05/11/06 Organic under Attack

It came as a shock to me given the Bay Area reputation as the epi- center for the Organic Movement that the San Francisco Chronicle would dare question the validity of the organic designation. They did, and did a fair job of pointing out just how mainstream the organic industry has become . With Wal-Mart and Safeway now branding organic products the premise that organic foods come from small quaint farms is no longer valid . At Earthbound Farms 200-250 semis a day haul organic produce to locations Coast to Coast and they are not running on ethanol. It is also not true that organic farms animals have a better life than conventional. The Chronicle sites that in the case of organic milk unwary consumers could be drinking milk from a 5000 cow feedlot dairy in Colorado.. Many of the hypocrisy's have been imposed upon the movement by virtue of growth, booming growth. For that reason true organic purists desire a new category titled industrial organic.