Organic and local food

What organic food is? Organic food is produced in a natural way. They can be almost any supplies of food. 95% of organic foods' agricultural raw materials have to be produced without any preservatives or pesticides. Different countries have different definitions of organic food, but the principle is the same all over the world. It's not organic food until the producers have grown the field for three growing seasons. The welfare of the animals must be considered in production of domestic animals. In addition, there has to be a particular label in the packet of organic products. Using organic foods is environmentally friendly and the food can taste better because there are no artificial ingredients. Organic food may also contain more nutrients. On the other hand it usually is more expensive than the ordinary food and the selection is narrower.

Organic food and on vicinity produced food in Vesanto Organic food is produced with minimum harm to nature. In Vesanto you can buy organic food in local normal market or little shop named Vestori, which is spesialiced to local produces and organic food. There is basic foodstuff like fish, milk and bread. The best place to buy local food is above-mentioned Vestori. They sell for exemple eggs from home chicken coops, forestberries and local vegetables. There is also some farms, where you can buy produces. There is not organic farms in vesanto, but in neighbouring municipalities has some. For instance there are grain- berry- and domestical animal farms. Peltolan juustola produces among other things organic cheese and ice cream.

The challenges of organic food There are many challenges with producing organic food: -It's more difficult to produce organic food -Organic food is more expensive -Availability -People don't have that much knowledge about organic food Organic food is hard to produce because you have to be really careful of what you use to grow organic food, or what species or races you pick. For example, you can't call it organic, if it hasn't been grown by the rules that determine organic food. Organic food can be more expensive because of the whole process it takes to grow and make it organic. As an example Valio low-fat milk costs 1,16€ and Valio low-fat organic milk 1,79€. Organic food is sometimes hard to get because stores usually order these items less. Especially in smaller towns and places they don't have a large variety. People aren't aware of about the pros and cons of organic food. And because of that, people don't buy them a lot, and the prices stay high.

Local food - Local food is produced from local raw ingredients, for example meat, vegetables, berries and cereal products. Pros: It does not burden the environment because the food does not move long distances and is therefore often fresh, and fresh means it’s not pumped full of preservatives. Supports your community Promotes employment and food culture Often healthy Produced respecting the environment and natural resources Cons: Prices can be high Local food is produced too little / availability is often uncertain.

Finnish and European organic brands EU’s Leaf Brand / EU:n lehtimerkki EU organic logo magazine mark is a mandatory organic logo on all packaged organic foods, which have been manufactured in the EU. The sign indicates that the organic product is produced in line with the EU Organic Regulation and used in the manufacture of agricultural origin of raw materials at least 95% is organic. EU’s Leaf brand logo links to nature and European Union, as you can see the leaf is formed by stars, which are also seen in EU’s flag. Sun brand / Aurinkomerkki The sun brand is Finland's own national organic label, with which the product must comply with the EU regulation on organic conditions. In addition, the Sun-labeled product must be under Finnish organic supervisory authority. The Sun label can be on both Finnish and imported organic products. The sun brand’s logo represents nature and growth.

Finnish and European organic brands Ladybug Brand / Leppäkerttumerkki Ladybug brand is granted by the Organic Union and supervised by the organic label, and it is granted only to Finnish organic products. Ladybug in many countries is pleased to recognize organic products, because it is an example of natural and farmer co-operation: diverse agricultural environment, including ladybirds prevent excessive reproduction of insect pests. There are two different markings in Finland that show if a food product is made or grown in here. “Hyvää suomesta” or the “Good from Finland’’- mark. It tells the consumer that the food product is made and packed here in Finland and that animal based products like meats, eggs and milk that carry the sign are 100% Finnish. As for the symbolism of the sign it has the Finnish national bird, the swan that has a Finnish flag on its body.

Finnish and European organic brands The other one is the “sirkkalehtilippu” aka the “cotyledon flag” which is used to mark vegetables and the processed products from them to tell the consumer they are 100% domestic and that their quality is top notch. It also tells the consumer that all the gardening products used to grow them all also from Finland. The symbolism of the sign is that it marks vegetables and other plant based products that are from Finland so it has two leafs, the other one is a normal one and the other one has the Finnish flag. There’s also one sign that is not used in food products but in other Finnish products to tell if they are Finnish and that’s the “avainlippu” or the “keyflag”.

The prices of organic and ”normal” food in Vesanto Product Shop: ´Normal` price S-Market Local price Vestori Organic price Potato 1,10 €/kg 1,15€/kg 1,40€/kg Rye bread 4,00€/kg 6,65€/kg Eggs 1,75 €/10pcs 2,30 €/10pcs 3,82 €/10pcs Tomato 4,99€/kg 3,30€/kg (2nd class) 8,99€/kg Onion 1,29€/kg 1,25€/kg 2,58€/kg Yogurt - 3,19€/kg Milk 0,93€/l 1,45€/l

The prices of organic and ”normal” food in Vesanto - Organic food is more expensive than other food because it’s slow and expensive to produce. - Local products are usually as cheap as ‘normal’ products. - Local food has been produced max. 50 km from Vesanto.

Why is important to use organic food & local food? -It’s good for the environment: it uses less energy than “normal” food production -There´s less pesticides used in production of “normal” groceries and they have less additives in them -It’s healthier and better quality than “normal” food -It has more C-vitamin in it and organic milk and meat has better fatty acid composition -It provides work for people -In organic meat production, animals are living in better conditions and they are treated better because animals can be outdoors and they have more space to move around -It’s easier for consumer to track the producer of the food and make sure it’s safe to eat because it’s produced near and some food packages have the contacts of the producer -Producing organic & local food supports ecological effectivity because it reduces the using of fossil fuels

Sources Luomuliitto http://www.mtk.fi/maatalous/lahiruoka/fi_FI/ http://www.martat.fi/ruoka/ekokokki/lahiruoka/ Luomu.fi Kiloklubi.fi http://www.luomuruoka.fi/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_food http://www.mtk.fi/maatalous/luomutuotanto/fi_FI/mita_luomu_on/ http://www2.wwf.fi/villiplaneetta/2012/09/onko-luomuruoka-kemiallista-parempi-ymparistolle/ http://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luomutuote Suomen Kuvalehti Pictures: Flickr