Local vs Organic and Defining Sustainablity: COG Conference Part III

The topic of my last entry on the Canadian Organic Grower’s Conference is the idea of buying local versus buying organic. The main idea is that you shouldn’t have to pick between the two and that sound food choices should be made on sustainability.

The state of current food choices is a direct result of financial concerns becoming paramount about 50 years ago. Today, issues such as ecological balance, chemicals and GMO are taking precedence. I will start with the naysayers who suggest that the idea that “food miles” should be a factor in making food choices because of the environmental benefits may actually be a fallacy. This was reasoned as follows by Laura Telford, the COG Executive Director. In general, food accounts for 16-17% of energy expenditure in society. Of this, 20% is production (pesticides, fertilizers, basically all the inputs), 10% is transportation and another 25% is end point storage and prep (i.e. your fridge and cooking). The argument goes that it would be worthwhile focusing on refrigeration or the inputs before tackling the transportation. Another point she made was that local does not necessarily mean sustainable. However, she pointed out that it is very important for Canada to have food sovereignty because of the issues that happened with imports just after 9/11.

So what does sustainable mean? The people from Local Food Plus did a good job of this. Local Food Plus is an NPO that encourages buying local. Their argument is that with urban sprawl, we are losing precious farmland and we need to support local farmers. Sustainable operations should be:

1. Local 2. Financially viable 3. Have ecological integrity (i.e. organic) 4. Socially responsible 5. Respectful of other species

What was really interesting is that the University of Toronto is one of its biggest supporters, with 15% of food available on campus being LFP. You might see some of these labels and signs on campus.

Overall, what I took home from this was that it is good to buy local, but not crucial. If you want organic bananas from Chile, there isn’t a huge concern about the distance they have traveled. On the other hand, why buy pesticide ridden garlic from China when you can buy amazing, fresh, organic garlic from right here in Ontario. What matters most is how sustainable the methods used in the production of the food are.

Even our seafood choices should be sustainable…

This week, when everybody else was trying to get home through a terrible snow storm, I was at dish cooking studio learning about cooking fish. I scaled a huge whitefish and learned to fillet a Mediterranean sea bass. This isn’t a review of the class, but in case you are wondering, it was satisfactory at best. What got titillated at this event was actually how I wasn’t necessarily selecting sustainable fish choices at the fish market. I had heard that Chilean sea bass was becoming extinct but I haven’t always done my best to avoid buying it. After visiting a few website, referred to me by Charmaine, the fish teacher, I am changing my ways!

Some great websites to learn more about this are: environmental defense, the endangered fish alliance, and a great Canadian site, Seachoice. There are clearly certain fish that we should just stop buying. We’ve depleted all stocks by over-fishing or the harvesting methods used a re taxing the environment or endangering organism number. These four are: Chilean sea bass, swordfish, caviar and roughy. Now I am not a swordfish, caviar or roughy lover, but who doesn’t love their buttery Chilean sea bass. I won’t buy it anymore. Some alternatives includes Sablefish from Alaska.

What I thought was really interesting is that there are certain fish you should avoid buying if they are a product of certain countries. For example, I love cooking myself up some fresh Tuna, however, some countries use unsustainable fishing methods, like longline, and you should avoid buying fish caught this way. Most U.S. Tuna is fine. Don’t be afraid to ask where your fish is from. Also, follow up with an internet search or email to make sure they tell you the truth. I am 80% certain that I was lied to by this company.

There are also health concerns when it comes to fish. For example, farmed Atlantic salmon contains a lot of PCBs and should be limited in consumption due to health issues. This can be avoided by purchasing wild pacific salmon. Not all farmed fish is bad. Farmed trout is one of the most sustainable and healthy (safe) choices you can make.

This is another case of putting your money where your values are. With our purchasing power we can control what’s being sold, and in turn affect global environmental issues.

But how yummy a nice sea bass is on the barby eh? But, on the other hand, our kids will know what a Chilean sea bass is and not die from mercury poison!

And that’s a good thing.