Should you eat organic or local? Can you do both?
Scene One — A Saturday morning in October 2002. Place: Chicago. Citizen "A" enters a natural foods store, looking for good food. Looking to do the right thing. "A" begins to fill her shopping cart with organic items: lettuce, butter produced from grass-fed organic cows, sunflower seeds, potatoes, zucchini, tomatoes.... The food is certified organic, but it was produced thousands of miles away. Should "A" buy this food?
Citizen "B" drives twenty miles to his favorite farmers’ market, looking for good food; looking to do the right thing. "B" takes out his canvas bag and begins to make the rounds. Tomatoes, salad greens, zucchini, potatoes.... The food is not organic, but it is locally grown. Should "B" buy this food?
Looking for no more than a simple meal, Citizen "C" walks to a local conventional grocery store to buy sunflower seeds and cheap vegetable oil. She plans to walk home and make a salad with tomatoes, lettuce, and herbs grown in pots on her apartment balcony. Some of the food is local; some is not. Some of the food is grown without chemicals; some is not. Should "C" buy this food?
What we eat, and how and where it’s grown have never had more dramatic consequences for our lives as well as our relationships with the environment and with each other. Water quality and availability, land lost to urban sprawl, soil degradation, workers exposed to toxic chemicals or paid below living wages, energy depletion, national food security, global trade: these issues come home with us in our very grocery bags and take-out cartons.
In the city, we rely mostly on others for the production end of our food system. Whether we think about it or not, we daily endorse the production systems we make use of. In effect, we vote with our food dollars rather than pulling levers in a polling booth. Are you supporting the systems you believe in? Identifying elements of that system is the first step towards achieving a truly sustainable food system: one that provides well for us, our children, and their children without damage to them or the natural world.
Questions we now face are these: What do we eat? Should it be local? Should it be organic? What can we afford to eat? Where do we produce our food and how does it reach us? Finally, is being‘certified organic’ enough to assure us that it is also sustainable?
The case for local organics
Let’s assume that buying foods that are both organic and produced locally brings the best of both worlds to the table, reducing food miles and the environmental problems associated with conventional production. Certified organic food and fiber come with assurances that the systems used to grow and process organic products meet certain guidelines — guidelines that now come under the aegis of our government.
Looking back, we remember that organic standards and guidelines originally evolved via often marginalized communities of farmers and eaters. These "fringe" producers and consumers hoped to participate in a system that would renew or invigorate soil life such as earthworms and essential microbes; create beneficial habitat for wildlife, including insects; nurture biodiversity; and protect surface and groundwater resources by eliminating toxic synthetics and increasing soil organic matter. Those who chose to eat organically were concerned about their own health, as well as the health of the earth.
They were also committed to a social context that emphasized relationships between those who grow and those who consume food. This concern with relationships created a framework whereby everyone who ate organically was connected, however indirectly, with the source of their food. These connections created a strong sense of community. As late as 1998, when public outcry forced revisions to the disastrous first draft of the Organic Rule, those involved with organics, farmers and eaters alike, referred to themselves as "the organic community." This sense of community has waned in the accelerating trend to industrialize organic food production, which is now commonly referred to in the media as the "organic industry."
A loss of community does not necessarily negate all of the environmental and health benefits of producing and eating organic food. And we are eating more organic foods. Almost half of Americans choose to buy at least part of their food in organic form. According to an Organic Trade Association document (OTA), a 2001 national study by Natural Marketing Institute finds in 2000, at least 43 percent of consumers were defined, at least part-time, as "organic consumers." With consumer demand increasing by at least 20 percent a year, organics have become big business.
But the values that drive big business are not the values that drove the original growers and consumers of organic food. Helena Norberg-Hodge, as director for the International Society for Ecology and Culture, stated in the October 2000 issue of The Ecologist, a British publication, "...If organic food operates as part of the same unequal and destructive global trading system as any other foods, it will not, in itself, prove any kind of panacea [for current ecological problems]."
