Buy local focus in California

We have visited a number of farm types in a busy schedule around central California.  There is alot of focus on the buy local story though one grower made an interesting comment that 'buy local' trumps 'organic' produce.

We had a long discussion about this and the consensus about both organic and buy local is about the flavour of the food; the freshness.  My view is that the organic supply chain tend to be shorter than conventional supply chains and therefor tend to be fresher and more flavoursome.

The conventional chains source fresh produce and fruit well before it is fully ripe in order to freight and have it on the shelf when it is ripe but this can be at the expense of the flavour; this is why we all like home grown food.  There are a number of lessons and opportunities in this.