I own a small farm and agree with Proteus that almost any local, sustainably raised food is healthier, tastier and cleaner than anything you get in the grocery store. In fact, that was what drew me to buying my own farm ten years ago... to be able to raise my own chemical-free, poison-free food. There is no question that sustainably raised food does taste better than even organic grocery store stuff, which tends to taste better than conventionally raised stuff. Nor does it have to be more expensive than conventional.

Last January, I bought a quarter share of local, sustainably raised beef (no pesticides, no chemicals or hormones, very little grain) and it was the best beef I'd ever eaten... so good in fact, that I decided to raise my own beef from now on. That quarter of beef yielded over 100 lbs of mixed cuts (some bone-in for soups, at my request) and organs (some each of liver, heart and tongue) and cost $250. There's no way you could buy that quality of beef in the grocery store (never mind butcher shop) for $2.50/lb. One hundred pounds sounds like a lot, but didn't even half-fill my full-size freezer. Don't have a stand-alone freezer? Buy a mini-freezer or split a quarter cow with 3-4 friends.

The problem I see with many Paleo diet defenders is, there seems to be a feeling that Paleo eating is healthier than any other diet, simply because they're eating like someone thinks we evolved to eat... except if you are buying meat from the grocery store, especially the big box stores like Walmart, you're just as unhealthy as anyone else. Those who say there is little to no difference between organic food and conventionally raised know very little about the secret, ugly underside of agri-business.

All agri-business meat, no matter what kind--fish, fowl, pork or ruminant--has been fed just two things for the last two months of their lives: 90% corn and 10% soybeans, boosted with a few manufactured enzymes and vitamins to keep them alive; they don't need to be ~healthy~, they're going to die in two months anyway. With chickens (whether meat or egg-layers) and fish, that is ALL they eat, ALL their lives. With feedlot beef cattle, this is ALL they eat, for the last two months of their lives... no hay, no grass, none for the last two months of their lives.

"Well," you might think, "not ideal, but I guess I could live with that if it means cheaper meat." EXCEPT, because this extremely unnatural diet wreaks havoc on their immune systems, most agri-biz animals are fed antibiotics from the moment they start eating it, especially poultry and cattle. Cattle particularly cannot tolerate an all-grain diet and need the antibiotics to stay alive long enough to be fattened and then killed... and this all-grain, antibiotic diet is what has caused the killer E-coli 0157:H7 and the MRSA (Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus) bacteria to flourish.

Worse, 60-70% of corn and 90% of soybeans (except organic ones, of course) are GMOs, called Round-Up Ready....a glyphosate weedkiller, which means the plants can be sprayed with Round-Up 2-3 times a growing season and NOT DIE. The land is sprayed once before seeds are planted to knock down all the weeds, once during the growth period to knock down the weeds, and again before harvest to knock down the weeds... and the Round-Up Ready sprayed plants don't die. I've seen it myself, and I KNOW there is no way those seeds have not absorbed any of that poison, because any animal in its right mind refuses to eat that stuff unless it is forced to from hunger. My goats and chickens refuse to eat that stuff.

Scarier yet, weeds are evolving to become resistant to Round-Up, so now Monsanto, et al, are developing stronger poisons. Those poisons are on and in the grain, eaten by the animals, and then stored in the animals' fat... which we eat. If you must eat commercial meat, then at least cut off ALL the fat and eat only the leanest meat.

Farmers have the highest rate of cancer deaths... I have known many many many who have died horribly of bone cancer, liver cancer, lung cancer, lymphoma, as well as Parkinson's and other diseases, from a lifetime of spraying these poisons on the plants we all directly or indirectly eat.

Commercial food is not safe... and those who truly care about their health would avoid all conventionally raised foods and buy organic or sustainably raised, as much as possible. But, that's just my opinion....based on what I know and have seen first-hand.

Sorry if I bored anyone or trod on any toes, but I really cannot remain silent when someone says there is no difference between sustainable-organic and agri-biz foods.