prices if organic,and if it wasn't, no one would buy it.



Now the inspectors are being investegated by our government.



Individuals often try to respond to things they perceive as problems in a simplistic manner. A lot of times someone actually gives them the whole cycle, starting out by presenting something as a problem, and then presenting their product as the solution. It makes the consumer feel good to think they are helping solve a problem by purchasing the product.



Behind a lot of our food issues are various religions, they are not really based on fact.



MarvIs it better to purchase organic produce with no pesticides that has been trucked but contributes to fossil ?sunlight falls on the land, and is used to grow crops.

you could also grow manure crops on the same land using this energy optimally.

the produce is transported to minimum distance, and with minimum use of non-renewable energy resuorces.

this is the best organic produce.