| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| macatsuma |
local food greener than organic foodyou may have seen this but i've just been sent it, a study that claims, as the title says, local food is greener than organic food http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4312591.stmHow do i do that making it go green hyper linky thing 
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| macatsuma |
oh right it does it automatically 
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| tahir |
Clever innit? |
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| tahir |
I'd definitely go with their findings, I'm not 100% organic at all, I can't see the value in buying organic Israeli new potatoes for example. But most average punters have no idea where their food comes from even if they are buying organic. | ||
| hardworkinghippy |
Organic doesn't mean an awful lot really when you buy from afar, and buying organic meat from battery farms is just so sad. 
I think it's better to know the source of your food, get out there and find it as near to home as you can! HWH |
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| Treacodactyl |
I tend to use the organic label as one of the many indicators. My own food goes top of the list, then food from people I know. UK organic & local food would be next but I'm realy trying to not by food from far afield.
I did buy some organic curry powder the other day thinking it would be less likely to contain some of the recently found chemicals. I think the company would have far more to loose if it had the dodgy chemicals in their products. |
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| wellington womble |
Aren't organic standards significantly higher than battery jobs, or does that only apply to UK organic? (actually all my meat is british, so I'm not being duped, but if I think organic equals better welfare, probably a lot of other people who are clueless about farming do too, so someone ought to tell them if imports aren't the same!) |
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| hardworkinghippy |
WW hi,
I don't mean to go on about this organic thing, it's good to know what your meat has been fed, but standards of husbandry for the animals themselves are IMHO extremely low. The standards are higher in the UK but have a look at some DEFRA definitions of Organic meat. Animals can be raised "conventionally" for most of their lives, then are "finished" for a certain time to organic standards. The amount of space devoted to each animal is listed and you have to imagine: 10 fattening poultry in a square metre of fixed housing. Beef up to 100 kilos (220lbs) 1.5 square metres inside and 1.1 outside Fattening pigs up to 110 kilos - 0.6 inside and 1 square metre outside. For full information go to this link: http://www.defra.gov.uk/farm/organic/legislation-standards/compendium-may04.pdf The Soil Association standards are higher. I know it's difficult, especially if you live in a city to get good food, but even when we buy expensive "Organic", imagining that the animals are frolicking all over a green field somewhere before they are swiftly dispatched... HWH |
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| jema |
This to my mind is a very big issue 
I'd really like to have some confidence in labeling, but cannot. |
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| nettie |
I think the advice given above on finding local producers and quizzing them about their methods is the way to go for meat-buying.
However, is organic veg from further afield less "green" than local stuff that has been sprayed with goodness knows what? This question has been my main motivation for growing my own, it's a dilemma I cannot solve. |
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| Lloyd |
my main bugbear with my own produce, is that I am surrounded on all sides by open farmland, which is sprayed at least weekly by the farmer. Naturally, the overspray will affect my garden, so do I have the right to ask him for sight of, for example, COSHH regs, for the stuff? | ||
| sean |
If you ask politely I can't see a problem. | ||
| Bugs |
I have read somewhere recently about the spraying thing. I'm not sure you have the right to know, exactly, but he does have certain obligations, and of course he has basic legal obligations which I think include warning you for certain sprays, and doing them in appropriate weather.
Damn, i must stop reading so much, I can't for the life of me remember where I saw this information. Most likely to have been CS or here or RC...tumpty tum. As Sean says, asking politely is probaly the way to start, esp if you know him. |
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| Lloyd |
Hm..I've not made his acquaintance as he's always been out when I've called, and it's not really the ideal way of introduction, I suppose, to ask about this stuff.
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| jema |
Always a tricky one that, one of the worst things going, is to be on the wrong side of your neighbours. |
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| Milo |
Food Miles: Should you worry if your spring onions have sprung all the way from Mexico, and your runner beans have done a marathon from Thailand?
