Is nothing sacred? Apparently not.
Organic foods are nothing new but remain a small part of the overall market. However, the growth of this sector has far outstripped that of other areas.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/01/business/01organic.html
With sales of roughly $12 billion, organic food remains a niche market within the $500 billion food industry. But the sector’s growing appeal to consumers has fueled a 20 percent annual growth rate in recent years, making it highly attractive to food giants looking for gains in a slow-moving business.
Accordingly, big players have entered the arena. These include General Mills (under the Cascadian Farms and Muir Glen brands) and Kraft (under the Back To Nature and Boca Foods brands). Of course Wal-Mart has an interest here too.
Wal-Mart wants in, too. “We are particularly excited about organic food, the fastest-growing category in all of food,” Lee Scott, Wal-Mart’s chief executive, said at a recent shareholder meeting. “It’s a great example of how Wal-Mart can appeal to a wider range of customers.”
Republicans have heard the call and have once again intervened on behalf of big business.
The debate has been under way for several years. But last week, Senate and House Republicans on the Agriculture appropriations subcommittee inserted a last-minute provision into the department’s fiscal 2006 budget specifying that certain artificial ingredients could be used in organic food.
This was apparently done without a hearing or prior notice. Standards first established in 1990 can be temporarily rolled back under the new spending bill.
At the same time, Charles Sweat, chief operating officer at Earthbound Farm, the country’s largest grower of organic produce, said he was concerned with the section of the spending bill that gives the Agriculture Department authority to grant temporary exemptions to allow conventionally grown ingredients like corn, soybean oil or tomatoes in organic food when organic versions are not “commercially available.”
Here is a good site with lots of current information. It includes the text of a speech by Rep.Kucinich to Congress against this development.
As passed, the amendment sponsored by the Organic Trade Association allows:
· Numerous synthetic food additives and processing aids, including over 500 food contact substances, to be used in organic foods without public review.
· Young dairy cows to continue to be treated with antibiotics and fed genetically engineered feed prior to being converted to organic production.
· Loopholes under which non-organic ingredients could be substituted for organic ingredients without any notification of the public based on “emergency decrees.”
The amendment was vigorously opposed by consumer, retail and growers groups, as well as public health and environmental groups, including National Cooperative Grocers Association, National Organic Coalition and Rural Advancement Foundation International USA, Beyond Pesticides, National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture, Organic Consumers Association, and Consumers Union. Consumers sent more than 300,000 letters to Congress imploring members to stand up against industry’s efforts to weaken the organic standards.
http://www.organicconsumers.org/sos/weaken102705.cfm
They’ve been trying to do this for awhile. Bills like this will completely nullify the meaning of the word organic, and it looks like they want to destroy it on every level, from produce to milk to meat.
Thanks for the link to the website.
Thanks for the heads up on this issue. I have friends who are raising organic crops. I’ll be forwarding the URL to your diary to them shortly.
Once you introduce “artificial ingredients” into “organic” what the hell is left that’s organic?
What on earth could possibly be sacred to Bu$hco? The will of the people, the purity of the air and water? Freedom? Life? Hah!
DOMINATION PROFIT CORRUPTION
Sorry, I need to vent somewhere, just not in my communications with the people in power. I thank you for the link to a group that will help me fight.
I swear. I don’t have enough hands to fight all the battles these fuckers keep piling up. Nice job publicizing this Boran. I hope you are going “activist/ballistic” on their arses. I would love to if they hadn’t already tied me up with so many of their stupid fucking policies. Best.
Well, I do declare. Small world.
As much as I still love my home state, they are knee-deep in this shit. Near Monsanto in St. Louis there is a new “life sciences center” and they are working on a bio-corridor between the Univ. of MO – Columbia along I-70 to StL. I’m not sure of all the specifics, but they are trying to make Missouri a home for biodestruction. Here’s one link I found from one of the industry groups:
http://www.biobelt.org/qa.html
And from Z Mag:
University Research & Genetic Engineering In The Midwest
This government has debased and abused so many grand pirinciples and concepts that it’s almost beyond belief.
Ideas like Freedom, Liberation, Honor, Integrity, Honesty, Fairness, Equality, Responsibility, Accountability, Clean and Clear, (in relation to the environment); none of these ideas has any residual meanng when used by members of the Bush regime, (unless one attributes the opposite meaning to whichever term they use).
Organic is one more term they’ll debase to the point of irrelevancy. I hope the real organic farmers will develop their own lingo and labelling for their produce, something that goes beyond whatever deceptive labelling is sanctioned by the government.
is already being used because the cost of getting organic certification ($10K) is a bit too high for most small growers to afford. Also the definition of “organic” the government uses has always been far too lax. Many small providers of vegetables, milk, eggs and meats use the term “Naturally Grown” to alert buyers to the quality of their goods.
The only way you can be sure your groceries are unadulterated is to know the manufacturer personally. Buy from organic growers at Farmers’ Markets and from CSA’s — some of whom have even started shipping weekly boxes of goods via Fedex!
And, of course, you can grow your own. Check out “Square Foot Gardening” by Mel Bartholomew. You’ll be amazed at how much food you can grow in a 4’x4′ planter box.
I pay the extra buck for the organic apples. Same for any food I can find that is organic and not that much more expensive.
I am not so worried about myself, but I do worry about all of the chemicals that my kids consume, and I know that my own fruits and vegetables that come from my garden just taste that much better.
Won’t be long before we will be chewing on plastic apples… (Made from oil and so I guess it would be an organic product too? YUCK!)
I am trying to cut back on my Walmart trips as much as possible… So I don’t see a myself buying organic food there.