The issue is especially complex for residents of Northern Illinois; very little of the organic food purchased by the Chicago area residents is actually produced in Illinois — or even in the multi-state region surrounding the collar counties. This is ironic, given that Chicago’s Goodness Greeness is one of the largest organic produce distributors in the country. Illinois has more than 200 organic farmers — and more are in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Indiana. Why then do we not see more locally grown organic produce and other food offered in our stores and restaurants?
The challenges faced by regional farmers
According to Cissy Bowman, owner of Indiana Certified Organic, a third-party certification agency providing organic certification services for many Illinois and Indiana farmers, most farmers in this region don’t produce food eaten directly by people. They raise crops such as corn, wheat, and soybeans, as well as hay and livestock. These foods all require processing, most of which is located outside the region.
Bowman also cited a lack of communication among Illinois organic farmers as a significant factor in their low profile and lack of public support. "They need a way to talk to each other as well as a way to reach consumers. They need more infrastructure to help them move organic food and farming forward in this region. Illinois’ organic farming community is one of the best-kept secrets in the U.S.," Bowman stated.
Working with the Indiana Commissioner of Agriculture’s office, Bowman developed organic language for Indiana that mandates the enforcement of organic standards and labeling. Illinois lacks such an organic program, which puts organic farmers and consumers here at a disadvantage nationally. The Illinois Department of Agriculture surveyed organic farmers in Illinois regarding such language and an organic program two years ago, and then claimed developing such was too costly and shelved the effort.
Another reason for the lack of local organic produce in the Chicago metro area may lie in what consumes want. Erica Shaffer, special projects editor of Fresh Trends 2002, noted that 32 percent of consumers surveyed in the Upper Midwest reported purchasing organic produce in the six months prior to the survey. A glimpse of what people are buying tells us why more produce is not locally grown: nationally the most popular fruits are apples, with peaches, bananas, and grapes tied for second place. These items are not easy — or in the case of bananas, possible — to grow organically in our bioregion. Vegetables fare better. The three most popular vegetables are ones we can and do grow organically in the Midwest: tomatoes, leafy greens, and carrots. But just because we can grow these organically doesn’t mean farmers will. To change production and marketing strategies, both organic and conventional farmers in this region will need a significant incentive: profit and an easier way to market their goods.
One challenge to farmers is always their profit margins. Here, even at our regional level, global trade issues rear their head. Dave Randle, an organic farmer north of Indianapolis, was raising organic tomatoes for Goodness Greeness. He found he could not compete in price with organic tomatoes brought in from Canada. He got "NAFTA’d" as farmers describe the situation when foreign products are imported at prices below their cost of production here. After losing his market, Randle quit raising organic fruit and vegetables.
Bringing home organics
Barry Bursak owned and operated Earth, Chicago’s first organic restaurant, from 1996 till it closed in 1999. His goal? To serve good organic local food to Chicago residents. He encountered the same problems then that still inhibit the growth of a local organic food production system today.
"The problem lies partly in the industrial nature of our food system. Smaller farmers lack an effective means of bringing their products to the city. Even if they grow organic produce, getting it here and to market is a different story. And as the largest natural foods stores replaced the smaller independent food cooperatives and stores, the market for local organic products really dwindled. The big stores don’t buy locally, " Bursak noted.
Jim Slama, president of Sustain, a Chicago-based environmental group, agrees. "The infrastructure link between organic farmers and the markets in Chicago is now tenuous at best. We developed the Local Organic Initiative partly to investigate a distribution system that addresses this issue, making it both easier and more profitable for farmers to bring local organic products to market." The LOI, as it is known, also intends to support regional organizations that work with farmers and foster their ability to supply sustainable and organic food for Chicago’s communities. A number of organizations currently work with Slama and Sustain consultants to identify critical needs that must be addressed to produce more locally grown sustainable and organic food in the region and get it into the hands and on the tables of Chicago’s residents.
