| A couple of years ago, I visited an
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| | Even for conscious consumers who think
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| organic vegetable farm in southeast
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| | about values other than convenience and
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| Minnesota, not far from the Mississippi
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| | price -- avoiding pesticides, the
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| River. Nestled in a valley that sloped
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| | survival of small farms, artisan food,
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| down from rolling pasture and cropland
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| | and, of course, the most basic values,
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| sat Featherstone Fruits and Vegetables, a
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| | freshness and taste -- choices must be
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| 40-acre farm.Featherstone was part of a
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| | made. Should we avoid pesticides at all
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| local food web in the upper Midwest,
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| | costs or help small local farmers who may
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| selling at a farmers' market, through a
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| | use them? Should we reduce food shipment
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| CSA (community supported agriculture) and
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| | miles, or buy food produced in an
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| to co-op stores in the Twin Cities. But
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| | ecologically sound manner regardless of
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| the partners, Jack Hedin and Rhys
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| | where it's grown? These questions arise
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| Williams, who began in 1995, were having
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| | because we want to do what's right.The
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| a tough time economically and realized
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| | problem, though, is that these questions
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| they would have to boost sales if they
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| | set up false choices. What Hedin and
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| were to become viable. The farm earned
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| | others showed me was that when it comes
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| about $22,000 a year -- split between the
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| | to doing the right thing, what really
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| two partners -- so they had to take on
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| | mattered was thinking about the choice --
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| debt to keep going; this, after a 60 to
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| | to be aware, to stay informed, and to be
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| 70 hour work week.Hedin told me he made
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| | conscious of our role as consumers. But
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| some calls and eventually landed a deal
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| | what you actually chose -- local or
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| with Whole Foods to supply the natural
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| | organic -- didn't really matter.Hedin,
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| foods chain with organic heirloom
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| | for example, was competing against
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| tomatoes. When I visited, they were in
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| | farmers he actually knew on the West
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| year two of the contract, picking the
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| | Coast, who also supplied organic produce
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| tomatoes before their peak ripeness, then
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| | to Whole Foods. I met one, Tim Mueller of
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| shipping them to Chicago for stores in
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| | River Dog Farm, in the one-bar town of
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| the Midwest. The deal had become the
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| | Guinda, California. His farm sold produce
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| biggest sales channel for their farm;
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| | at the Berkeley Farmers Market about 90
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| while still "local," they were not as
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| | minutes away, but he was also tied to
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| local as when they sold in their
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| | wholesale markets. (I saw River Dog's
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| backyard.There was a lesson here, one
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| | heirloom tomatoes in western
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| that often gets lost in the debate about
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| | Massachusetts.) For these organic
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| which is better, local or organic? Too
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| | farmers, selling wholesale was a
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| often this is understood as a zero sum
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| | foundation for economic
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| game -- that the money you spend on
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| | sustainability.Moreover, by expanding the
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| organic food at the supermarket will mean
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| | organic market, we may be actually
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| less for local farmers. After all, the
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| | helping local farmers. The USDA surveyed
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| food you buy is being shipped from who
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| | farmers' markets and found that about a
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| knows where and then often ends up in a
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| | third of farmers selling direct were
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| processed food product. I've heard the
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| | organic -- local and organic, that is. In
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| argument that if all the money spent on
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| | comparison, just one percent of all
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| organic food (around $14 billion) were
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| | American farms practice organic
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| actually channeled to local food, then a
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| | agriculture. So for smaller-scale farmers
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| lot more small farms would survive and
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| | selling direct, organic food has become a
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| local food networks could expand. Well,
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| | key component of their identity. By
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| Featherstone was doing precisely the
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| | bringing more people into the organic
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| opposite: it had entered the organic
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| | fold, through whatever gateway they
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| wholesale marketplace and then sent its
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| | happened to choose, the pool of consumers
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| tomatoes hundreds of miles away to
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| | considering local food would likely
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| survive as a small and, yes, local
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| | increase too.That's at least what Jim
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| farm.As consumers, it's hard to
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| | Crawford, a farmer from south central
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| understand these realities since we're so
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| | Pennsylvania believed.
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| divorced from the way food is produced.
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