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Organic wasn’t such as bad thing 10 or 20 years ago. Then the government got involved. That wasn’t such a bad thing either, except that lobbyists for multinational ag businesses were able to control the way USDA certification was written and cajole it to serve their interests. The real fallout from their efforts is just now being felt and I contend that organic certification will not mean anything in 10 years. Organic food will be just another commodity item in stores.
We’re already seeing it as the premiums growers used to get are disappearing, and the produce shelves are becoming dominated by strictly organic produce and commodity prices. Where I come from, we call that commodification. If organic is no longer value-added, then the cost of the paperwork and expensive production techniques cease to make sense, except to those that controlled the process: i.e., large agribusiness. For a farmer like myself, who is admittedly not organic and doesn’t really want to be, we need to figure out what the next steps are. What’s "Beyond Organic"? I originally started this blog to debunk the whole idea that organic was the end-all, beat-all to food production.
Last week, I was in Manhattan and I visited several stores to see what was on the shelves. Many of the supermarkets have made a verbal commitment to local. Some have even been leaders and exemplary businesses over the years. But lately most have started to act more like trend-surfers than a business with a mission. For example, my visit revealed very few local apples or cider on their shelves. There was plenty of West Coast organic apples and gobs of overpriced fruit drinks and waters. But where was the local? Remember, New York is the second leading apple-producing state in the US and apples store great through the winter, so availability isn’t the issue. But that’s OK. We live in a capitalistic society and those businesses are just doing what they think will make them money. But for us growers, especially here on the East Coast, there is very little incentive to enter the organic market as we see prices shrink and a diminishing commitment to local after “the season.” I’ve set my sights on implementing a production system that takes us beyond organic and allows us to compete in a way that can’t be taken away from us. I don’t know what that system is going to look like exactly, but more than likely it will be a combination of many different styles of production that will include traditional, organic, bio-dynamic, and whatever else I can beg, borrow, and steal from the myriad styles that are out there. Twenty years ago I wouldn’t have done this, but back then it all meant something. We’re now looking to redefine a method of ecological growing that means something to the trade and the consumer, and the only way to do that without having it co-opted by the big guys is to develop in concert with the fact that we are local. Nobody can co-opt our geography, especially if we define the concept of what local means first.
In the early 1990s there was an attempt by a researcher at Cornell to develop something called the Environmental Impact Quotient (EIQ). It was underdeveloped and never successful, but it always struck me that what we really needed to do with our production systems is to develop an algorithm for calculating a whole-farm EIQ. Production systems have to be analyzed by more than just what we spray or fertilize our plants with. We live in a complex world and it shouldn’t be a bad thing to utilize technology and science as well as certain pagan rituals in how we grow crops. The goal should be to have the least negative impact on the land, communities, and regional food systems as possible. Beyond organic lies in a production system that is a complex and challenging as nature itself. As I develop this new production system, I make sure to keep everyone informed. But I don’t think we’ll ever actually “get there”. Farms are complex, biological organisms that include people, buildings, tractors, and plants. They evolve and change every day. There’re a new set of problems and challenges to contend with all the time. Our production systems should mimic and work with that reality . . . naturally.
Michael Biltonen is passionate about growing foor at his 200-year-old Stone Ridge Orchard in upstate New York. Mike was formally trained in pomology at Cornell University and in horticulture at Virginia Tech, and has spent the last 23 years working with trees and small fruits including apples, peaches, raspberries, Asian Pears, red currants, and the luscious TriStar strawberry. Visit his website at stoneridgeorchard.com
Reprinted from Chronogram(chronogram.com) by permission of the publisher.
organicgal, Tuesday, August 19, 2008 at 05:32 PMI hope Mr. Biltonen owns "The Apple Grower: A Guide for the organic orchardist" by Michael Phillips. Also, the public has really been a boon to keep the organic standards on the right road. Public comments on the internet are of HUGE value. As long as the public is interested in organic food, I don't think his prediction will come to fruition (sorry :) ).
As far as the lack of local produce in stores? It's a distribution issue and it's challenging. That's what CSAs are for. He could start a CSA fruit share in his neck of the woods and offer it to surrounding CSAs for starters. CSAs are to help farmers sell but not have to be dealing with being salespeople (or at least minimize the task).
Farming is a hard job. I'm glad this fellow is doing the work. I hope he gets as close to organic as possible for his sake, his workers, his family, his neighbors and his customers. Pesticides are just not good for people or the environment.
