I highly recommend Michael Pollan's book In Defense of Food. He discusses a lot of interesting food-related topics with his usual wit and humor.  While the book touches on the debate between organic vs. local, it takes it a step further by drawing a distinction between "food" and "food products".  He also offers an interesting perspective on our culture's obsession with nutrients and not food.  He suggests that this way of seeing food as mere nutrients, not whole foods, is what has been most detrimental to the way our society eats.  It is this paradigm (that nutrients are most important) which has allowed the proliferation of processed foods. 

Here's one of my favorite quotes discussing the importance and potential impact of buying local, sustainably grown food:
          ...before the resurgence of the farmer's market, the rise of the organic movement, 
            and the renaissance of local agriculture now under way across the country, 
           stepping outside the conventional food system simply was not a realistic option
           for most people. Now it is.  We are entering a post-industrial era of
           food...the  more eaters who vote with their forks for a different kind of food, the
           more commonplace and accessible such food will become....Eaters have real
           choices now and those choices have real consequences, for our health, the
           health of the land and the health of our food culture--all of which...are
           inextricably linked.

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