Farmers, consumers, and organic food

I also came across two articles online regarding farmers, consumers, and organic food.

The first article, Natural Response: As prices of organic foods rise, plain old fruits and vegetables suddenly look better, shows not only the fickleness and apathy of the average consumer, but also that when it comes down to it, many (if not most) farmers want to make money over doing what is right for the consumer and the environment.

However, as I feel organic foodstuffs are overrated in many ways anyway, I'm glad to see that locally-produced foodstuffs are being preferred by consumers as they tend to be cheaper (mainly due to almost zero transportation costs) and fresher (and may be organic anyway, or perhaps even "beyond organic"). The second article, Shoppers Choosing Local Over Organics in Produce, addresses this issue/these issues.

One interesting statement from the second article is that "33 percent [of consumers] are concerned about the safety of organic produce." Is it because USDA organic standards have been lowered in many categories and also been manipulated by producers, or is it due to anti-organic propaganda like when organic spinach was blamed for the E. coli outbreak in late 2006, when in fact it was conventional bagged spinach?

"Raise hell, not corn"

(From Grist)

A great article about how one should definitely contact one's politicians (especially since it's time to vote again!) and take action on the sorry state of the industrial food system.

"When nearly 75 percent of the U.S. market spinach crop is grown in one valley in California and repeated bacterial contaminations ensue, we need to question our reliance on the corporate food system.

When millions of pounds of beef are recalled due to bacterial contamination and when, by the count of the Centers for Disease Control, 76 million Americans get food poisoning and 73,000 cases of e coli infection and 63 deaths occur in the U.S. each year, we need to question our reliance on the corporate food system.

When the World Health Organization tells us that some 60 percent of the adults and nearly 13 percent of the children in America are obese, we need to question our reliance on the corporate food system.

When scientists from around the world tell us the vitamin and mineral content of our food has fallen significantly over the past 60 years, we need to question our reliance on the corporate food system.

When groundwater nitrate levels climb year after year because industrial size farms raise too many animals producing too much manure on too little land, we must question the industrial concentration of our food system. "

'nuff said...

Important things happening

A few major U.S. policy news articles:

"Losership, not Leadership"

"Very little progress"

2008: The International Year of the Potato

Just read a (rather wittily-named) Reuters article As Other Staples Soar, Potatoes Break New Ground, and it just happens to coincide with my planting of potatoes for the year (well, I'm going to this weekend).

The article basically talks about how since other commodities like wheat and corn are becoming too expensive for many consumers to buy, the potato can be the cheap (and more healthy and productive) alternative.

here's some more information:

The International Potato Center

A Swiss stamp commemorating the potato (PDF)