Organic and Air Freighted? Maybe Not For Much Longer...
by Treehugger Interns 
on 01.27.07
The local vs. organic debate is a familiar one to many treehuggers. Is it better for a shopper in London to buy organic green beans from Kenya, or non-organic from Kent? This shopper at least decided long ago that there was little point in avoiding pollution in the production of his food, only to then fly it round the world spewing emissions in the process. Soon we may no longer have an option, if a report in the Guardian is anything to go by. Apparently the Soil Association, the UK’s leading organic certification body, has just launched a year long consultation into whether air freighted food should be banned from carrying the organic label. According to the report, the consultation will consider other options, such as carbon offsets, but with UK supermarkets Tesco and Marks and Spencer recently announcing labeling schemes for airfreighted produce, it may be that the tide is turning against flying beans. Of course, this was never an issue at the farmers market… [Written by: Sami Grover]
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recent unconfirmed report from Boston was that ANYTHING flying through an airport, particularly organic fruits and vegetables, is sprayed with pesticides when it arrives at the airport.
Buy Local
Should the same shopper in London wish to purchase a bag of organic coffee beans, however, the local options would be severely limited. If the choice is then between organically produced and non-organically produced beans from Kenya, shouldn't the shopper have the information available to make that choice (namely in the form of an Organic label)?
Why not simply indicate the origin(s) of the food in question, rather than repeal the organic label?
Certainly I would advocate for buying locally, but let's not make this a 'best or nothing' situation that works to the disadvantage of both concientious shoppers at home and organic farmers abroad.
This reminds me of Taliban/Puritan reasoning.
One solution - and there are many others - is to advise consumers of and then charge the carbon footprint cost of getting it to market.
That way both organic and non-organic products are included equally.