Local Foods with Fair Price for Clean Eating

Local foods may be a source of clean eating but no guarantee. Farm fresh eggs purchased at your nearby farmers market might have been produced in a million bird cage free facility. And not the best eggs, really. Raw milk sold on the farm may be coming from cows treated with antibiotics or fed GMO grains. Local-made cheese does not say much in regards to the quality of milk it was made from.  And so, more and more shoppers want to eat clean and now look for truly local foods with sustainability. They want real food, farm fresh, for their breakfast recipes. Where can they find authentic organic food with a fair price to all involved?

Values of Transparency

Did you know that when you pick up a gallon of USDA certified organic milk at the market, you might be carrying home more than 1 quart of conventionally farmed milk? And then remember, you paid a premium price. But the farmers only received payment according to the conventional pricing for that quart! Why didn’t you get told about this? The ingredients just state that it contains organic milk. However some laws regulating the sale of USDA certified organic milk allow up to 30% non-organic milk mixed into the organic milk. And this milk boast creditability of pure organic milk. But is this real food?

And so, the call rings out to go beyond organic! Know your farmer! Buy local foods. Support your farmers market. Eat clean real food from small farms. But really who can you trust? Does Fair Trade really represent the original values they stood for?

Any time we deal with others, we will need to have some level of confidence in their integrity. Then the more we think know about them, the more comfortable we become to trust them further. But at the same time we must always remember that money can corrupt integrity. We all face temptations of greed and selfishness. But do we value our interpersonal relationships more than the gain of money, power and fame?

Smaller Farms Equal Greater Transparency

When farmers market raw milk from 100% grass fed cows, do not have need of acres and acres of soybeans and corn to feed their herd. Neither do they have need of the feed truck bringing them grains on a regular basis for their cows.

But what about when you stop by a farm offering local, free range, farm fresh eggs? Then you happen to see several long, modern, chicken houses stretching out beyond the other farm buildings. You should immediately begin to question the production of the product versus how it is portrayed for sale. If “free range” simply means the hens might be able to go outside into small patches or porches once in a while, that is not the type of eggs you really want to be paying a premium for. Not if you are looking for true free range eggs. They might be farm fresh but not real food.

Small Farmed Goods Cost More

As so, the higher priced goods may be an indicate authenticity. But beware. Greed also offers pseudo small farmed, fair trade look alike goods. And factory farmers love to tag their wares with the same as those trying to carve out a living honestly with their honest approach. And they might even have someone attend the local farmers market to boost profits of their wares.

The term grass fed may only mean the cows eat some grass in the summertime. But consumers unknowingly purchase milk from cows fed certain amounts of grains with the grass so as to reach record milk production. And so when the consumer sees two options of milk on the shelf, and both are grass fed, the one with the greatest cost is left behind due to the lack of education of the facts.

And so again, you must know the values your farmer has. What all is he trying to accomplish? Is he trying to make all the money he possibly can? Or is he truly interested in the good of others? Can he offer everything you need and yet provide quality goods? And beware of the one who tries to dominate you with asking you to purchase everything from him. Buy local foods and choose real food!

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