Yes. Central Valley. Specifically, surrounded by orchards, vineyards, and row crops between Lodi and Stockton.
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Same in the UK. All produce labelled “organic” is legally required to have a certification from one of the official bodies, such as the Soil Association, which set the standards for the particular product(s).
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Read your labels
Know your farmer
Bless this mess
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As mentioned by @small_h and @bbqboy up thread, same in the US.
As noted in the At Nugget Markets link, they describe it this way;
“Products marked with our Organic icon are certified organic by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF), Organic Crop Improvement Association (OCIA) or Oregon Tilth (OTCO). Products certified by the USDA are either 100% organic themselves, or 95% or more of the ingredients are organic certified”
The problem I have with it is what I understand to be the cost of the certification. It is my understanding that some companies meet criteria, but don’t pay for the certification, so can’t use the official label.
Here is a link to COOF, which includes a lot of the details.
This one includes some common labels.
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Certainly the case in the UK. There’s a shop near me that used to stock free range pork. Last time we went, thre was nothing labelled “free range” (another legal definition here) but a member of staff said that the farm had stopped paying for the inspection/certificate. We decided we’d shop elsewhere for pork where we can be certain what we’re buying
I wonder about the ‘vegan’ label on cosmetics, clothing, household product, alcoholic beverages and others I cannot bring to mind right now. When I saw a sweater labeled ‘100% vegan’, I was curious.
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I would note, with all modesty, that everything is local somewhere. The difference between somebody else’s local and one’s own local is just transportation.
Contrary to simplistic thinking such as “food miles”, long distance transportation is very cheap and very quick, so both the environmental impact and quality differential between things grown next door and 2000 miles away is actually quite small, and indeed due to transportation scale economies the transportation environmental impact of food grown elsewhere may be smaller than that of food grown locally. In short, the “food miles” concept is , if not completely bunk, highly misleading. Numerous academic studies have concluded that growing things where climatic conditions are ideal (like California) and shipping to distant markets generally results in lower total environmental impact than growing them where conditions are not ideal (and thus where more energy and more fertilizers are needed).
Buying local in the belief that you’re doing the earth a favor is often just not so, and may be the opposite.
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I guess people do things for different reasons. I can’t say my motivations are always the same, but currently, I like to think shopping locally benefits the local community. Specifically I like to support the local businesses and “local” farms. For me that is the San Francisco Bay area and California central coast and central valley.
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There was such a study that concluded it was more environmentally friendly for the UK to import New Zealand lamb than farm it ourselves.
Of course, this was somewhat undermined when it was revealed that the study had been commissioned and paid for by the New Zealand sheep farmers association.
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There is a difference between “organic”, “natural” etc. A product can’t claim that it is organic without getting certified (we can discuss in general if the rules for that should be stricter but that is a completely different discussion) whereas “natural” (and similar descriptions) can be used by every product without any regulations
No wool.
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I sometimes hate to get into a thread like this. But I WAS VP of purchasing for the largest region of whole paycheck in the before amazon days. And Local has no meaning. By law. But Local as a concept has some meaning but it needs context.
Everybody is local to somewhere. Imagine owning a coffee shop in Utah. You buy Simplot potatoes from the Gargantuan Food Distributor. They get the potatoes from their french fry warehouse building on the french fry warehouse complex… shove it on a truck and you get… “LOCAL?” potatoes? Well yeah, they are local. Big F Deal.
Now at the farmers’ markets I used to supply my restaurants, I knew which local farm grew really great varietals and really know how to pick and handle them. Then there were other farms where you could buy the same exact mediocre commercial strains as at the local produce dock or big box supply house. So all is local and my local farms were good at enforcing their standards. But their standards allowed for a range from generic crap to wonderful in season perfection. All LOCAL.
TO sum up, local is a necessary but not sufficient condition for really high quality, highly freshness dependent produce. I mean have you ever had a home grown eggplant or a locally farmed one? They are full of flavor and complexity. The stuff from the mainsteram food channel is cotton. Cukes, Green beans, asparagus, eggplant, zucchini all are incredible hyper fresh, which means local they must be. And on potatoes and onions, the best strains and varieties are not suited for mass food distribution. Again, local is key. But it is more than local, it is the farmer.
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Or silk or leather.
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Heard.
“Cukes, Green beans, asparagus, eggplant, zucchini all are incredible hyper fresh”
I would add the benefit of less time from picking to eating varies with specific produce. Not all of the above are incredible to me, but sugar snap and other peas are a great examples, so much that I make a point of growing my own. I know everyone can’t grow everything, but in the context of buying "local ", sometimes that’s what it’s about for me.
Like I said, local is only necessary. I have cukes in my fridge today that are simply as good a kirby cuke as I have ever had. Grown under a high tunnel in the Baltimore region.
I don’t understand “local is only necessary”.
Are you saying that cucumbers are one of those veg/fruit that benefit from a limited time between harvest and eating? I don’t eat them that much, but grow lemon cucumbers because…lemon cucumbers!
ETA Okay; I see; “Cukes, Green beans, asparagus, eggplant, zucchini all are incredible hyper fresh, which means local they must be. And on potatoes and onions, the best strains and varieties are not suited for mass food distribution.”
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Sorry for the confusion. The only really good cukes are locally grown so you can consume them within days of their being picked. But most cukes at my local farmer’s markets are fairly meh.
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Okay. Now explain under a high tunnel.
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It must have been acrylic or cotton. Please explain the vegan consumption rule on wool and silk. I thought it was a food, as in what goes in one’s mouth, consideration. Does it also apply to animal products that would come in contact with the skin? Curious!
“Now explain under a high tunnel.”
I know! I know! ( that’s not me).
Can someone direct me to how the thought bubble thing works?
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