You probably know I am a big advocate for organic foods and I could talk your ear off about why. I have done a lot of homework about this topic because it is really fascinating to me. Over the last year, it has become my favorite hobby. Actually, I think Debbie is to thank for this. What I am learning more and more through this journey is that simply knowing what organic means and reasons to buy organic is a very small piece of the picture.
As I mentioned in a previous post, I buy Stonyfield Farm yogurt. Tonight I was reading a environmental comparison of major companies (Nike, IBM, Stonyfield Farm...) produced from Climate Counts. A comment on the article mentioned that Stonyfield Farm supports industrial agriculture. My first thought was, "yeah, well we did progress through the industrial period in history so most agriculture is probably 'industrial' (a.k.a. modern!)". I was curious though so I did a yahoo search and found an article from BusinessWeek (http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_42/b4005001.htm) as well as a retort from Stonyfield Farm and others (http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_45/c4008024.htm). Briefly, the basic idea of the first article is that organic business is getting much higher in demand, which means that there is a lot of pressure from consumers and shareholders to turn bigger profits. This is great for farmers except that there isn't yet enough supply. Creating enough supply means building bigger farms (thus more environmental impact and a fear of corporations in general seem to accompany this) and importing some products (there is question of whether we can trust the organic integrity of imports). Both of these measures follow USDA organic standards, but aren't exactly ideal.
Organic farms are usually thought of as small, quaint, and old-fashioned oases with little pig-tailed girls in gingham dresses gathering milk in sparkling galvanized buckets from happy, smiling cows. I'm sure they are far from this idealistic, nonetheless, if this is heaven, conventional farming is the devil. This may not be far from the truth, but there certainly is a lot of gray area. Going to the grocery store can be confusing enough when you are comparing ingredients, nutrition facts, ounce-to-dollar rations, and calculating how to feed your family while still affording to put gas in your tank to get to the grocery store in the first place. Confusing! Unfortunately, it really comes down to money though. In a world without money, there would be no such thing as organic versus conventional and everything in between. Everything would just be real food grown naturally because there wouldn't be so much competition to make more and more in order to be wealthier and wealthier. I hope all the changes in the marketplace eventually bring us back to a place like that: just real food without all the gimmicks.
I pray for peace in your mind, heart, and grocery cart. Here's my plan. Maybe you will like it, too.
1. Buy organic when I can afford it and especialy for the items that make the most difference. Here is the link I promised to the top ten foods to buy organic: http://horizonorganic.com/raising/prescription.html. There is so much great information there. Be sure to give it a glance before your next grocery store escapade.
2. Buy real food. I want to know what the ingredients are and only buy ones that make sense to eat and are actually good and useful for my body.
3. Eat what I buy. So often I buy things that sit in the pantry for weeks or months. I end up having so much extra stuff. I just want to buy what we need and nothing more so that our grocery bill will reflect what we actually eat.
Okay, that's the whole plan. Let me know what you think:)
Oh! So I've created a monster! :) I didn't realize I was the one that pulled you on the bandwagon! Hopefully you can forgive me...
ReplyDeleteThat's a good article about the 10 foods... I downloaded it back in Texas and have tried to go by it ever since. I also have one that says which types of fruit/veggies have the most pesticide residue and the least (where you can feel a little bit better about buying non-organic if you must).
I knew it wouldn't be too long before the good efforts of "going green" found a way to cause other problems, but here's my view about the money issue... I wish taking away money ("the root of all evil") would solve the problem, but knowing the human condition, there would probably be something else to obsess over, to the point of damaging good and decent things. Through all my ponderings, it seems the only way we'll find Utopia is in the "new heaven and new earth." But that doesn't mean we don't try to do the best with what we've got!
Deb, I think it started when we were over here making German pancakes, which called for all those eggs. You brought some organic eggs and I couldn't help but notice you choosing them over my conventional ones. It really made me think. No forgiveness is required, rather thank you:)
ReplyDeleteThank you for your insight, too. It is so good to remember that this world is imperfect for the time being, and at the same time, there are still things worth fighting for, such as the beauty of the physical earth as God created it. That is what I'm after.