One of these organizations, the Institute for Community Resource Development, based in Austin on Chicago’s west side, takes another perspective on the issue of getting organic food to area residents. LaDonna Redmond, president, works this from a neighborhood perspective. Her focus only begins with helping regional farmers develop more sustainable food production. She also works on food in her community’s backyard. She, her husband Tracy, and others have developed plots for urban agriculture using organic methods, and have started a neighborhood farmers’ market where area residents can shop for organic produce. Their next goal for the community will be a food store that carries organic products, many of which she hopes will be locally grown.
"The issue here is getting good food to people that they can afford. We must simultaneously ensure that the farmers earn enough to make a living from selling [their produce]. What is the point of having farmers raise great food if they themselves can’t afford to buy it? We need to look long and hard at the real cost of food. We need to figure that out if we truly want community food systems that provide secure sources of sustainably raised food. And we have to figure out who is going to raise it."
Redmond says of organic growing, "It takes a lot of hard work. People must be rewarded for that work. We need to provide opportunities for anyone who wants to raise good food to be able to do so."
Redmond’s views bring in another aspect of the local food/organic food issue: community food security. By supporting policies and programs that enable urban and rural farmers to raise organic food for local markets, we bring a measure of stability and security to our own communities. We also provide a source of employment and local ownership of businesses that sell a product needed by everyone: food.
This is real food, not a faceless commodity.
We need a way to identify food that’s locally grown, so people know they are buying a product that helps a family farmer pay his or her bills and in turn support the local community. We need a Fair Share label similar to Fair Trade coffee, so you and I can buy organic with the extra assurance of knowing that this is local.
In this approach lies the answer to the heart of our dilemma about organic versus local. This food raised locally and organically, by regional rural farmers, urban farmers, and in your backyard, would be the right thing.
Scene Two — Saturday morning, October 2002. Little Citizen "D" sits at an empty kitchen table. The food stamps have run out but he watches as his mother prepares a vegetable stew using potatoes and carrots from the community garden at the local church. She adds a jar of tomatoes canned last summer from the community-supported agriculture box they receive every week in season, sponsored by the church and the local food pantry. Local, organic, and from the heart: there is no question what to do with this food.
Juli Brussell is a Program Director for the Illinois Stewardship Alliance and a consultant for the Local Organic Initiative.
Eat Right
Want to support efforts to grow local and organic? Want more information about the benefits of organics and locally grown foods? Check out these resources.
Books
The Organic Foods Sourcebook: Everything You Need to Know, by Elaine Marie Lipson; McGraw-Hill Publishing, 221 pages; 800-722-4726.
Fatal Harvest, Island Press, May 2002. Collection of essays about the destruction associated with industrial agriculture by noted authors such as Wendell Berry, Vandana Shiva, and Andrew Kimbrell, 384 pages; 800-828-1302.
Local organizations and groups
Institute for Community Resource Development, LaDonna Redmond, 4436 W. Maypole, Chicago 60624; 773-921-1055.
The Land Connection, Terra Brockman, 1569 Sugar Hill Lane, Congerville, IL 61729; 309-965-2407; terrabooks@earthlink.net.
Local Organic Initiative Sustain, Jim Slama, 920 N. Franklin St., Suite 206, Chicago IL 60610-3121; 312-951-8999.
Illinois Stewardship Alliance, Juli Brussell, Community Food and Farming Systems, P.O. Box 648, Rochester, IL 62563; 217-923-5190, 217-498-9707 (main office) www.illinoisstewardshipalliance.org.
Organic Food Network, Laura Black; www.organicfoodnetwork.net.
Generation Green, Rochelle Davis
Farm to School Initiative, P.O. Box 7027, Evanston, IL 60201; 800-652-0827; www.generationgreen.org.
