Agribusiness vs. Local Organic [View All]

[hippywife]

Since much of the talk lately has been on food budgets and stretching our dollars for meals, I thought I would get a feel for how all the foodies here feel in this area.

As for myself, I've been doing alot of reading over the past year or so and have decided to vote with my dollars to eat within season as much as I can and support the local organic farmer/producer where possible. It is a little more costly on the food budget but on top of everything else I've read, Barbara Kingsolver's book "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" which has sealed the deal for me once and for all. I can no longer not do this.

Agribusiness degrades the environment, leading towards a future of unsustainability and food insecurity for the world as a whole, where local organic farming/producing practices replenish the land and don't pose the immediate or imminent harm to our health and environment that agribusiness has/does. Not to mention the fuel costs that go into shipping even organic goods from large producers, most of which are now owned by the huge conglomerates such as Kraft. Many of the original organic brands are no longer independent concerns. http://www.corporganics.org/

The book was written with her kids and her husband, who is a biologist. He points out that agribusiness is very heavily subsidized without tax dollars, which is why they can afford the cheaper prices and still many more times than not deliver an inferior product. So what if I can have a tomato in the winter? Why pay them more than my share of the tax dollars they get to give me produce that is tasteless and has been engineered for one thing only...to be able to be shipped long distances with little harm to it's appearance.

Until we start voting with our dollars and supporting these local families in our own communities, that will never change. Organic farming takes so much more work because they don't take the easy, less healthy route of using pesticides and herbicides, Monsanto modified seeds containing pesticides and are sterile, not allowing a farmer to save seeds from one harvest for the next. They also help preserve heritage strains of vegetables and breeds of animals that have been hardened to many diseases through centuries evolution of their species.

We don't like to see families in our communities lose everything to job outsourcing, yet I feel I inflict the same on the small local farmer with my grocery store purchases. I outsource their income to the giant conglomerates. We decry the media conglomeration, but hardly consider that the same is occurring with our support at times at the grocery store.

From a purely aesthetic point of view, since I love to cook and take pride in creating wonderful dishes, why would I not want the absolute best tasting and healthful ingredients for my kitchen creations? With the obesity rampant in this county, including my own, I can't see any reason at all for not giving this the best shot I can. I know I can't afford to do this as much as I would like to and there are many people who can't, but like everything I believe in, I feel compelled to do what I can, when I can.

What say the hardcore foodies in this group?

(Sorry this went so long and I didn't mean to get on a soapbox but I'm totally convinced this is the way to go for my own health and being able to feed people into the future. Thanx for reading and adding your responses!) :hi: