Before you bite into that organic Braeburn - smug with the warm glow that being down with environment gives you - think twice.

Organic food might not be as ethical as we are led to believe.

Flown half way around the world, an organic New Zealand Braeburn may be free of pesticides but its 11,500 mile carbon trail of transport emissions leaves it tasting bitter sweet.

If you want to be truly green, says Claire Truscott, you should be thinking local rather than organic.

  • Our obsession with all things organic seems to know no bounds. Last year national sales of organic food rose by 30 per cent on the previous year and supermarkets are expanding their ranges at a rate of knots.

According to a Sainsbury's poll, 36 per cent of us in the South are planning to make an organic purchase in the next month.

But while pesticide-free sales are soaring, local producers are suffering. Faced with competition from Third World producers who operate in health and safety, regulation-free zones, Sussex farmers rely on a loyal but small customer base to get by.

Local purchases are rising, by about 11 per cent in 2005, but we still have not grasped why it's better to buy from your farmers' market than carry a tub of organic strawberries through a supermarket till.

Ann Baldridge is coordinator at the Brighton and Hove Food Partnership, a not-for-profit group working to grow and develop a localised food system.

She said: "Farmers' markets are better for so many reasons. The food is lower in food miles, the distance it has travelled to reach your plate.

"Eating local produce means you're eating something in season, the food is fresher, and it hasn't lost some of its nutrients by sitting around in warehouses.

"Plus, shopping at farmers' markets often means less packaging which is better for the environment."

Jan Goodey, 41, a volunteer organiser at New Roots, a food growing project in Moulsecoomb, Brighton, is a long-time local food convert. He is always careful to put local and seasonal produce in his shopping basket.

He said: "Ideally it's better to get local and organic but failing that it's better to get local over organic in terms of food miles and reducing the harm to the environment.

"I always try to buy English Cox's and try not to buy strawberries in the winter.

"We're okay for green vegetables - we grow them all up at the allotment."

Arguable the most popular farmers' market is in Lewes, run by Common Cause.

Lucy Alston who organises the market there, and in George Street, Hove, said: "Sometimes the benefits of organic production can be muted if things are flown very long distances and with supermarkets' distribution chains.

"I personally buy local and seasonal over organic but my preference is both so I don't buy cucumbers in February.

"If you can buy from farmers' markets, it's possible. Things like meat are easy but there isn't a lot of local organic fruit available over winter unless you have a good freezer."

Lucy is particularly strict about the food miles her farmers bring to the marketplace.

She said: "One of the guiding principles of certified farmers' markets is about reducing food miles and for city farmers' markets most of the produce will have come from within 50 miles.

"I have turned a number of stallholders away because what they are doing may be fantastic but they're not using local ingredients. People have a certain expectation of farmers' markets which we work hard to maintain."

Crumbs, on the A24 in Washington, is another example of commitment to low food miles.

More of a food hall, it grows some of its own vegetables on its "growing operation" near Steyning, and labels each product with the number of food miles it has travelled.

Producers are beginning to recognise that one of the most discouraging facts about buying local food is the premium often placed on them.

A Sussex cheese or wine maybe the best but when it is priced too high it becomes more of a special occasion purchase than a regular buy.

Rob Bookham runs Bookham cheese and pasta in Twineham. The company has been making cheese for 15 years and began making pasta two years ago.

He uses local ingredients, often sourced from fellow stallholders to get as many local people involved in his product as possible.

He said: "We try to take a stand on price and give people a good deal so we do multi-buys which works out slightly cheaper than a supermarket.

"We think markets should be cheaper because you're buying it direct and missing out the middle man.

"Some do charge a premium for local produce. We look at it in the long term to get our brand out there.

"Before farmers' markets arrived there were just county and craft fairs. We sold our cheese wheels to Italy but when the pound got stronger it wasn't economically viable so we decided to start selling in England. Farmers' markets saved the business and we couldn't have got by without them."

The economic benefits of keeping small local producers afloat are obvious. Money stays circulating within the locality and the whole area is better off.

But there are great social benefits too.

Peter Spencer, an apple grower from Brede near Battle, sells his juices at the village farmers' market.

He said: "These days I only do it to keep in touch, meet the public. They're interested and ask questions about health aspects, varieties and organics and I get enormous pleasure from those discussions."

Ann Baldridge said: "You get to meet the person responsible for growing the vegetables, making the jam, herding the animals. You just don't get the same service from a supermarket shelf."

One of the other difficulties of the markets, however, is the fact that these social gatherings occur so infrequently - mostly monthly.

Duncan Innes, 36, who used to run Moshi Moshi in Brighton, let to set up Sussex And The City a year ago, billing itself as a farmers' market every day in his shop in The Lanes.

He said: "Farmers' markets don't always take place when you want something so I sell their produce all the time.

"If somebody has a particular favourite from a market they've visited, I'll try to get it in."

He's not making a profit yet, but Duncan is committed.

He said: "Producers work really hard, usually making their products Tuesday to Thursday, packaging on Friday, selling on the weekend and doing the accounts on Monday. When you have that level of commitment you get back what you sow. You won't make a fortune but it's kind of a lifestyle choice.

"We're also celebrating some brilliant products. The best sparking wine in the world comes from Sussex but if you go into a normal off-licence you won't see it."

