I don’t know. Organic. It just sounds so bland. Of course I know how exciting, beautiful, and important the subject is, but how can I make it sexy enough for you to care about it in the space I’m allowed here? How to explain that when I think of organic agriculture, I actually breathe a sigh of relief and think to myself, well, we’re winning that one. To me, it’s nothing less than that: an epic war over topsoil, groundwater, and air. After all, it’s pretty much the consensus now, isn’t it, that whatever we do to the earth will come around and punish us as a species later? Now, more than ever, we need sane and sustainable ways to manage what’s left of our natural resources. But selling the organic concept to the consumer? That’s hard. Every September the organic industry tries, with its Celebrate Organics campaign, to bring attention to the benefits of organically grown food. They know people don’t always have positive associations with their product, and certainly most haven’t yet made the connection between their own appetites and the fate of the planet. What a marketing conundrum: a product that saves the environment, is highly nutritious, costs next to nothing, and tastes great! Why isn’t everyone eating this way? Some people have a block against all things organic because to them it seems just short of entering a mystical realm in which one involuntarily grows dreadlocks and start chewing astragalus root. This particular demographic will always be difficult to convince, for they are unable to look past their fearful associations into what is really there. Besides, they’re on to something. Coming to love Earth, and care for her, takes root in your soul. You are changed. If they aren’t ready for the real thing, let them eat Safeway. If organics have an image problem, then price is number one on the spin list. Serious shoppers know that organic food costs more, and some, of necessity, are forced to give up the good stuff to maintain a budget. Me, I’ve justified it many times over. Sure, I occasionally wince at the checkout line, but only momentarily, because I know my actions are improving the viability of our culture. Remember: I take this very seriously! And I know, too, that if enough people truly embrace organics, the price will come down for everybody. We’re only thirty-odd years into the American organic movement, and despite no real support from the government, it’s turned into the largest-growing niche in supermarkets today. Somebody’s buying it. Now, the organic people understand your position. They know you have no idea that the very fabric of our civilization is at stake, so they patiently continue to spread the word that planting and harvesting in harmony with nature works because, as much as possible, the natural ecosystem is undisturbed. Unlike commercial fields, there are no harmful poisons accumulating in the plant, and the soil, free to flourish in its balanced state of teeming microbes, fungus, earthworms, and decaying plant matter, thrives. With the organic label, you know you’ve contributed to keeping toxins out of our air, soil, and water supplies. Chemical farming came into the mainstream in post-World War II America, when older farming methods that seemed outmoded (but were actually sound, centuries-old practices like mulching and composting) were abandoned in favor of harsh chemical compounds that attacked weeds and insects. Lured by the promise of higher yields, American farmers embraced the new technology en masse. But far from being the saving grace of a burgeoning agricultural society, this new dependence on deadly chemicals set in motion a chain of events leading not only to super pests that developed immunity to the original pesticides, but a whole new area of science, the genetically modified organism (GMO). These untested, unregulated new species pose a very real threat not only to organic fields (where cross-pollinating plants have already been contaminated) but also to the safety and health of virtually all living things. Like mutant pollen blowing onto a pristine organic field, in a few short decades the family farm has become a giant chemical brew. So now you know what the organic people are doing: trying to reclaim the tortured land and nurture it back to health. It’s slow, it takes time, and it isn’t very glamorous, although the rewards are great. Now consider one of the leaders in the biotechnology field, Monsanto, the folks who brought us Agent Orange, PCB, and DDT, and who still are unregulated by any federal agency, including the Food and Drug Administration, The U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Environmental Protection Agency! No one is watching them but a few consumer groups. The Monsanto people claim that their billion-dollar investment in genetically engineered food is to fight hunger and reduce pesticide use, but for good measure, they, and other biotech firms, have invested $50 million in public relations, too. In his new book The Food Revolution, John Robbins (author of Diet for a New America) takes Monsanto to task for everything from false advertising and biased poll-taking to legal extortion, the latter in the company’s gutsy contract specifying that farmers who buy their genetically altered seeds must also agree to use only Monsanto’s herbicides on their crops, which, incidentally, are dependent upon those very herbicides for survival. Robbins