We point out
that we have used (and will use) the word system a
number of times. We bring this to the reader's attention
because it is critical to grasp the systematic chain
of events which transforms the planted seed into the food that
we place on our tables and which, hopefully,
nourishes our bodies
Okay, that being
said, brew a nice pot o' tea, pour yourself a cup, and bear
with the length of this! We have much ground to cover!
Questions to
Ponder
How long could
you live without food? How long could you live without your
Calvin Kleins and your BMW? Which is the necessity and which
is the luxury? How have priorities gone so awry that folks
will pay more to have luxuries produced than to have
necessities produced?
Do you grow any
of your own food? If you do, do you use any sort of chemicals
during the process? Do you believe that you are what you eat
(and what you think, for that matter- but that's a
whole 'nother subject)? Have you thought that chemically
produced food may be nutritionally inferior to organically
grown food, especially when you consider that chemically
treated soil is not a living organism and cannot possibly
interact with plants the way a living soil does? How long can
your body maintain vibrant health if you fuel it with
nutritionally deficient food containing small amounts of
poison?
Are you
concerned about the quality of your drinking water? Are you
aware that many sources of drinking water are becoming
critically polluted? How much will it cost to purify
it so that it will be safe to drink? How about the air that
you breathe? In the wake of the 1991 Sacramento River chemical
spill, is it becoming more apparent that the production,
transportation and use of farm chemicals is detrimental to
living beings, the water we drink and the air we breathe?
If you live
around an agricultural production area, do you consider that
your health might be affected by farm chemicals? Do you wonder
that farmers and farm workers health might be affected by farm
chemicals? Do you ever imagine what it would be like to be a
farm worker? What would it be like to work physically hard
under adverse conditions (dust, heat, chemicals) for minimum
wage, no medical insurance, no vacation pay, no sick pay and
no pension plan? Would you feel oppressed and exploited? Have
you ever considered the economic differences between a small
family farmer who pays the mortgage on the land he
"owns", and another farmer who leases five times the
amount of land for the same price as the first farmer's
mortgage, and the agribusiness that buys thousands of acres of
foreclosed land at a devalued price? Have you ever wondered
how those three might differ in the land stewardship values
they hold? Do you ever complain about chemicals in food, yet
fail to ask the produce manager in your local supermarket WHY
organically grown food is not for sale there? Hot on the heels
of that question, can you imagine what would happen if all you
shoppers sweetly and politely informed your grocers that you
would be shopping elsewhere until their market made
organically-grown food available for your family?
For
those of you who shop at big chains and purchase produce that
has been lab tested and labeled no detected residues,
we bring up the difference between the terms certified
organically grown and no detected residues.
We define the difference by quoting Bob Scowcroft, who at the
time was Executive Director of California Certified Organic
Farmers. This quote was excerpted from California Magazine,
June 1990, page 88: "Testing is only one block of the
whole system. It doesn't say anything about groundwater
poisoning, about the effects on farm workers, about the whole
way of farming. He's [Dr. Stanley Rhodes] marketing
tests; we're verifying a whole way of agriculture."
The June 1990 issue of California magazine was a
special issue which addressed "The Clean Food
Revolution". You would do well to obtain a copy and avail
yourself of the information it presents.
No Detected
Residues gives one the "assurance", by way of
lab testing, that the poisons applied to food dissipate or
degrade and are, therefore, harmless. One could ask questions
such as "harmless to eat, harmless to use on growing
crops, harmless to fieldworkers, nearby neighborhoods or the
environment at large"? The EPA establishes
"allowable amounts" for toxins in food. A lab test
is run to test for residues above a "limit
threshold". Only those chemicals that the farmer
says are applied to the crop are tested for residues. It is
not a blanket test to detect any and all chemicals that might
be found on that crop. Scarier yet, certain chemicals
defy detection- more sophisticated equipment is required to
detect them! So, a lab test can be run, residues there
may not be detected, yet food is apt to lableled no
detected residues!. The marketing hype does little to
improve soil, water or air quality. It is simply the empty
assurance that, after the farmer has used chemicals to produce
a crop, somehow, miraculously, there are no detectable
residues above a "an allowable government
threshold". We suspect that if tests were run to detect a
broad spectrum of chemical residues- not just those chemicals
the farmer says were applied- the no detected residues
story would read somewhat differently! We are not happy with
the explanations we have received regarding this matter and
have serious misgivings about the integrity of no detected
residues testing. Certified Organically Grown,
as Director Scowcroft points out, is about a whole way of
farming that embraces land stewardship and fecundity coupled
with the inherent rights of future generations.
Is it time for
another cup of tea? Maybe a cup of organically grown coffee?
We'll wait till you get back! Okay, Settled in and ready to
go? Read on!
