The nice thing about shopping at local farmers' markets is that they rarely mar their product with stickers that are hard to peel off and leave an unappealing, waxy residue.

But during the winter, many of us have no choice but to buy the stickered fruit. So, we should at least know how to identify our fruit by its sticker, right?

Ideal Bite kindly provided this short but effective tutorial:

• A four-digit number means it was conventionally grown
  
• A five-digit number beginning in "9" means it is organic
  
• A five-digit number beginning in "8" means it was genetically modified.
  

...and now you know.

The prevailing food trends that say you should know exactly what you're eating and where it came from. This is generally accepted to mean that you should buy eggs are from free range chickens and beef from grass-fed, hormone-free cows. Whole Foods is reinterpreting that to mean that you should know the farmers who are responsible for producing the eggs, beef and produce that you are purchasing. They're introducing their customers to their producers by putting up pictures of the farmers in stores, which makes the shopping experience sort of like seeing the vendors at a farmer's market without having to interact with them in any way. The idea is not to make the farmers into celebrities, but to make sure that the customers know that they are buying locally and supporting these people by shopping at Whole Foods, not just supporting the store.

Whole Foods is supporting the farmers because it is driving their business, not just because they believe in the cause, but whatever the reason, the movement for buying locally is making a change for small farmers. Some report that nearly all of their products are now sold locally, whether through a venue like Whole Foods or direct to consumers, and that the increased interest in local foods and the willingness of consumers to pay slightly higher prices for them are, in many cases, saving these farms.

As organic foods get more popular and end up everywhere from the farmer's market to Wal-Mart, critics are getting louder about whether consumers are getting their money's worth. Unfortunately, they seem to focus on the fact that it has not been proven that organic foods are definitely healthier - as in more nutritious - than their conventionally grown counterparts.

The foods are organically grown, not magically nutritionally enhanced.

Whether someone eventually proves that organic foods have more or less nutritional value than their conventionally grown counterparts, the point of buying organic is supporting the non-use of pesticides and other growth-enhancement techniques in food production. There is a lower risk of ingesting some residual chemical or hormone with organic food. Organics may taste the same as, better than or worse than more conventionally grown produce, since they are not protected from bad weather, etc. (or shielded from particularly good weather), so there is more risk - and more potential reward - for the consumer.

As the organic movement spreads, more consumers will gradually learn more about what the label means and will be able to make informed choices on whether it is something they want to support. It seems short-sighted to say that because there is no clear nutritional difference, that organic food is a waste of time and money.