Organic?

Organic?
November 2006
Thaddeus Barsotti

For thirty years my family has been farming the same land in a manner different from conventional farming methods. In the beginning there was not a term that represented our style of agriculture. Growing crops in a manner that eliminated the need for chemicals while maximizing sustainable use of the land was not normal. Selecting varieties based on their taste and culinary traits opposed to their yield and shelf life was unheard of.

My parent’s generation toiled at getting the public to realize the value of this alternative way of producing food. This movement encompassed much more than simply not using chemicals. It reduced the intensive use of land, promoting natural biodiversity and reduced soil erosion. It put workers in an environment in which they worked with the owners of the farm. It created a marketing network that connected small farms directly to consumers. While all of these changes were taking place one word was used to represent the movement – organic.

Today that detail of not using chemicals in the long process of farming is the only thing that the term organic represents. The certification that defines organic does not verify or even encourage a complete, sustainable farming system. It means nothing of the size, farming procedures, management goals and marketing techniques of a farm. When the organic movement began these details were more important than limiting the amendments a farmer used when cultivating crops.

While my family and many other families still farm in a method consistent with the original movement, we are put in the same category as factory farms that have slightly altered their conventional farming process to meet the legal definition of organic. These farms can be huge corporations who’s management practice of the land is to harvest three to four different crops on the same piece of land in one year – maximizing revenue from that land for the year’s profit. In contrast our farm’s practice is to grown one crop to harvest per year and leave the same land fallow for a season or to grow a cover crop that is incorporated back into the ground before next year’s crop – maximizing the sustainable use of the land for the next generation.

Today the organic certification our farm completes every year does not do our superior farming practices justice. It is a one-dimension standard that extends no further than the list of materials that have been used in our fields. The challenge of my generation is to make consumers realize that the farming method is what is important and to build a produce distribution system that allows consumers to support individual farms and that farm’s practices. Unfortunately today the word organic has shifted to a marketing term that loosely enforces a set of amendments that are considered “organic” in order to earn a premium price for a farm’s product.

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