Agricultural
Oppression and Exploitation
Will Allen
(organic farmer, activist, researcher and anthropologist) in
his still-soon-to-be-published "Cheap Food, Cheap Labor,
Lost Land" gleaned the following information from
available data on Farm Retail Price Spreads, 1921-1987
He writes: "A common index used to gauge farm-retail
price comparisons is the marketbasket of all foods. In the
first two decades of this century, farmers averaged a 45%
share of this marketbasket. For the depression years in the
1930's the farmer's share of the shelf price dropped to 32%.
Of course, for this time period a more interesting question
might be 32% of what, since prices were so low.
During and immediately after the Second World War, the
farmer's share of retail prices soared to the 50% range.
Recently, there has been a 12.3% drop in the farmer's share of
the retail price of all farm products from 37.2% in 1973 to
24.9% in 1987. It would appear that as farm products became
less directly consumed and more processed, the farmer received
a smaller portion of the shelf price."
As Will states,
we are a nation of eaters that gravitates to processed rather
than fresh foods. As small family farms share the marketplace
with agribusiness farms, the small farm struggles to survive.
Will points out another difference between agribusiness and
family farm: "Perhaps most lamentable from my point of
view as a farmer is that these monster farms do not
necessarily have to make money on what they grow. Since
these farms are all vertically integrated they are making most
of their money on post-harvest business. After all, 75.1% of
the shelf price of a marketbasket of food is due to
processing, shipping, canning, boxing, cooling, advertising,
marketing etc. this too has gotten dramatically worse for the
farmer in the last twenty years. As recently as 1973 the
percentage the consumer paid for these post harvest services
was 63.8%." (Farm Retail Price Spreads, 1921-1987)
Consider the
rate at which inflation has been rising and the rate at which
consumer dollars to the farmer have been decreasing. Consider
too, wage disparities between road/highway labor and farm
labor. These two sectors of labor share much in common, as
Will points out. They use much of the same equipment, are
subjected to many of the same environmental elements and job
tasks and have similar work related injuries. Again, Will has
done the research: "In the early 1920's agricultural
labor averaged $2.44 a day, while road and highway labor
received an average of $3.80 for a 10 hour day. So, farm labor
was valued at about 64% of road work pay (USDA ag stats 1935,
p. 396). From the most recent statistics available, the
average hourly wage for United States agricultural workers was
$4.72 an hour while highway workers averaged $12.32 an hour
(USDA ag stats, 1988, p 385). Why seventy years later, is farm
labor only valued at 38% of a highway worker's pay? Is food
worth 26% less than it was in the twenties?" Employee
benefits is another consideration: union highway workers enjoy
medical benefits, paid vacations, paid sick leave and pension
plans. Few family farmers can afford these employee benefits-
they are lucky to be able to afford medical insurance for
their own families. Even worse, the pension plan on
which most farmers depend is selling their land to developers!
In comparing the
family farm with the agribusiness farm, several differences
emerge: 1)family farms make their money on what they grow-
agribusiness farms make their money on post harvest handling,
2) family farms provide much of their own labor via family
members and hire supplementary and seasonal labor on an
as-needed-basis. agribusiness farms meet labor needs by
importing- sometimes literally, sometimes figuratively-
hundreds or thousands of workers via "labor camps"
or "pools". 3) The smaller the farm, the more
humanely laborers are treated. The relationship between farmer
and farm worker is related to the size of the farm. On large
farms the relationship between farmer and worker becomes as
impersonal as between CEO and line worker in a large
corporation.
"Hidden
Costs" of So-Called Cheap Food
We could label
this section "Eat Now- Pay Later" because
that is what you do when you support conventional agriculture
as opposed to supporting sustainable agriculture. Here are a
few reasons why:
A small flier published
by Pesticide Watch, 11965 Venice Boulevard #408, Los
Angeles CA 90066, (310) 391-8151 states: "on our
farms: 20,000 to 30,000 farmworkers are poisoned each year in
California. In our water: seven different pesticides,
including some of the most hazardous, have contaminated
groundwater in 28 counties across California. In our food:
thirty pesticides approved for use on food are known to cause
cancer."
On
the Eat Now- Pay Later plan we can buy food at
an "economical" price now. But how economical is it-
really? How economical will it be to clean up our
polluted environment? Who will pay for it? How economical will
it be to treat the cancers and health-related problems that
are the by-products of our present food production system? Who
will pay for that? We can kid ourselves by saying
that's what we have insurance for, but who pays for the
insurance coverage? And who pays for the fieldworker who has
no insurance coverage? We pay. It may be now -it may be later,
but we must pay. So the question then becomes, for what
do we wish to pay? Do we wish to pay more now and spend our
dollars for prevention or do we wish to pay more later
and spend our dollars for cure? The choice is ours. We must
remember: things of value are not attained cheaply or
easily.
