Buying local vs. buying charity
- December 12, 2008 12:39 PM |
- By Kevin Yarr
By Kevin Yarr, CBCNews.ca
It was a hard decision faced by Co-op Atlantic a couple of weeks ago. All year long the grocery store chain had been running 50-50 draws with its members to raise money for what would be a very generous donation to the CBC P.E.I. Turkey Drive. Just over 600 turkeys plus vegetables, roasting pans, stuffing: an impressive feed for hundreds of Islanders who might otherwise have gone without.
There was a small glitch: the Co-op slogan, "Our choice is Atlantic First." Many people shop at the Co-op to support farmers in the region, but for this donation to feed as many families as possible, the Co-op would have to buy turkeys raised in Manitoba.
The Co-op donation made for a dramatic first day of CBC P.E.I.'s Turkey Drive. (CBC)
It was not a little difference, about 80 cents a pound, enough to buy about 200 more turkeys. The Co-op decided in this case it would not follow its buy local policy.
And then a local turkey farmer expressed disappointment that he was not asked to fill the order.
A lot of people got very, very upset when CBC News turned this into a news story. Island Morning, P.E.I.'s radio morning show, received calls expressing their anger that the donation had been called into question.
"I thought it was very mean-spirited," said one caller. "I think you're being rather hard on the Co-op," said another.
Commenters on the web site were more direct in their attacks on the CBC.
"SHAME ON CBC," wrote one.
"This is your campaign. You asked Islanders to open their hearts & wallets, & thank them by stabbing them in the back for their generosity for the sake of a story."
Let me say first that while it seems to me the Co-op faced a conundrum here, they absolutely made the right decision. I believe it would have been wrong to buy 200 fewer turkeys for charity for the sake of buying local. I would no more criticize the Co-op for this decision than I would berate a pensioner in a Charlottetown supermarket for buying a turkey from the United States.
And yet when radio reporter Laura Chapin researched this story for radio, I made the decision to write it up for CBCNews.ca.
What is unfortunately lost in this debate is the question itself. For the sake of argument, let's take it as a given that buying local is a good thing. Let's also assume that buying turkeys for needy families at Christmas is a good thing. Now, what do you do when faced with choosing between the two?
That, for me, is the interest in this story.
I have expressed my own frustration with international food marketing in Food Bytes before. My point, then and now, is that there is more to buying food than just looking at the price. Part of the reason people on P.E.I. are in financial difficulty is that people can and do buy inexpensive products made, grown and raised in other parts of the world.
There are broader implications, and there are circumstances when buying local is the right choice. As one commenter wrote, "If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day, whereas if you TEACH a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime." Not an original thought, certainly, but perhaps an original application of the idea.
But we do need to keep in mind in this strange world of international trade that buying local is a luxury, and not always appropriate.
Do you think Co-op made the right decision?
About the Authors
- Elizabeth Bridge is a producer with CBC's Digital Archives project. She got her start in the kitchen baking brownies and making fudge but is still trying to get pastry right.
- Andrea Chiu
is an associate producer at CBC Radio Digital. Though she loves to eat, cook and discuss food,
don't ask her to bake. It never turns out well. She tweets as @TOfoodie on Twitter and organizes food and wine events in Toronto called FoodieMeet.
- Amber Hildebrandt
works for CBCNews.ca in Toronto. Growing up on a farm in Manitoba, she acquired an insatiable appetite, but it was during a stint in Japan that she developed her discerning tastebuds and foodie ways.
- Tara Kimura
is a multimedia producer for CBCNews.ca.
- Andree Lau
is a CBC web reporter in Calgary. Her journalism career includes seven years as a CBC-TV reporter. Her own blog called "are you gonna eat that?" chronicles her eating adventures (including sampling snake and camel hoof tendon).
- Jessica Wong
is a CBCNews.ca writer who loves to eat and cook, as well as discuss, read and watch programming about food, sometimes all at once.
- Kevin Yarr
, CBCNews.ca's writer in Prince Edward Island, wrote about food and beer for national and regional magazines before joining the CBC. He acquired a desire for new tastes on his first trip to Europe, and an appreciation of eating locally and in season when he finally settled down on P.E.I.
