| Moscow Food Co-op Recipes | |
Is Organic Food Always Better?
by Preston Andrews, Associate Professor of Horticulture, WSU, from the July 2006 newsletter
This article is the third in a series on the benefits of organically produced food.
Even though it’s spring on the Palouse and local fresh produce is available, if you’re an avid apple eater, like me, this is a bleak time of year. The apples from Washington are now at least nine months old, and any fresh apples come from as far away as New Zealand. So, when I ask myself, is organic food always better, I’m faced with the dilemma of organic certification. Some local farmers have chosen to forgo certification, even though they still farm with organic practices. And some of the organically labeled food products come from huge corporations.
Some people say that until the last century, all food was grown organically. But our modern concepts of organic farming began in 1924 when the Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner gave his first class on biodynamic agriculture, the products of which can be purchased under Demeter certification. This concept of certification is nothing more than an assurance of quality denoted by a certification mark. For organic food in the U.S., it is the Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) green organic logo, which didn’t appear on organic products until late 2002. California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF) actually became the first certifier of organic food in the U.S. in 1973. Today, CCOF and many other organizations certify organic food to standards established and maintained by the USDA. Globally, the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) serves to unify organic certification standards.
Along with growth in organic food sales and nationalization of organic certification has come the industrialization of organic farming. Hidden behind the labels of many foods in our own Co-op are huge food companies, whose reputations do not bring healthy products to mind. When you see Odwalla, be aware that it is owned by Coca-Cola; Boca Foods and Back to Nature are owned by Kraft; Horizon and Silk are owned by Dean; Seeds of Change is owned by M&M/Mars; Cascadian Farms and Muir Glen are owned by General Mills; and Walnut Acres, Westbrae, Celestial Seasonings and many others are owned by Hain Celestial, who in turn is owned by Heinz.
What this move into organic farming by big food companies has done is drive some of the innovators in organic farming away from certification. These farmers, having strong market positions, are dropping their certification in protest because they feel that being certified has lost its meaning. It seems that what the USDA has done is set a minimum bar over which even the corporations can step, even as they lobby the USDA to lower the bar even further.
As consumers, what can we do to assure that we’re buying the best food possible? Ideally, we can buy food grown by local farmers, whether or not the USDA certifies them as organic. They may call their produce “no-spray,” which is a misnomer, since most farmers spray something on their crops, whether it be Bt or compost tea. I would rather that a farmer take the money they would spend on organic certification and invest it in sounder, more sustainable farming practices. After all, USDA's organic standards don’t mention any specific requirements for water conservation, worker safety, or transportation impacts. So, if there is a “beyond organic,” and I believe that there is, it is ecologically and socially based farming, which provides the most nutritious food to us, which we in turn reverentially prepare and eat.
|
Copyright: Copyright on articles, recipes, and
images are jointly held by the Moscow Food Co-op
and the respective authors, except were otherwise noted. |
For additions or corrections to this page, please contact the Webmaster.
