When I was writing my book, Organic Inc., I came across a number of tragic stories, especially among dairy farmers. Like those who were eating their cows because they couldn't afford food. Or those who were selling their cows when the Atkins diet pushed up meat prices because they needed the money. Obviously, it's not sustainable when you're eating your livlihood. Which is why so many small dairy farms who didn't go organic have gone under.

The organic market has been a savior for a lot of these farmers due to the DEMAND of companies like Stonyfield Farm for their milk.

If we continually bash the organic market as a corporate sellout, the impact could well be that consumers decide it's little more than a marketing ploy. That in turn crushes the smaller farmers who rely on the market for a living.

If we stop buying it, all the big food companies will take a small loss (a rounding error on their income statements) but the farmers who depend on the market won't have an alternative. They can't go on and feed the next diet craze. I don't have a problem with people avoiding Organic Rice Crispies or any other product, but if you bash the whole idea real people get hurt.

It was interesting though that Stonyfield felt it had to issue this clarification. Obvoiusly, they got some heat, I assume on blogs, for sourcing their products from overseas.

In order to sell yogurt (and help those family farmers in Vermont and NH and Maine) they might have to source some ingredients internationally. Is there really anything wrong with that? I don't see it, especially as it serves the greater good of helping farmers across the board and providing a cleaner product for people who want it.

Samuel Fromartz Author Organic Inc.

Also, I had lunch at O'Naturals (a Gary Hirschberg endeavor) in Davis Square (in Somerville, MA) today and it was good. I had small cup of Maryland Crab Soup which was very good and 1/2 of a buffalo chicken sandwich which was passable. With a cup of coffee it came to about $10.00. The first two or three times I went to O'Naturals the food was awful -- I had ordered Asian pan-fried noodle dishes and the noodles weren't hot enough and they were oily and completely flavorless. I'll have to try that again the next time I go there and see if there has been any improvement in that area. I was glad to see, however, that the soups and sandwiches were good. Now if they would only carry bagles besides the vast array of very, very sweet pastries!

So is it coincidence, or what, that now I see them referred to again, so soon afterwards, in Sam's message?

Perhaps Lisa's Vermont dairy farmer will be consoled to know that we regularly buy Stonyfield products.

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

I made a whiskey and coke the other day with an organic Blue Sky cola, which seemed somehow the height of irony.  If there were such a thing as organic whiskey, I guess that would be even funnier.  Of course, I'm one of those buying organic for reasons largely unrelated to my personal health, so there you have it.  Plus, isn't the latest flip-flop in the "alcohol is good/bad for your health" towards the "good" side?  I can't keep track anymore...

yes, apparently the medical researchers' pendulum has been swinging in the direction of "alcoholic beverages can be good for you, actually," but then they always squeamishly add, "if taken in moderation."

A digression which I am sure Biodiv will not mind in his thread: In case you have not seen Willie Nelson's recent appeal on behalf of horses, which I think was exclusive to CNN, here it is.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/11/01/nelson.commentary/index....

I thought of you when I read it.

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

I do try to buy organic wines when I find 'em, though that is not often.  I have tried many of the Luddite reds, which are quite enjoyable, but other than that, no standouts.  

As for the medical debate, most studies seem to show that a small amount of ethanol (whether in beer, wine or spirits does not matter), equivalent to 4 oz of wine/day, confers positive benefits (mostly cardiovascular).  There has always been speculation that the anti-oxidants and flavanoids in wines, especially red wines, will confer health benefits, but no study has shown this conclusively.

For my part, I say:  Stress kills.  Alcohol de-stresses you.  Obvious health benefit. If you drink so much that you "poison" yourself, you are adding stress to the body (hence the "in moderation" qualifier).  Therefore, for maximum health, drink until you relax, not until you puke.  :)

I know the position of Cornucopia Institute on Dean Foods - their most vocal critic - and have talked to Cornucopia's Mark Kastel about this, who is convinced they are greenwashing. I say, let's wait and see.

Samuel Fromartz Author Organic Inc.

Well... market forces combined with educating the public are finally STARTING to pay off. Corporations are being "forced" to go organic. As long as someone -- the organic farmers and environmentalists -- ensure that there is no "greenwashing" going on, shouldn't we be happy about this development?

When folks push organic products and encourage environmentally responsible behavior, but then complain when corporations or even small businesses adopt such views AND make a profit, they feed the right-wing spin machine that cannot accept that people actually just care about the state of the planet.

Is this struggle over organic food about making the world a better place or is really about finding ways to separate US from THEM?

I suggest celebrating the victory of organic food over pesticide-drenched food, consolidate your power, and move on to making the corporations responsible in other areas. Now that they know they have to sell organic products to make a profit, find a way to make them share that profit with farmers and other workers.

Now I'm going to finish enjoying my Stoneyfield Farm organic yogurt.

Well that's just it.  Dean Foods is  not encouraging environmentally responsible behavior by having a 5,000  cow dairy. I don't have a problem with anyone owning 5,000 cows, but one should break them up on many different farms. Like a farmer friend of mine told me, cows can either heal the earth or destroy it.

Going forward, efforts by Wal-Mart and Whole Foods to "go local" will run into a fundamental problem: large-scale corporate enterprises, as they mature, make profit by cutting costs. And it's going to be very tempting to cut "transaction costs" by seeking out a few large suppliers, rather than dozens of tiny ones.

Sam, fellow finance journalist, am I right here?

Further, our food choices can potentially be a real force for economic development within given communities. Why sacrifice that power just because some big player did something remotely responsible?  Robust local economies with thriving small-scale producers deliver real environmental benefits: 1) because people who live where they produce are more likely to be responsible land and resource stewards; and 2) more local-based economic activity equals less environmentally ruinous long-haul travel.