The regular weekly supermarket shop exposes us to a bewildering array of foods from all over the world: kiwi fruits from New Zealand, bananas from Ecuador, and carrots from Israel. Such international displays give us greater choice and guaranteed stocks, but could the transport involved be playing havoc with the environment? Growing concern about the issue of food miles - the distance that food travels from the farm to the plate - has led to calls for us to eat more locally-produced food, and the growth of schemes such as farmers' markets that promote local produce. 07 JULY! 04: Today I went to the organic fruit and vegetable stall in our local supermarket, (one of a north west UK-based chain). The countries of origin enraged me: Cabbage - UK Mushrooms - UK New Potatoes - Israel & Italy Tomatoes - Spain Lemons - Spain Apples - New Zealand Green Beans - Egypt Carrots - Austria Avocado - South Africa Take a look at the countries of origin in your fruit bowl, your larder and your freezer. Go look …. Right now perhaps! Does that shock you? Your food has been jetting around the world. It is not just bananas and other stuff that won’t grow in the UK, UK grown apples are being sold abroad and we are buying apples from USA and South Africa. Where’s the sense in that? Besides growing your own, you can’t be sure how far your food has actually travelled. From farm to wholesaler to supermarket depot, to supermarket can be quite a few miles. For example, beef from cattle reared in Kidwelly in South Wales, even if it is bought in South Wales, may have travelled up to 500 miles. It will have travelled to North Wales for slaughter, back down to South Wales for processing and packaging, to a regional distribution centre in Gloucester and then to the shop. (source: Guardian). There are ways to reduce food miles. Shop at local farmers markets (if there are any), eat fruit and veg that is in season locally and always look for local produce in the supermarkets. In the winter months, imported, field-grown Spanish tomatoes, which benefit from ‘free’ sunlight may generate less carbon dioxide than their UK hot-house equivalents, even once the additional transport is taken into account. “Eating a Braeburn apple from New Zealand in July or a hothouse tomato from Kent in December has an environmental price tag,” says report author Tara Garnett. “The food miles issue is complex but as a rule of thumb, eating foods that are suited to UK growing conditions in their right season, rather than demanding out-of-season imported or hot-house foods is one way in which consumers can help reduce carbon dioxide emissions from food. British Seasonal Foods Food which has been grown locally and is in season tastes better, so look out for it whenever you can. Climate change may be extending the British season for some produce, so you may have longer to enjoy homegrown fruits and vegetables. You'll also find that by keeping to seasonal foods you can avoid being caught up in the issue of food miles, e.g. the import of, say, apples from New Zealand, when there are better apples available from within the UK, (and whether or not tomatoes grown outdoors in Spain and transported by diesel lorry impact less on climate change than do UK tomatoes grown under glass with artificial light and heat). If you can do so, and you probably can, try to buy very locally so as to avoid supporting the very frequent and ridiculous transport of totally similar foods past each other in opposite directions! Here's a month-by-month guide to what's being harvested when, in the UK, and what's available from store. The guide does not include produce grown with artificial light and heat. The beginning of each crop's season will vary slightly depending on the weather in any particular year. January The winter months are the time to enjoy British root vegetables and stores of local fruit. Being harvested this month are leeks, green cabbages, parsnips, turnips, sprouts, celeriac, jerusalem artichokes, shallots, mushrooms and forced rhubarb. From store, you can buy British apples and pears, beetroot and potatoes. Main crop carrots are either stored in the ground or kept in cold store to be available from September till the end of May. Onions are available most of the year. February Winter root crops are still going strong. This is the month for early winter cauliflower, leeks, turnips, protected spinach, swede, celeriac, chard, forced rhubarb, and carrots. Potatoes, apples and pears are available from store. The sprout season comes to an end. Mushrooms are available most of the year. March New crops of vegetables planted previous year come in to season, including purple sprouting broccoli, more