State and national organizations and agencies
Organic Farming Research Foundation,
P.O. Box 440, Santa Cruz, CA 95061; 831-426-6606; www.ofrf.org.
Organic Consumers Association, 6101 Cliff Estate Road, Little Marais, MN 55614; www.organicconsumers.org.
International Center for Technology Assessment; www.icta.org.
For information about new regulations for organic products and general information about organic food, visit the Web site for the National Organic Program, USDA.
Absolutely, Positively Organic: The USDA Rule It’s October 21. You walk into your food coop or natural foods store —winding your way down the aisles, placing one item after another into your cart. Many of these bags, cans, cartons, or boxes contain organic ingredients. You are buying certified organic products, right? The odds are better today than they were yesterday. After more than a decade of sometimes bitter wrangling, public comment, and re-written drafts, the USDA’s Organic Rule becomes effective October 21 this year. By this date, agencies that certify organic farmers and processors come under government oversight by the National Organic Standards program. These agencies, both state and private, must demonstrate their ability to maintain the complex audit systems required to track organic food production from field to your table and verify that it meets all accepted practices and guidelines. In other words, this oversight ensures that all guidelines are being followed and records exist to prove it. What changes for those of us who buy or raise organic products? How does this USDA rule affect us with the U.S. government controlling the use of the word "organic"? The following summary might alert you to the more obvious impacts. For consumers, the most confusing change may be labeling of products. According to the Organic Rule as published in the Federal Register, several categories of organic exist based on the percentage of certified organic ingredients. The USDA logo may be used only on the first two categories: * "100 percent Organic" — products that are entirely organic, whether whole, raw or processed; * "Organic" — products that contain at least 95 percent organic ingredients; * "Made with Organic" — a product containing 70 to 95 percent organic ingredients may display a certifier’s seal for ingredients (such as "QAI Certified") but may not display the USDA logo; * "Made with Organic Ingredients" — for products containing less than 70 percent organic ingredients, the word‘organic’ may describe one or more ingredients, but the label may not display either the USDA logo or a certifier’s seal. * The use of the USDA logo is voluntary but anyone who fraudulently uses either the USDA logo or sells a product as "organic" when it fails to meet USDA guidelines can be fined up to $10,000 for each violation. Farmers and processors who certify under the new rule will probably not find their production and processing practices changing much. Most organic certifiers previously had guidelines and standards similar to those found in the USDA rule. The accepted standards now include: * Three years of documented abstinence from the use of prohibited substances, which include synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, genetically engineered organisms, and sewage sludge; * A written plan that details all aspects of the farming operation, including prevention of commingling organic with conventional products and contamination by prohibited materials, as well as an ongoing soil-building program; * Use of untreated seeds and organic livestock feed; antibiotics and growth hormones are prohibited for animals raised as organic; animals that get ill and require antibiotics are to be treated and removed from organic production; * Annual on-site inspection by a trained organic inspector; * Third-party certification by an accredited state or an independent certifying agent. What has changed for farmers and processors is the transformation of paperwork required to prove that organic guidelines are being met. Some groans have erupted from the hinterlands as farmers wrestle with a complex set of new forms and audit guidelines that now read much like a, well, like a government form. The time taken to complete these forms appears to have increased greatly. This will hopefully subside as people become more familiar with the new paper requirements. (To get an idea what these forms entail, picture having to complete complex tax forms that also include minute details of how you actually do your job and that require maps of how you get to work and logs of every time you change the oil in your car and do your dishes.) Despite the passage of the rule into its implementation phase, the rule itself will never be finished; it remains a work in progress. Public comment will be necessary as the National Organic Program responds to petitions for changes to the list of accepted substances and methods. Keeping the process of changes to the rule transparent and in the public eye is the only way we can be assured that what is organic tomorrow meets the same intent and purpose of the rule today. It is our job to keep it that way. You can access information and updates about the National Organic Program and the Organic Rule at www.ams.usda.gov/nop. |