Editor's blog: When organic trumps locally sourced products

You would think that consumers who purchase organic products are the same socially conscious consumers who demand that the food they eat be locally sourced. But that’s not necessarily true. 

I had an interesting conversation recently about organics and consumers with Carl Jorgensen, Daymon’s director of global thought leadership/wellness, who pointed out that plenty of consumers are purchasing organic products with ingredients that aren't locally sourced; in fact, the ingredients come from overseas.

“It’s one of those strange dichotomies because the same consumer who wants organic is often the same consumer who wants local food and is concerned about the carbon footprint of the food they are buying,” Jorgensen says.

Sales of organic products, while still small, continue to grow among U.S. consumers, especially with private brands. In fact, retailers are banking on private-branded organic food and beverage to increase their overall store brand sales. But U.S. farmers aren’t producing enough feed for organic products partly because it's not profitable. On the other hand, foreign farmers have stepped up and are producing huge quantities of organic feed because it is profitable.

Either those consumers aren’t studying labels to see where the organic products come from or they are simply willing to buy them even if the ingredients in those products come from Timbuktu.

“Imported food has a much bigger carbon footprint just in terms of miles traveled. Even if it’s organic, it’s still certainly not local,” Jorgensen says.

Jorgensen notes that for some consumers the “holy grail” of food is that when it’s both organic and locally sourced.

But sometimes you can’t have your cake and eat it too.