When you are looking to make healthier, more sustainable choices, organic is a good decision. However, sustainability, like fitness, is not always clear-cut. Knowing when organic isn’t the top choice will help you be even better at promoting your health, and the health of the environment.
Organic History In Four Sentences
Organic agriculture started as a small movement of farmers who wanted to grow food a certain way. They believed that focusing on the health of the soil, rather than the plant, was a better way to farm. In the 1960s and ’70s the environmental movement picked up steam – thanks quite a bit to Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring – and took notice of the organic concept. This brought organic out from the fringes and into the mainstream, where it has been a growing market ever since.1
Big Ag Consolidates
At the same time that organic was on the rise, the food system in the United States was steadily consolidating. Today, a small number of companies control huge percentages of market share. In 2009, one company sold 93% of all soybean seeds and 80% of all corn seeds, while only four firms controlled 85% of US beef, and another four 66% of chicken.2
The Upshot – Big Organic Might Not Beat Small, Non-Organic
The growth of the organic market combined with the consolidation of the agriculture industry comes with concerns. In 2012, the New York Times reported that large corporations, eager to cash in on a premium market, may exert too much influence on the National Organic Standards Board. Some worry that they can use their size, market control, and significant financial resources to water down the label. Further, large corporations are able to produce on a massive scale and still meet the technical definition of organic, if not necessarily the spirit. Part of organic’s goal, after all, is to be environmental, and mega-farms are usually anything but even if they are organic. Lastly, there has been some concern that it may be too difficult and costly for smaller operations to maintain the USDA Organic label.
Going Local Can Make The Difference
One way for you to navigate this tricky situation is to look around you for local operations. Small farms rely on their reputation and relationship with their customers to make a case for their business, its produce, and practices. This is one of the reasons that farmers’ markets and CSAs can be such a valuable part of a healthy nutritional lifestyle. There, you the consumer have direct contact, which creates a system of accountability that can be even more valuable than the USDA Organic label.
Related
3 Ways Local Is Better, Just Not How You Think
References
- Kerr Center – Organic Philosophy Report
- Barkley, Andrew, and Paul W. Barkley. Depolarizing food and agriculture: an economic approach. London: Routledge, 2015. Print.