Several weeks ago, I decided to do a two-week experiment to see how I was spending my money on food. I wanted to do this as a metric of what kind of impact I'm having on myself, the environment, and the local economy. This little experiment was done from Nov. 4 through Nov. 18. Throughout this two week period, I recorded all the money I spent on food and where I spent it. I also kept the receipts from grocery stores so I could see how much money I was spending on organic products as opposed to conventional products, as well as local versus chain stores and restaurants.
Here's a quick breakdown of my spending pattern in this two-week period (they're in percentages only because I don't really feel like advertising exactly how much I actually spend on food):
Where I spent my money:
Percent at chain grocery stores -- 40.39%
Percent at Bloomingfoods -- 30.11%
Percent at farmer's market -- 20.24%
Percent at local restaurants -- 5.46%
Percent at chain restaurants -- 3.80%
OVERALL percent local -- 55.81%
OVERALL percent chain -- 44.19%
Percent of total spending on organic food: 38.95%
Percent of grocery store spending on organic food: 55.25%
So that's a brief glimpse into how I spent my food money during the experimental period. An important thing to note is what these percentages looked like before I started this project. Basically, all of my grocery shopping was at Kroger, with zero percent at the farmer's market or local stores. I probably ate at local restaurants more than chain places, though. That's something I've been trying to do for a few years. I used to travel for work a lot, and when I could, I would find a local place to eat because I liked having something different than what I'm used to at home. So from this standpoint, I feel like I've made some progress, since I've made a concerted attempt to shop locally.
In looking at my spending on organic food, I would guess the percentages above are higher than they were before I started this project, but I'm not certain. I know I would buy organic apples and oranges, but that was about it. Since starting this, whenever I buy produce, I try to make it organic unless I can't find that particular item in organic form. One caveat to the organic spending percentages is the money I spent at the farmer's market (explored more below). I'm not sure how much of that was organic and how much wasn't. I can say a lot of it was spent on organic, free-range meat that I blogged about previously, though.
So what have been the impacts of the things that I've done? There are three areas in which I feel like I've had some impact: my personal health, the health of the environment, and the health of the local economy. Now obviously it's hard to quantify exactly what impacts I've had on any of these areas, so I'm going to have to address the topic generally.
Personal health: I blogged previously about the effects of organic food on health. To recap, while there is some evidence that organics are better for you than conventional food, it's mixed and very difficult to determine with precision. One aspect that I didn't address, however, was the health impact of the local food that I've been purchasing. According to an e-mail conversation I had with the woman who runs Bloomington's farmer's market, everyone who sells there must be from Indiana. Now, Indiana's a big place, and I think the definition of "local" that the farmer's market is using (to them, all of Indiana is local) is a bit more extensive from the way many people define "local" (which is within 100 miles). That being said, since we live roughly in the middle of the state, anything purchased at the farmer's market is still pretty local. I mention this because local food tends to have health benefits: Since it travels much fewer miles to get to your plate, it has generally not lost much of its nutritional value, which makes local food a bit healthier for you than non-local food. So from that standpoint, I would say that I've improved my personal health at least a little bit.
Environmental health: This is kind of complicated. The reason it's complicated is because I had a few misconceptions about the food I was buying. My assumption was that everything I bought at the farmer's market and Bloomingfoods was organic. Turns out that may not necessarily be the case. Officially, the farmer's market does not require food sold there to be certified organic. In fact, according to the woman who runs the market, only a few of the vendors have their produce organically certified. That being said, I spoke with one of the farmers there, and he gave me a glimpse into his methods. He does not use pesticides or fertilizers; instead, he uses coverage crops and composted manure from his livestock as fertilizer, and has to get rid of pests himself. His cows are allowed to graze in the pasture, and as an added bonus, fertilize the soil in the process. He also fallows part of his land each year to increase its fertility. So while his practices do not include fertilizer, irradiation, or pesticides, he can't technically call his food "organic" because it isn't certified. In addition, I have two neighbors who work at Bloomingfoods. I spoke with them about Bloomingfoods food, and their indication was that not all the food there is either local or organic. The big advantage to Bloomingfoods is that it is locally-owned (it is a cooperative), so the money spent there mostly stays local.
The lesson is to pay attention to labels and talk to the farmers you are buying from at the farmer's market. You can find out more information about their growing methods, etc., and make your own determination about whether their product meets your desires. I bring this up because it makes it more difficult to determine what the environmental impact of my food purchases has been. It would be much easier if I could just say, "Oh, it's all organic," and have that be good enough. But technically, it wasn't. That being said, the fact that bought a good amount of local and/or certified organic food says I did something right, even if it might not have been as much as I originally hoped.
Local economic health: This is where my efforts may have made the most impact. We hear a lot about how buying local helps the economy. I found a couple of infographics here and here that detail how local spending helps the local economy. The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) notes that modest investments in farmer's markets around the country could result in thousands of new jobs. This is because local farmers tend to buy locally and hire more local people. They can do this by skipping the middle man and selling their product directly to their customers at farmer's markets instead of through wholesalers. Since Bloomingfoods is a locally-owned coop, many of the same benefits also accrue when you shop there. So because I've been spending more of my money there and at the farmer's market, I like to think I'm making at least a bit of difference in my local economy.
The end result: It seems like I may have had a bigger effect on the local economy than I have on my health or on the environment. That's tough to say for sure, though. I like to think I'm doing something right on all fronts, but I think I might have to make bigger changes over a longer timeframe before really drawing any conclusions.
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