cauliflower, spring greens, radishes, parsley, early rhubarb, and leeks. Carrots are available both from the ground and from store but beetroot from store is finishing. Potatoes, apples and pears are available from store. April The stored British crops start finishing in the middle of the month, but the new crops are not in full flow. Between mid-April and mid-June is the leanest time. But new season's lettuce and watercress come in, along with some overwintered spinach, radishes and purple sprouting broccoli. Rhubarb is in too. Carrots and potatoes are still available from store but apples and pears are finishing. May This is the gap month, as winter crops finish and stores decline. But coming in are the first new potatoes and asparagus. Radishes available. Carrots and potatoes are still in store but winter cauliflower and spinach comes to an end. Rhubarb is available. June By the middle of the month, there is a wealth of fruit and vegetables to choose from. New potatoes are more plentiful, asparagus continues. New carrots come in at the end of month as do soft fruits including blackcurrants, strawberries, gooseberries, cherries. Tomatoes are in, broccoli is beginning, cauliflower comes at the back end of the month. Lettuce gets into full flow as do fennel, peppers, broad beans, Chinese leaves, and green beans grown in tunnels. Herbs coming in. July Another peak month, with strawberries, loganberries, redcurrants, blackcurrants, tayberries, summer cabbage, spring cabbage, new potatoes, courgettes, broad beans, fennel, the first outdoor french beans, tomatoes, watercress, new cauliflower, carrots, lettuce, cucumber, broccoli. August The vegetables and soft fruits continue. Tree fruits come in at the end of the month. Lettuce, peppers, new potatoes, courgettes, leeks, sweetcorn, peas, aubergines, strawberries, loganberries, gooseberries, herbs, chard, courgettes, fennel, main crop carrots, broccoli. Onions are being harvested and will be stored through the winter. The first apples, and Victoria plums are picked at end of month. September A good month for fruit, and summer vegetables are joined by the earliest of winter ones. Blackberries, early apples, damsons, early pears, plums, spinach, figs, onions, all of the cabbages, curly kale, cucumbers, lettuce, tomatoes, french beans, courgettes, red onions, peppers, aubergines, marrows, sweetcorn, leeks, red cabbage, beetroot and broccoli are in. Swedes come back and sprouts begin. Main crop potatoes are lifted in September and October and stored until the beginning of the summer months. October This is the main season for apples and pears. The first bramleys are in season as are figs. Also available are sweetcorn, marrrow, mushrooms, beetroots, squash, watercress, onions, and leeks. The Jerusalem artichoke season begins, while cauliflowers are at their peak, as are main crop potatoes and carrots, sprouts, and broccoli. Lettuce is running out by the middle of the month, and courgettes finish towards the end. November Tender vegetable crops are disappearing as the frosts come, but still going are cabbage, cauliflower, potatoes, carrots, leeks, swede, parsnips, apples, pears, quinces, and sprouts. December It's back to winter vegetables and stores, with sprouts, turnips, swede, and parsnips available and potatoes, carrots, red cabbage, beetroot, apples, pears coming from store. Sources: The Soil Association, The Guardian, John Davenport, Bob Kennard, Farm, and the National Farmers' Union. 240503 |
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| nettie |
It does infuriate me that there is so much imported stuff - even our local farm shop is stocking foreign spuds, salad stuff etc and some New zealand apples, even though their own speciality is their home grown apples!
I'm feeling that May gap month at the moment, with asparagus, rhubarb and greenhouse lettuce keeping me going - and thank goodness for that wondrous plant called Swiss Chard, which I've been harvesting continuously for 11 months now 
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| wellington womble |
It looks as though the may gap is nearly over - my veg box is overflowing (and its up to a certain value, so you get more veg as it becomes more available and cheaper!) and I will never get through it all this week. So the gardens shouldn't be far behind. | ||
| nettie |
I hope so WW, my runner beans are 4' high and I haven't planted them out yet! | ||
| Milo |
This is quite entertaining - Store Wars, The Organic Revolution:
http://www.storewars.org/flash/index.html |
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| Mad Dad |
LOL 
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