Hmmm...who's trying to kill organics? And the culprits might be those whom we would least expect. Just received this in an Organic Bytes e-mail today. There were a number of pertinent topics but this one I think really needs to be hit on specifically. There's organic and then there's "organic"...in that it's Big Business Bullies posing as small farm, ethically produced organic products. We're seeing this problem occurring more regularly here in rural Maine...even with MOFGA who tout themselves as the following:

 Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association MOFGA helps farmers and gardeners grow organic food and supports sustainable and vibrant rural communities.

We're on a local crusade in our area to avoid MOFGA and their overly bureaucratic abuses. See this is what happens. Small family farms that are actually trying to do what's best for animals, for food, for the soil/environment, and for the consumer get pushed around, threatened, and regulated into oblivion. While the large corporate agribusinesses call all the shots and deregulate to the point that it's no longer safely, humanely grown food anymore. It's a double-standard that works to the detriment of what's authentically organic. See how that works?

This is where the local movement and self-education are so very important. Go to one of your local farms...not farmers market...FARM. Find the farmer or his wife. They'll probably be out in the garden or around the barn somewhere. Take a look at how they're doing things. Talk to them, ask a few questions. Look at their cows and goats and chickens...and ask them what their names are. Yeah, small family farmers still name their animals. It's very cool! Then decide for yourself if you trust them. Taste the milk. Is it really yummy? Then buy it for heavens sake. And pay them cash. Around here, they keep a can on top of the fridge so if you drop by at 9 p.m. (like we do) you can just put your money in the can. It's that simple. Really.

I thought it was particularly interesting at the end of this article on who they list as the main troublemakers at the moment:

Friend/enemies of the organic revolution that are particularly troublesome are:

Feedlot "Organic" Dairies
Whole Foods

A Revolutionary Movement Under Attack
The 40 year-old organic movement to promote and expand the market for organic, fair trade, union made and locally produced food and products may not seem to be much of a threat to the powers that be. After all, what possible threat can the creation of new healthy products and market opportunities be to the capitalist system?

However, make no mistake, the organic movement IS a revolutionary movement. It is a revolutionary movement, because it is working to undermine and eventually replace a rich, powerful, and politically connected industry based upon life-threatening chemicals and GMOs and exploitation of farm and food workers. America's chemical-industrial Food Inc. poses major threats to workers' rights, public health, the environment, and the climate.

If everyone opted to buy - or produce themselves - only organic, fair trade, union made and locally produced agricultural products, Food Inc. would soon be out of business. The organic means of food and fiber production and consumption would be in our hands.

The organic revolution is the ultimate consumer boycott. Once we move past the tipping point, U.S. agricultural production and household nutrition will be radically transformed. Monsanto and Corporate Agribusiness will no longer be able to poison the water and the air and pollute the atmosphere.  Organic production methods will clean the water, air, soil, and our bodies and sequester billions of tons of climate-destabilizing CO2 from the atmosphere. Safe, healthy, nutritious organic foods will become the norm while junk foods will gradually disappear.  Millions of farm and food production workers, routinely exploited in our profit-at-any-cost food and farming system, will be empowered and liberated.

When the organic revolution is complete worldwide, we'll have a stable climate, a clean, healthy environment, economic self-sufficiency, food security and good-health for all. And of course following the Via Organica, the organic way, we will conserve precious resources including fossil fuels, water, and land, and thereby eliminate the root cause of resource wars, finally giving "peace a chance" in the world. That's what the organic revolution is all about.

One of the biggest threats to the success of the organic revolution are our supposed allies; greenwashed businesses in the food industry that garnered the public's trust by being the first to support organic, but are now abusing that trust by backsliding on their commitment to the revolution.

Companies like Monsanto and Wal-Mart are the worst enemies of the organic movement. But, our movement also has plenty of Janus-like "friend/enemies," companies like Whole Foods, Horizon, and UNFI that on one hand have given the organic community the market clout to reach the mainstream, but on the other hand have begun to put profits before principle, gradually selling mostly conventional food, disguised and premium-priced as natural.

Friend/enemies of the organic revolution that are particularly troublesome are:

Feedlot "Organic" Dairies
Whole Foods

More from OCA (Organic Consumers Association)
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Seeds of Hope 04/07/2009
 

Recently my friend, Sherry, alerted us to the Monsanto buy-out of Seminis Seed Co. and how this was affecting one of our local seed companies here in Maine that we use...Fedco.

Fedco Seeds gave the run-down in this article about Monsanto's 1.4 billion dollar CASH payment for Seminis as well as assuming all of their unpaid debt. They do an excellent job of explaining the ramifications of what this means for seed companies and why this is such an ominous problem as they begin to explain the question:

Why Drop Monsanto?

The current industrial seed system rests upon the unholy trinity of biotechnology, corporate concentration and intellectual property rights. Each is mutually reinforcing and none of the three stands without the support of the other two.
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To me just the fact that Monsanto can slap down that amount of cash in the first place tells us something right there. Then the fact that they would slap down that kind of cash for a SEED COMPANY tells us even more. Please don't even begin to imply that Monsanto has no agenda here.

What I was so heartened to see, though, was that when Fedco polled their customers, they received an overwhelming response...and the major response was not to compromise...which means continuing to provide honest to goodness untainted-by-Monsanto seeds. Which also boils down to telling  Monsanto to take a hike!

Here are some the  responses Fedco provided in the article:

Fedco Drops Monsanto/Seminis

We responded to the news by polling our customers. Should we drop the Seminis/Monsanto line, phase it out, keep it but give it its own customer code, or maintain it without change? We received an unprecedented 1,157 responses. 54.8% voted for us to drop the Seminis/Monsanto line immediately, and an additional 17% to phase it out over time. Many included thought-provoking comments such as these:
• Drop the Seminis varieties unless this puts the entire coop in jeopardy. • Every dollar that goes to Monsanto does not go to a producer who is protective of agriculture, our world, our health. • You don’t need to sell your soul for a Sunsugar. • Let the customers decide! • Phase out as you find quality replacements. • Call upon my sense of adventure to try the new varieties you find! • Unbury the supplier codes and make them more prominent. • Give your customers a choice on their purchases for a transitional period…tax the b…ds for the public good…and spread the money like manure for our new crop of seed providers—breeders, growers and distributors. • It’s a hard thing to fight a Monsanto when we’re so deeply embedded in a system that produces Monsantos. Sort of like Jefferson hating slavery while owning slaves. • Buyers’ choice is real democracy. We, the buyers either keep them in business or put them out of business. • Double the retail price for Monsanto seed and send the additional receipts to those who suffer from Monsanto like Percy Schmeiser. • Monsanto should be Rounded Up and composted. • We’ll survive on the sweet tastiness of the moral high ground.
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I'm sure this decision's  going to cause Fedco some major readjustments, no small amount of disappointments, a bit of confusion, a likely hit to the bottom line...but at the end of the day, that's OK! Let's not compormise" was the resounding sentiment...and for that sentiment alone among so many is a triumph in and of itself.

The other thing that's really great is that so many more people out there are truly gettin' it...including myself! I haven't understood the whole corporate food dilemma entirely..it's taken me some time to connect all the dots. And I've learned so much about what's at stake not only for us here in America, but for all of us around the world... in really only the past couple of months or so. But now our children are gettin' it too...so much in fact that they call Wal-Mart 'slavery food' and want to pray for small farmers around the world when we say our bedtime prayers. That totally warms my heart and gives me some real hope for the next generation!

So "You GO Fedco" ... we're here to support you! And I hope this can encourage and strengthen all of us to bravely stand firm with our local food, farm, garden, and seed producers and providers as well!

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