There are environmentalists who take it as their goal to "green"  the likes of Wal-Mart or Dean Foods. That's fine -- and useful as far as it goes.  But the more fundamental and radical response is keep pushing to actually rebuild robust local and regional economies, in food and everything else.

Given the vast problems facing this culture, I think fundamental and radical approaches are justified.

Victual Reality

Is there general consensus regarding the definition of "organic" among small organic farmers (whatever that might be) and a corresponding independent organic label (not the USDA one) I should look for?

If there is something like the above, where can I find a good description of what that label demands of farmers... avoiding certain pesticides, not tilling the soil, low animal density, et cetera?

Please answer as though you are responding to a very stupid person. I'm venturing into areas I really need to learn more about. I thought organic standards primarily addressed animal wlefare, human nutrition, and reducing pesticides. It sounds like animals are not really part of the equation and the organic dairy products I consume come from animals just as abused as any other source of milk or meat.

It also sounds like you are all going to need a new label... a family farm label that certifies food is from a small farm (less than 300 acres?), the density of animals is less than a specified amount, and that all labor is paid a certain wage. The problem being discussed here seems to be a very separate issue, one that could apply to products beyond organic food.

What I am less certain about is that the pasture improvements Horizon is making on their farm will necessarily fall short of meeting the basic floor required, or that will be required, by the organic regs. Remember, it's a floor not a ceiling. Which is why I usually choose local. I want something above the floor.

As for Tom's comment:

If Dean Foods makes a buck by paying a decent price to small-scale organic growers, I say, fine. (Although I will still try to locate a nearby dairy farmer and buy milk directly from him/her). But if their plan is to slash costs by consolidating production into 5,000-cow feedlots, and feed the cows "organic" corn, then I say, the hell with them.

Well, what do you do if they pursue both of these supply streams? Because that is what Horizon is doing. They are adding small farm suppliers and also sourcing from larger farms (though they did shut off the spigot from Aurora Organic, another feedlot farm).

It's a complicated picture.

As for Tom's other comment, that scale always leads companies to look to lower costs - as a longtime financial reporter, I don't agree. They look for the best "value" but not necessarily the "lowest cost." It all depends on what you're selling. If finding a low cost consistent supply was the aim of organic retailers, then everyone would source organic produce from companies like Cal-Organic.

But something else is going on. Retailers are also sourcing locally. Why? Not because of low cost, but because customers want it.

I think the confusion here is that this market is viewed as an either/or proposition - that either it is about small scale, local foods, or it is about Wal-Mart and Whole Foods. What is harder to grasp is that both trends are happening at the same time, because it's not a zero sum game. Local is growing and so is large scale, on the size of Wal-Mart. Many companies are staddling the divide, such as Stonyfield which sources from small farms but sells at Wal-Mart.

So you can vote with your dollars on which market you want to support, which direction you want organic to go in, but I think right now consumers are voting for both because, frankly, there is not one organic consumer. There are many.

Samuel Fromartz Author Organic Inc.

(Incidentally, if Dean is backing away from feedlot organic, it's precisely a response to the efforts of watchdogs like Cornocopia. "Organic bashing" may serve a purpose after all. )

It seems clear to me that the small farmers now selling to Dean would do better forming cooperatives and marketing their product as "grass-fed" and "local" and "family scale"--avoiding commodification and offering something Dean can't.

Victual Reality

As for "wiscidea," there is no alternative label for smaller scale farmers. Organic is scale neutral, that is, you can be organic regardless of size.

The organic animal regulations require producers put "animal health" first and foremost. Critics say that more can be done to improve humane animal  standards on organic farms, but the regulations are a substantial improvement over conventional animal farms. If you want to make sure about the way the animals are treated, buy from a local producer or label and make the effort to visit their farms - often just a couple of hours away. All you need to do is ask. I found organic farmers especially welcoming.

Samuel Fromartz Author Organic Inc.

Whether the current attempt to rewrite the regs in organic dairy prevents that race to the bottom - by mandating a set amount of pasture for all producers and thereby outlawing a continuous feedlot model - remains to be seen. The new reg looks like it has a good chance of passing, though the regulatory wheels turn slowly...

Samuel Fromartz Author Organic Inc.

The pasture requirements are actually potentially among the most damaging to real goals of humane treatment and local sourcing.  Unless you happen to live in one of the areas--like New England--that's an ideal climate for grass, the requirement that animals be on pasture is sort of a guarantee that small farmers in other parts of the country won't be able to afford compliance.  Small farmers will either be in Vermont, shipping their product thousands of miles, or in other places without pasture, going out of business because they can't meet the standard, while larger producers will do whatever they want, including irrigating pastures in non-grass-growing climates, at terrible environmental cost.

As I understand it, dairy cows generally eat mostly hay anyway.  It may not be good hay--the most expensive "cow hay" on the market is usually appreciably worse than anything I'd let my horses near, for instance--but it's very different from the situation in a beef feedlot.  Growing up in Santa Fe, I never had a place for my horses to be on pasture, but somehow they seem to have lived, and are quite healthy, on a diet of hay, grain, and supplements.  It's the room to move around that's really key to their health, more than the grass, and when I've had to make the choice here in Massachusetts, I've chosen space 24/7 with no grass over an hour of grass a day and confinement to a stall the rest.  When in a stall, my older horse gets stiff and sore within a few days, and my younger horse gets crazy from not moving; a lifetime in a large but bare-dirt enclosure hasn't produced either problem.  So, that's my $0.02 on what large grazing animals really need for health and happiness.

Organic regs:
http://www.ams.usda.gov/nop/indexNet.htm
Orgeon Tilth, a major certifying organization and research group
Acertification company
Iowa State Extension Office on organic stuff