Categories
All News blogs
Most Commented
Most Recommended
Food Bytes
Most Commented
Most Recommended
Recent Entries
- Food in times of sorrow
- In spring, a doctor discovered that my grandfather had glioblastoma multiforme, the deadliest and most aggressive primary brain tumour. As he battled the tumour over the following months, it was food that connected the family and allowed him to still 'live' instead of merely survive. Later on,... Continue reading this post
- Going deep in Chicago
- No, I’m not talking the Chicago Cubs, I’m talking Pizzaria Uno, creator of the original deep dish pizza.... Continue reading this post
- Q&A with Khalil Akhtar, host of The Main Ingredient
- The Main Ingredient is one of CBC Radio's new summer programs. It's an inside look on the food we grow, buy and eat. In a Q&A, host Khalil Akhtar took the time to discuss his relationship with food and why... Continue reading this post
Comments (18)
I think that it is every bit as wholesome and intelligent to support your community as it is to feed the poor. It is the people withIN your community that will be in a position to help the poor long term... beyond just one day.
Buying local does far more to help the poor than a one time bulk purchase from some factory farm elsewhere. They could have appealed for donations to cover the difference, or come up with other creative schemes. What about giving away chickens or vegetables for smaller families and alternative diets, for example? Also, fenerally speaking, i find it rather hypocritical the amount of stress placed on charity for this one time of the year.
Good Morning
I like the generic question/discussion of 'buying/supporting" local business but we cannot forget that most people love to buy at a bargain price; why do you think WalMart type stores are so popular. To buy local farn product is a privilige for most Canadians because we rarely have to worry about where the product comes from or does it have harmful chemicials. Maybe PEI residents are a little insulated [like us Newfoundlanders]and forget that local to most Mainland Canadians is the rest of Canada and I believe that Manatobia is still in Canada. Stop being so protectionist PEI and feel proud of the donation to needy families and make that local Western farmer feel happy that you have given him/her such a big order just before Christmas. Here in Stephenville, NL our local CO-OP haVE proceeds from its weekly 50/50 draw go towards sick childrens fund. Have a great Island holiday.
Len in Stephenville
I would have to agree that the Co-op made the correct decision. Part of the responsibility of handling this money that was freely and generously given was the requirement to make it go as far as they could, to get the most for the least. The motto is "Our Choice is Atlantic First", not "Our Choice is Atlantic." They have not, it appears, changed their policy. They are just being good stewards of the money they raised. The conundrum they faced is an interesting one but in the end I think that they made the correct decision.
I think that the co-op made the right decision given the circumstances. I also think that it's important that these issues are exposed so that people can begin to consider the flaws in the food system, and hopefully start to demand that externalities such as transportation and environmental degradation be factored in to the price of food, revealing its true cost.
Thanks for the story!
I believe the Co-op did the right thing as the bottom line was supplying food for charity and 200 extra birds an exeptional amount of meat and therefore alot of more ppl can be feed. Isn't that the bottom line?
But I also believe that the Co-op should have confronted the local farmers with the price issue and asked if the farmers would be willing to lower their prices (lets not forget this was all for charity).
My sympathies to the 200 who won't get turkeys, but the co-op has to re-visit it's philosophy and the mission statement it adopted. Patrons shop there to support the local producers... and a big p.p. slap to the co-op staffer that introduced the idea without giving it more consideration.
The way this article was written, I have
difficulty offering an opinion.
Was it going to cost 80cents a pound more to buy local?
If so, the man should have negotiated .Was he approached first?
Hmmm?
Next year perhaps. Early, next year, the Co-op could alert the local turkey farmers of the amount of turkeys they expect to sell...
PLUS how many more they will need for the needy.
Local is so wonderful. We thrive on local on the Island with the odd bits from the other Islands - like Hawaiian pineapples and P.E.I. spuds.
So grateful to live in a country of abundance.
VIL
Great story. Anything to make people think about where their food actually comes from. I agree completely with the writer's stance on this one. I've been in agriculture for about 15 years and I'm passionate about it - started at Olds College, then to University of Lethbridge - solid Alberta cattle country girl. Went to the third world and really opened my eyes. Ended up in the tropics with an advanced degree in Ag. I support local ag and I buy whenever I can but the price factor often wins out. Few people anywhere are immune to price. And no I don't shop at Walmart. BUT - it's easy for us to have opinions about these things when we live in a society where 99% of us do not work the land full time in an effort to provide (hopefully) enough to feed our own families. Be grateful to be Canadian and don't criticise anyone who gives to charity in the name of simply feeding families.