also points out that Calgene, a division of Monsanto, has developed a strain of cotton that can withstand direct spraying with an herbicide the EPA lists as a carcinogen. What happens when these ever-harsher chemicals are unleashed on fragile ecosystems that begin with microscopic life forms and travels through rodents to birds to humans and other mammals? The worst-case scenario Robbins hopes he never sees is the day that certain crops designed to produce their own pesticide and already in fields today will mingle genetic information with the plants in neighboring fields. As Worldwatch Institute puts it, the potential for genetically altered and non-altered plants to multiply is "one of the true nightmares of technology gone haywire — toxic chemicals that reproduce." Among their many "innovations," companies like AstraZeneca, Novartis, and Monsanto have patented genetic processes that create seeds that automatically become sterile with time. This effectively blocks the centuries-old tradition of saving seeds to plant in the next season. Within one growing season, farmers would be locked into a lopsided commercial transaction, dependent on these companies for new seeds every year. When public outcry grew intense enough in 1999, plans to market these "suicide seeds" were scrapped, at least temporarily. But lest you be lulled into thinking their mission is an altruistic one, consider this telling remark by the co-president of Monsanto’s agriculture department. After overseeing the buyout of another of their seed competitors, Robert T. Fraley said, "This is not just a consolidation of seed companies. This is a consolidation of the entire food chain." I told you they were scary, didn’t I? Still not convinced organic is the way to go? How about nutritional appeal? It isn’t sexy, but it’s good news. In a famous study done at Rutgers University, organic produce was compared to commercially produced fruits and vegetables. The organically grown foods had higher nutritional values across the board, at least 50% more in most cases. This work was recently re-validated by a study published in the Journal of Applied Nutrition, which stated that magnesium from the organic foods they tested was 138% higher than the supermarket variety. Potassium was 125% higher, calcium 63% higher. The Rodale Institute’s 14-year-long corn trials released data showing that the organic fields they studied were generally found to produce as much corn as a comparable commercial field, or if not, averaged the same market price because the organic fields saved money on pesticides. Can we reverse the landslide of excesses caused by insane farming methods? Will we rise up, as The Campaign to Label Genetically Modified Foods has, monitoring congressional hearings, bombarding state and federal legislators with letters of concern about GMO foods, promoting passage of a soon-to-be-introduced bill demanding that GMOs be labeled? Will we ignore the entire European Union, Australia, Japan, and China, all of whom require GMOs to be labeled? Or will we stand up and reclaim what belongs to nature? It all comes back to that: the wind in your hair, the bees in your flowers. If your only reason for going organic is to counteract big agribusiness, well, that’s a start. But don’t miss the big picture: if you don’t love the land and support her in all your daily practices, you won’t stick with organics anyway. It’s got to be about the food. So here’s the pitch: Don’t let our soil stay in the hands of a few wealthy people who want to farm out of a laboratory and then make farmers pay exorbitant prices for their products. Don’t let it happen! Don’t turn your back on this vitally important issue that will help determine how our population navigates the 21st century. Either you get it now or you don’t yet care. I hope you will someday. In the meantime, I urge you not to walk away from what you know, but to seek out your neighborhood organic produce market this month. There, consciously select the fresh foods that call to you. Then go home and create, lightly and in love, an earthly feast. Celebrate Organic by falling in love with food again. Do it for the earth, do it for yourself, do it for all of us. Go organic, baby. For more information on organically grown food and genetically engineered crops, try these Web sites: California Certified Organic Farmers: <http://www.ccof.org/> The Campaign To Label Genetically Engineered Food (in Seattle at [425] 771-4049): <http://www.thecampaign.org/> Alliance for Bio-Integrity: <http://www.bio-integrity.org/> Organic Consumers Association: <http://www.purefood.org/> Pesticide Action Network: <http://www.panna.org/> The Center for Food Safety: <http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/> |
I’m passionate about natural food. Adamantly opposed to chemical-based factory farming. Militant in my belief that plants should not be genetically modified and unleashed to the four winds. I support land reclamation efforts and take hope in movements like community supported agriculture (subscription farming), permaculture (a design system for creating sustainable human environments in balance and harmony with nature), and biodynamics (Rudolf Steiner’s agricultural approach, with a goal of achieving balance and healing through the principles of nature). So why am I afraid I’ll bore you with my ode to organics for Celebrate Organics month?