Meat & Fish

The New York Times reports today that despite the relatively relaxed pace at which the price of organic food has risen in comparison to other produce and processed food in the past few months, organics are about to see dramatic price increases across the board. With the cost of organic feeds for meat and dairy, and the decreased incentive for farmers to go organic due to higher prices for non-organic foods, there's a good chance that the cost of many of your favorite organics will go up by as much as 20 percent in the very near future.

With food prices rising across the board due to higher fuel costs and a spike in the commodities markets, you might think that the organics boom would be the first suffer — especially in the midst of a recession. The logic goes that since wallets are tightening across the country, consumers will turn to cheaper meat and produce, eschewing concerns about pesticides, growth hormones and sustainability issues. But could the long term benefits of a changing food economy actually outweigh the negatives?

Local Harvest offers a comprehensive database of local farms, markets, community supported agriculture and local supplied restaurants, as well as an internet store that allows small farmers to sell goods like soap, maple syrup, preserves and dried fruits to a national market.

The Marine Stewardship Council has for the first time, certified a line of sustainably caught tuna products. American Tuna, which is a small, family owned fishery employing pole and line fishing techniques, offers smoked and canned albacore.

Not all ethical shoppers subscribe to animal rights ideologies that hold the raising and killing of animals for food to be immoral. For many of us, knowing that a cow had enough space to graze, or that an egg-laying chicken wasn't grown in a crowded factory is enough. Others are strict humanists, believing that our moral and ethical responsibilities apply only to ourselves and our fellow human beings. But what if eating meat were just as lethal to our bodies and our planet as it is to the creatures we turn into hamburger?