Probing Question: Are local foods really best?   girl with
watering can watering garden Melissa Beattie-Moss  Tending
garden  Sounds simple? Not so these days. Today’s health-
conscious and eco-friendly shoppers are often armed with
information (and a smartphone app or two) to decipher the
complex politics of the plate. Beyond the choice to be an
omnivore or vegetarian, many people are questioning whether the
food they’re reaching for is cage-free or free range, wild-
caught or farm-raised, organic, enriched, non-GMO, sustainable
or Fair Trade.  Add one more question to the list: Is what
you’re eating locally grown or raised?  The local food movement
and the “locavores” who support it claim that eating food grown
locally in season has many benefits, some that seem like common
sense (fresher food tastes better) and some that are more
debatable (eating local reduces GHGs, or greenhouse gas
emissions.)  But how do you define “local” itself? It’s tough to
find consensus, says Dorothy Blair, assistant professor of n