Corporate Sweet Dreams? - Part 3
So, it’s time for the Giant in the room to crawl out from under the table. What to do with the corporate organic market... otherwise known as “organic industry”. Is it a contradiction with the goal of sustainability? What could we do about it at Michigan anyway?
Let me start with the most obvious assertion. The practicality of it… the whole eating local thing is great – in theory. But what of the reality of a limited time budget for you, the consumer? Isn’t it just as legitimate to drop a good amount of your paycheck or parental stipend at Whole Foods, and skip the early Saturday morning at the Farmer’s Market? Unfortunately, in my opinion, no.
The usual first argument of buying local instead of instead of just organic is that most supermarkets, even Whole Foods, with their giant distribution chains and economies of scale, contribute to the shipping of foodstuffs all over the world and expending petroleum – at an average of 1,500-2,000 miles per product. Considering Ally’s great entry on organic v. local, I won’t bore you with the basics. But beyond the travel, elements like packing materials, shelving space, and advertising all play a role in the additional waste that is inherent in supermarkets.
Organic certification costs money – sometimes, a good bit more than a start-up has to spend. So, though they may be practicing organic methods, it’s not marked with that label as the sign of organic goodness. A farmer dealing with just plants can expect to pay near $530, while a dairy farm would average around $672. Grower groups, or cooperatives, can expect to pay an average of $4,500, which is a huge sum to a group of small coffee growers in South America, for example. (Organic Standard)
I won’t deny that the consumer-driven demand in organic food production, at a rate of 20% or more per year since the 1990s is a significant and positive step in the right direction! This certainly reflects a desire to increase our own health, and perhaps it even reaches to a greater understanding of the environmental impacts of the conventional system. But Whole Foods certainly doesn’t reach a kid living in central Detroit, who needs good nutrition and low toxic load the most – to her, food may only exist at the corner store in the form of shiny wrappers and plastic bottles.
Unfortunately, neither does the union-repressing Wal-Mart store that is now the largest purveyor of organic food. And that Odwalla Carrot and Raisin Bar that Earl only gave a 4/10? Coca-Cola, formerly banned from campus for murdering union organizers in South American factories, gets the main cut of that snack. I know, it's virtually unavoidable, and organic is better than nothing... but take a look at the chart below, and you’ll see that much like the other products you see on supermarket shelves, companies that were once smaller and independent are consolidating into monstrosities like those found in other industrial sectors – and you can be sure that if they’re selling at near the same price as the farmer’s market, the farmer sees a lot less of this revenue.
Whoa, that’s intense!
If you’re like me and keeping small farmers is important to you, despite the fact that farming is no longer an occupation listed on the US census as only 1% of the population can make a living in this sector, then please consider supporting them [more on all these in the near future!] :
- Join a CSA when you get the chance
- Come out to the A2 Farmer’s Market on Saturday morning
- Go to East Quad and get a taste of the local – thanks to their new organic and local buying efforts (Even Dale’s Honey!)
- Consider petitioning U-M, a campus that consumes several tons of food a day, to have every day as sustainable, local and organic food day
- Finally, try your hand at growing some food organically yourself by volunteering with the cUltivating coMmunity student group
Organic Standard Article - Prices of Cerification
Organic Trade Assosiation: Market Trends Report (lots of interesting stuff in the OTA site)
UM April 2006 Housing Office newsletter on eating local and organic