Small Family Farming and Organics

Interesting piece out of Albuquerque the Magazine (by way of New West, a great site to check out on a regular basis!) on organic farming: " “It’s amazing,” he says in a bass twang loaded with optimism, “… amazing what can be grown on a little parcel like mine.”

Combine this farmer's approach with the growing popularity of farmers' markets (two new ones have sprung up in Seattle, with a third on the way, just this season) and you indeed have a new and sustainable market sector!

-- Paul Andrews, GreenforGood

Have you clicked on CSRWire?

The Corporate Social Responsibility News Wire is a great resource for keeping up on businesses with sustainable values. My favorite section: Ethical Corporation, which might be subtitled, "Turning an oxymoron into a redundancy"! Or something like that...

-- Paul Andrews, GreenforGood

Ecoballs: One to check out for sure

From Treehugger: Ecoballs tossed into a wash instead of detergent ionize dirt so that it just falls right off dirty clothes. I think I understand the principle here, somewhat like cleaning air with a deionizer. But I'll be intrigued to try it out. Haven't seen 'em in stores on the West Coast yet but apparently they've been in Europe for some time. Here's some very positive reviews from across the pond on EcoZone.

Talk about big Ecojones! If it works, and we can chuck the detergent, wow, sign me up! David, let's try to track some down for testing and sale on GreenforGood!

-- Paul Andrews, GreenforGood

Last Day for comment on dilution of organic standards

From the Organic Consumers Association, this:

ALERT: STOP THE USDA’S LATEST SNEAK ATTACK ON ORGANIC STANDARDS

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, no doubt hoping to limit public controversy, has announced a very short public comment period (ends May 12, 2006) on proposed new federal regulations that will weaken organic standards. USDA’s proposed amendments, supported by grocery store chains and large food corporations, will allow so-called organic dairy feedlots to continuously import calves from conventional farms—where the calves have been weaned on blood, dosed with antibiotics, and fed genetically engineered grains and slaughterhouse waste. USDA’s new rules will also allow over 500 artificial (synthetic) substances in organic processed foods without prior scrutiny and review by the National Organic Standards Board. USDA’s latest efforts are basically an attempt to codify last fall’s controversial “Sneak Attack” in Congress, when industry players and the Organic Trade Association convinced the Republican Party majority to attach a last minute rider to the 2006 Agricultural Appropriations Bill. Take action now and tell the USDA to back off on lowering standards! Click here.

-- Paul Andrews, GreenforGood

Wal-Mart's Foray into Organics, con't

The New York Times today has a long and tendentious piece confirming much of what we've been saying all along about Wal-Mart entering the organics market. The story takes a primer approach so it's not surprising that most issues of substance are unaddressed, including the very important USDA dilution (see entry above) of organic standards. The story has talking-heads quotes about organic standards; why didn't the reporter point out this controversial government initiative? If I was the editor, I'd have sent back the story with some question-marks, but that's the problem with mainstream corporate media. They don't do the homework any more.

Here's an example of a howler: "Many advocates of organic produce consider conventional agriculture to be harmful to the environment and to human health."

Gee, too bad there's no actual data on this point that could be cited instead of just another terminally lame he says-she says caveat.

Kif Sheuer has some additional insights on Gristmill, although I take issue with the notion that organic agri-business is a good thing. Inevitably it leads to the same unsustainable practices of normal agri-business. Factory farms are evil in so many ways, even if they're organic (I would hope Kif would do some additional reporting and thinking on this).

I would simply reiterate as a coda what we've been saying all along: Wal-Mart will certainly raise consciousness and help goose the organics market, but notions that it will put organic sellers like Whole Foods and WIld Oats, farmers' markets and local food co-operatives out of business are misdirected. I shop regularly at these places and don't see anyone who shops at or even likes Wal-Mart. The real Achilles heel in Wal-Mart's approach, which business reporters with some chops ought to be writing about, is its critical dependence on distribution (a point a responder to Kif's posting wisely notes). Wal-Mart and the whole globalization movement forgot to factor in one thing: Oil prices. At some point, the whole petro house of cards collapses, and that will be a much bigger fried fish than whether a product is organic or not.

-- Paul Andrews, GreenforGood