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Organic Boxes or Local Boxes?

Andy Roberts — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 14:04:47 +0000

An organic box scheme or a local veg box scheme, which is better for the planet?

Organic or local boxes?

I’ve written a little about this before and had a couple of lovely guest posts on the subject of Local Veg Boxes but I’ve never looked seriously at finding a more local supplier myself. This is one dilemma I’m finding it really hard to resolve. I find the whole subject of food miles quite confusing. There doesn’t seem to be one definitive agreed standard for working them out so it is really difficult to be sure you are comparing like with like. I suppose my heart says local must be better but my head is less convinced. There have been some brave experiments in trying to eat locally by people based in London but I’m not convinced it is really practical. (One word of warning – search for “eat local London” will bring up some really interesting blogs, full of details of great farmers markets and local suppliers. From London. Ontario! )

I do try to use my local farmers market every month. It has to be said though, the vegetable produce comes all the way from Oxfordshire, so not really more local than my box scheme. One study reported on the BBC suggested that the best thing would be to eat food grown within a 20 mile radius. The professor involved did admit:

“In the short term, our paper adds to consumer frustration,” Professor Lang concedes.

No kidding? Sigh….. Well that was back in 2005 but I’m not sure things got any clearer!

We, as you will know if you follow the blog, use the Riverford organic vegetable box scheme and I’m very happy with the quality of the produce. However, it can hardly be described as local to East London. The food we get comes up from Devon in big trucks and is then distributed by small local delivery franchisees. If you are in another region your Riverford box might come from their Yorkshire farm or one of their other farms. In terms of carbon footprint and emissions they make a good case for this method of distribution. But still, not that local.

Some of the food is imported from France and Spain. Riverford are very scrupulous about reporting that. Their website goes into considerable detail to explain exactly why sometimes importing food is actually a better use of resources than trying to grow the same food here. They have a fascinating description of why it is better to transport tomatoes from Spain by truck than to grow them under plastic in the UK. They say:

The emissions from transporting those tomatoes (from Spain or Italy) to the UK (about 240g CO₂ per kg of fruit) are about a tenth of those associated with growing them closer to home using heat. The situation for peppers which are lower yielding but require the same amount of heat per square meter is even worse at about 4.5kg of CO₂ per kg of fruit.

But Which is Best, Local or Organic?

Back to the original question then. If I could find a more local vegetable box scheme would that be better then organic? I had a look round and found to my surprise that I just might be able to have my organic cake and eat it too. The Hornbeam Cafe in Walthamstowe act as a pick up point for OrganicLea. They say they do weekly, mostly locally sourced organic vegetable boxes. The veg can be picked up after 2:30 each Wednesday. Worth further investigation? Maybe.

I’m busy working out if I can get there after teaching on Wednesdays when I decide to look at little more deeply at their box contents. Erm…. The last box they have details for on the site is for the end of September. This does not bode well. The box does have some local produce but it also says:

Produce from: Hughes Organics and small farmers in East
Anglia, Sarah Green in Essex and our growing site (Hawkwood)
in Chingford, and from Langridge Organic wholesalers.(my formatting)

Further investigation also reveals suppliers in Norfolk and Linconshire. Not very local then really, though they do have some grapes and figs that were grown in Tottenham. (It’s been an amazing summer!) In fact quite a few suppliers are further away than Riverford and I really don’t like the use of an organic wholesaler. Their produce could be from anywhere!

My options seem quite limited then. To be more local we’d have to grow our own veg, not very practical in a small garden and you still have to get through the unproductive winter, move (!), or stick with a vegetable box from one of the big boys, the best of which, for now, seems to be Riverford.

Posted as part of Blog Action Day 2011

Organic Delivery to Schools

Andy Roberts — Wed, 19 May 2010 10:56:30 +0000

Long ago I was involved with a local wholefood co-operative. About 20 of us clubbed together to order supplies from one of the big wholefood wholesalers once a month. People took turns hosting the supplies and everything was shared out. It was a great way to get cheap food, meet like-minded people and actually was quite good fun!
Now the Soil Association are encouraging people to do something similar through their local school. The idea is that a group can set up a school food co-op. The suggestion with the most educational value is that the pupils should run the group. I think this is a fantastic idea! There’s so much opportunity for great learning and children are far more likely to eat something they’ve been involved in buying.
You can get a handy pdf that gives you more information.

A school buying group makes fresh, local, ethically-
produced food more accessible to its members, and
supports local farmers by providing them with a local,
regular and reliable outlet. A school food co-op can also support other programmes such as Healthy Schools,
Eco Schools and Food For Life.

Food Inc. or How Your Organic Box Can Save The World

Linda — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 13:59:32 +0000

Food Inc. is a new film due out in the UK on February 12th and what it says about the spin used by US supermarkets to promote factory farming holds just as true here in the UK. Have a look at the trailer:

The film will be shown around the country and The Soil Association are looking for volunteers to hand out information and membership leaflets. You can find out the dates and book on the official Food Inc. site

The film is promoting 10 Things You Can Do to Change Our Food System but it’s very US orientated so I thought I’d do us a UK version:

10 Things You Can Do to Change Our Food System

Drink fewer sweetened fizzy drinks and cut down sugar in tea & coffee
Eating in is the new going out
Support moves to force fast food outlets to publish calorie and fat content information on menues
Get soft drinks machines removed from local schools
Meatless Mondays – go without meat for just 1 day a week
Buy organic where possible, when not possible go for sustainable local food
Protect family farms. Find your local Farmers Market and use it. Buy organic boxes direct from farms.
Make a point of knowing where your food comes from. READ THE LABELS!
Tell the government that food safety matters to you – join the Soil Association and support their campaigns.
Demand job protection for farm workers and food processors, including improved protection when using pesticides and other chemicals, and decent wages.

Swine Flu Pandemic – Regulate Factory Pig Farming

Andy Roberts — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 07:06:11 +0000

Readers of the Organic Boxes blog may well know about the horrific conditions industrial factory farms keep their animals in. It’s not just a problem for the animals and meat consumers though. There’s increasing suspicion that the current triple hybrid H1N1 virus swine flu pandemic may well have originated in large scale pig farms in Mexico owned by an American multinational corporation in Veracruz.

An online petition by Avaaz.org calling for investigation and regulation of factory farms received more than 200,000 signatures in just six days and the organisers are now hoping to boost this number by at least another 50,000. If you would like to add your name to the petition go to http://www.avaaz.org/en/swine_flu_pandemic/98.php?cl_taf_sign=acd1e93cafc0032a88e9144ed9a4b065