If the word Christmas had not been dropped from this CBC promo, then perhaps mgt and staff might not have made this colossal mistake of offending so many Islanders who know the charitable Co-op making the right decision. Pressure to always buy local is now reaching extortion levels.
The secular-progressive CBC needs to tread lightly here on PEI when it starts to see itself as the moral authority. It has already shot itself in the foot.
What is amazing is that they also aimed.
I feel CBC has been somewhat hypocritical in selectively picking out Co-op. I spent 16 years working on Christmas Appeals and know that if you look at the turkeys donated, you'll see that most are not PEI product.
It's one thing to promote buying local and quite another to be critical of Co-op for making the tough decision to feed more families.
This was not a decision made over a small amount. The turkeys purchased were 36% cheaper allowing them to feed 200 more families. Their moto is "Our choice is Atlantic First", not Atlantic Canada at any price.
I wonder how people in other Provinces view such protectionist attitudes. Maybe they'll decide to buy their local potatoes instead of ours.
I have been in the very same position as the Co-op and I awarded the deal to the best tender. I think CBC should take a look at just who has been served by this poor example of journalism.
"I think that it is every bit as wholesome and intelligent to support your community as it is to feed the poor. It is the people withIN your community that will be in a position to help the poor long term... beyond just one day."
This comment sounds to me as if the person commenting is making a false distinction between "the people within your community" and "the poor." The extra 200 turkeys went to feed 200 more families *in the community* - families who are as much part of the community as those who objected to buying out-of-province.
If it had been possible to feed the same number of people *in the community* by purchasing turkeys from farmers *in the community*, then the community would indeed have received a double benefit. That would have been wonderful!
However, it was not possible, so Co-op had to make a choice. They chose to benefit 200 more poor families *in the community* instead of farmers *in the community*. It was a choice between two different groups *in the community.*
By me, they made the right choice.
Yes I beleive they were right to try and feed as many people as possible and If that meant buying turkeys at a lower cost so be it. I just don't understand why buying locally is more expensive, when there is lower transportation costs. Where I live near the Golden Horseshoe Valley I can buy fruit cheaper in the grocery store (locally grown) than at a road side stand in front of the farm were it was grown. Does that make sense? I think not. When Charity only has a certain amount of money they have to make it spread to the get the greatest amount of goods to help the greater amount of people it only makes good sense.
When did PEI stop being part of Canada?
Is PEI becoming like Quebec and not wanting to be part the Confederation and just go on their own but yet still get money from the rest of Canada.
This buy local concept is fine but just don;t forget who pays for half of your services.Plus who buys many of your products and who comes to PEI on vaction and supports you through Tourism.
The rest of Canada.
I am proud to be a islander But I am also proud to be Canadian. Lets not forget just who we are.
I believe the COOP made the correct decision. That said...and I know it is sometimes difficult AND I am not familiar with costs in PEI....BUT if the Manitoba farmers were able to supply these birds at $0.80 a pound less than PEI...including the shipping costs...then I think it remains to be seen why the PEI farmers aren't competitive.
This is a choice many of us are faced with daily in our own lives. On the one hand, I believe that buying local is a good thing. On the other hand, I like to be able to feed my family. I, like so many people want to do the right thing. I do do the "right thing" as often as I can, but the fact of the matter is that our food budget has already increased threefold over the last five years, and that is with buying less organic and less local. It sucks, but what's a person to do? Not feed their kids? The local economy needs to be supported as well though. Times may be just around the corner where it will be even more important that these local producers still be up and running. I'm not sure what the right answer is, but I appreciate the question being raised.
Buying local is fine and I do it as much as possible, but there are many things I like that are not grown or are available here....but when it comes to a kind act like donating as many turkeys as possible who cares where they came from....I shop at my local Co-op but I also shop at Sobey's....does that mean my face should be plastered all over the news for not shopping local........all I can say is this article was Tacky......I'll donate straight to a food bank before I will donate to your turkey drive.