But the news for local producers is generally good. Lewes farmers' market has people fighting to get in every month and may need to operate more frequently to satisfy customer demand.

Selling organic, seasonal, but above all local food, Sussex farmers' markets are keeping us healthy, full, and a brighter shade of green.

Vegetables in season: leeks, onions, potatoes, spouts, butternut squash, spring garlic, carrots.

Watch out for: asparagus comes into season in a few weeks time.

Sussex farmers' markets - where and when

West Sussex

Arundel
Town Centre
Third Saturday, monthly, 9am-1pm
David Wood 01903 884772 / 07881 687694

Ashington
Ashington Community Centre
First Friday, monthly, 9am-noon
Mrs J Allen 01798 815455

Billingshurst
Jengers Mead
Third Wednesday, monthly, 9am-1pm
Nick Shields 07734 397890

Bognor
London Road
First Wednesday, monthly, 9am-3pm
Lyn Bricknell 01243 863141

Chichester
East St and North St (next to the Cross)
First and third Friday, monthly, 9am-2pm
Richard Gray 01243 785166

East Grinstead
High Street
First and third Thursday, monthly, 9am-2pm
Tony and Carol Martin 02392 471548

Hassocks
National Tyres Forecourt
Fourth Saturday, monthly, 9am-1pm
Rachel Lovell rachellovell@hotmail.com

Henfield
Library Car Park, High St
Third Friday, monthly, 9am-1pm
Jenny Jenner 01825 872214

Horsham
Carfax, town centre
Every Saturday, 9am-5pm (flexible finish)
Nick Shields (as above)

Midhurst
Carpron HO Car Park
Fourth Saturday, 8.30am-1.30pm, alternates months with Petworth
May, Jul, Sep, Nov
Richard Gray 01243 785166 / rgray@chichester.gov.uk

Petworth
Town Centre Car Park
Fourth Saturday, 8.30am-1.30pm, alternates months with Midhurst
Apr, Jun, Aug, Oct, Dec
Richard Gray (as above)

Pulborough
Pulborough Village Hall
Last Saturday, monthly Feb-Nov, 9am-noon
Jayne Arthurs 01798 874388

Shoreham
East Street
Second Saturday, monthly, 9am-1pm
David Steadman 01273 263152 / david.steadman@adur.gov.uk Southwater
Lintot Square
Every Tuesday, 9am-1.30pm
Nick Shields (as above)

Steyning
High Street Car Park (opposite Clock Tower)
First Saturday, monthly, 9am-1pm
Derek and Vicky Crush 01403 711057

Washington
Crumbs
Shoots Garden Centre
London Road (A24)
Washington
West Sussex

West Chiltington
Village Hall
Second Saturday, monthly, 9am-noon
Judith Allen 01798 815455

Wisborough Green
Village Green
Second Thursday, monthly, 9am-noon
Chris Kemp 01403 700939

Worthing
South Street Square
Fourth Saturday, monthly, 9am-2pm
Sharon Clarke 01903 203252 /sharonclarke@wtci.fsnet.co.uk

East Sussex

Battle
Battle Abbey Green
Third Saturday, monthly, 9am-1pm
Colin Smith 01424 751575

Bexhill
Parkhurst Methodist Hall, Parkhurst Road
Fourth Thursday, monthly, 9am-noon
Stuart Wood 01424 222969

Brede
Village Hall
Every Friday, 10am-noon
Liz Stephens 01424 882836

Brighton and Hove

Friends Centre, Ship Street
Third Saturday, monthly, 11am-4pm
Barbara Wilson 01273 675778

George Street, Hove
Fourth Saturday, monthly, 10am-3pm
Lucy Alston 01273 470900

Ralli Hall, Hove Station
First Sunday, monthly, 10am-4pm
Paul Robinson 01273 323200

Sussex And The City
12c Meeting House Lane
The Lanes
Brighton

Crowborough
Pine Grove Car Park
Fourth Saturday, monthly, 9am-1pm
Roger and Sharon Hoggins 01892 664064

Crowhurst
Village Hall
First Saturday, monthly, 10am-noon
Frances Hamson 01424 830461

East Dean and Friston
East Dean Village Hall
Every Wednesday, 10am-12.30pm (10.30am start in winter)
Sam and Zoe Stannistreet 01323 423481

Firle
Middle Farm, A27 nr Lewes
Fourth Sunday of each month, Mar to Nov (but fifth Sunday in October)
Helen Marsh 01323 811411

Hailsham
Cattle Market
Second Saturday, monthly, 9am-12.30pm
Janet Dann 01323 83335

Hastings
Robertson Street (next to Debenhams)
Second and fourth Thursday, monthly, 9am-2pm
Maresa Bossano 01424 457109

Heathfield
The Co-op Car Park
Third Saturday, monthly, 9am-12.30pm
Colin Williams 01435 862798

Lewes
Cliffe Pedestrian Precinct
First Saturday, monthly, 9am-1pm
Lucy Alston (as above)

Pevensey Bay
St Wilfrids Hall, Eastbourne Road
Second Saturday, monthly, 10am-12.30pm
Fiona Roberts 01323 460178

Rye
Strand Quay
Every Wednesday, 10am-1pm
Christopher Strangeways 01797 280282