You got that right. Tastes better and w/some things/spices you don’t have to use as much so it is actually cheaper.
I know that nothing is sacred with these guys – including organic stuff. Dr Bronner, of the soap company, just won another recently on organics soaps and cosmetics.
I’ll be checking the links and will be doing more stuff gardening on my own. We are lucky here in the SF Bay Area in that our Farmer’s Markets are excellent and mostly organic.
Hmmm….I wonder if I can get zoned for a small greenhouse in my back yard?? ;^D
What is wrong with us… Last night on ABC news it was mercury in fish, of course bird flu-chickens etc., mad cow disease and now organic food?? We had swine flu a few years ago so that fish, fowl beef and organic food. Oh what is left to eat crow? Not in NH because of West Nile virus- guess I’ll stick to coffee, but there will probably be a bean shortage again.
life as we knew it is getting worse- But I do have a question- how is organic food fertilized and grown-hope its not on private property because Congress is talking about eminemt domain and the court who ruled against a property owner..
Damn I need to go practice my breathing meditations.
Sorry for the snark but one can only take so much.
In my case it will be private property…and after that question…I think it’s time to get a 12 gauge for the greenhouse. /only half snark….
Hi Roseeriter,
I am from NH also-just temporarily marooned in SE Mass.
When I did my middle age crisis thing in the mid 90’s in Fl., I met one of the former cooks of the George HW Bush White House,. She told me the Bush’s have NEVER eaten anything but real organic food., When she worked for GHWB, they flew in fresh food daily and had it brought by truck to the WH by 7 AM.
These criminals are absolutely unbelievable. I certainly don’t consider them real Americans.
Rosseriter, have you given copies of this Bill to A Market in Manchester and Granite State Foods in Concord? The owners of these stores are really good at networking quickly and ensuring that their products are the real deal.
Where in NH do you live?
Thanks for letting all of us know about this. I have a hard enough time getting to a Whole Foods down here, and half their stuff is NOT organic.
Would love to hear from you.
Hi Grandma M- I live in Newport, NH. I grow some vegetables and in the summer shop at farmer’s markets but have never been very consistent with buying just organic. So I honestly have no idea where the co-ops are located, although I could ask my daughter because she pretty much only buys organic, even the organic baby foods for my grandson.
What part of NH are you from. I actually grew up in Concord.
Hey Roseeriter,
I lived in Concord – near the law school. Newport is a GREAT town. Getting many “flatlanders” moving in? I know the eastern side was becoming VERY popular a little over a year ago.
I grew up near White’s Park. What’s your last name? My maiden name is Noonan
And yes lots of flatlanders. I previouly owned some land in Washington, NH and none of the town officials were NH natives
…staffers at the USDA generated a report on organic agriculture that was very positive, noting, among other things that going organic didn’t not entail living like the Amish.
This report, which, unfortunately, isn’t available on line, resulted in those two being transferred to branch USDA offices, a kind of demotion not unlike the way the FBI used to send “troublesome” agents to field offices like Butte, Montana. Organic was seen as a joke.
But now that it’s proved to be not only sound agriculture, but sound economics, is it any surprise that those who laughed at are queuing up to hijack it?
Thanks much for the info… this had slipped under my radar somehow given that I’ve been really busy and distracted the past little while. Angry letters will be forthcoming.
I try very hard to pay attention not just to whether or not what I’m buying is “organic” but also to what company is the parent, but then I’m even more vehemently anti-big-corporate-agriculture than I am pro-organic. When push comes to shove, for me, I’ll buy local-smaller-farm before I buy organic-but-owned-by-Altria or whatever. Those lines are always personal, and I fully support any decision that people make so long as they’re making it based on a well-educated foundation.
With that in mind, I’d really, really like to urge people to become as aware as possible of who owns the stuff they buy on a regular basis — you’ll be surprised, if you start looking into it. On the one hand, some consolidation is probably a good thing if you want this stuff to get wider distribution; on the other hand, the money you spend on your organic Cascadian Farms stuff is helping support its parent company, General Mills, just as an example. It’s complicated stuff, and I’m no purist by any means (I really, really like Hebrew National hotdogs… owned by -shiver- ConAgra), but awareness is always a good thing.
I will also spread the word to the less news-savvy that they’re weakening the meaning of “organic” — meaning we all have to be more careful about that, now, too, if we’ve decided that’s an important battle for us.
Thank you for all this great info. All of you here on this thread are helping to spread the word. I so miss the Sunshine Markets on Kauai. One could get fresh organics most every day of the week. It was the healthiest time of my life.
We are fortunate to have a Farmer’s Market here in Del Mar on Saturdays but most of the stuff comes from Mexico. There is one seller that is organic and the lettuce and squash are so fresh and tasty.
Thanks boran2! First time I checked out this site. Your diary caught my eye so I reccommended. Also concerned as I am a vegetarian! Guess it’s all in the timing.
to the BooTrib Street Kid!
Thanks!
Thanks and welcome!
Glad I checked this site out. Oh and BTW, just remembered something that may be of interest: Years ago, I took a horticulture course through the MSU extension office. Remember that one of the lecturers said something to the effect of a (signigicant) number of inorganic pesticides are petroleum based. (Can’t remember specifics, science never was my strong point.)
You be a newbie?
Welcome to the Booman Tribune…
Have a free 4!
New to Booman Tribune. Thanks and have a 4 right back!
Seriously, what do you expect? This is the same country where big beef producers have successfully pressured the government into quashing research and recommendations about mad cow disease. Many of which would increase their costs slightly, but yield substantially healthier animals and substantially better meat and milk. I’d guess that the food manufacturers rank up there with the content cartels, drug companies, and seed companies on the “pure evil” scale.