Examination
of The Food Production System
Hopefully, much
of the foregoing has given you pause for thought. The most we
can do with this site is to present you with information, ask
you pertinent questions and hope that you will wrestle with
the issues. The food production system is just that: a system,
one that is very complex and interdependent. We cannot exist
without this planet, yet we diminish its biological diversity hourly.
We cannot exist without each other, yet we would put distance
between our farms, our cities, our businesses, our homes! In
so doing, we diminish our cultural diversity! We need to think
of ourselves as a richly and intricately interwoven tapestry.
We need farms and open spaces to interface with nature; we
need cities to interface with art, literature, education and
each other; we need businesses to supply our marketplaces; we
need our homes for the nurturing of our families. We are all
part of numerous systems and we need to examine our respective
places as working parts of a greater whole. We need to know
where our responsibilities lie and how we can better fulfill
them. We need to be conscientious producers and consumers who
work for the good of the whole not only for our
lifetime, but for the lifetimes of generations of our
descendants.
How
to be a Responsible and Empowered Consumer
Your first
responsibility and your greatest empowerment is the sure and
certain knowledge that YOU can make a difference.
Sometimes you will be obliged to take that on faith, but don't
let that slow you down or dampen your commitment!
Dan Millman illustrated
this concept perfectly. He and a companion were walking along
a beach when they came upon thousands of stranded starfish,
drying out and dying in the sand. His companion began to pick
up starfish, one by one, walk to the water's edge and return
them to the water. Dan writes: "completely
overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of the starfish, I said,
'Mama Chia, there are so many- how can you make any
difference?' She looked up at me for a moment as she lowered
another starfish into the sea. "It makes a difference to
this one,' she said." (from Sacred Journey of the
Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman. c. 1991 by Dan Millman.
Reprinted by permission of HJ Kramer Inc, P.O. Box 1082,
Tiburon CA 94920. All rights reserved.)
You must
realize that how you spend your food dollar- and for that
matter, how you spend any dollar- makes a difference
in quality of life to someone, somewhere up or down
the line! Maybe even all along the line! By buying organic
food, you help improve the quality of the farmworker's life,
the quality of the wholesale and retail food handler's lives,
the quality of YOUR life, and you preserve the quality and
integrity of the environment for future generations!
You there, you with the dollar in your hand, YOU determine
what, ultimately, will be for sale in the future!
The marketplace exists
to turn a profit. If no one buys a product, there is no
profit. If there is no profit, a business will not continue to
produce or offer that product for sale. Simple Economics.
However, one snag here is that very few fresh produce
departments in big grocery stores actually turn a profit!
Fresh produce is termed a "loss leader" in the
business. Most grocery stores make their profit on liquor,
drugs, processed foods and impulse items, NOT on fresh
produce. Recall Will's research? We gravitate to the packaged,
processed, carbonated and adulterated edibles as opposed to
the fresh.
Ok, what concrete things
can you as an empowered and responsible consumer do?
1) Start an organic garden- however small! Give
yourself a personal experience with food production. 2)
Subscribe to Organic Gardening magazine and learn as much as
you can about organic food production. 3) Go into your grocery
store and tell your produce manager that YOU have
made a commitment to purchase organically grown produce,
request that she/he begin stocking same or you will be forced
to shop somewhere that better meets your personal needs and
your social commitments- and back that up by taking your
business elsewhere until your request is honored! At some
point, your grocer will get the drift. He or she will get it a
lot sooner if you enlist the aid of your friends and neighbors
(possibly in the form of a letter signed by the group) and
make a polite yet firm request for "earth friendly -life
friendly" products. And when I say products, I mean products-
don't stop with organic produce! move on up to "earth
friendly- life friendly" cleaning supplies, wearing
apparel, paper products- get radical! If your local grocery
store cannot or will not comply, start shopping at a store
that is willing to make a commitment to ensure a better world
for future generations. 4) Write a letter to your favorite
commercial food processor. Tell them what a great company you
think they are, what a wonderful product you think they have.
Then explain your commitment to sustainable agriculture. Let
them know how much more you would admire them and
appreciate their product if they could incorporate organically
grown ingredients into their line. Suggest they request their present
commodity growers begin a transitional movement towards
organic. Have everyone on your block sign your letter. 5) Have
everyone who signed your letter write their favorite
food processor and then you sign their letter, along with
everyone else on the block, of course! 6) Repeat steps 4-5 by
writing letters to your legislators, expressing your concern
for the environment and the pollution that exists due to our
present farming practices. 7) Invite friends from another
block over for dinner and serve as many organically grown
things as possible and let them know what they are eating and
why you feel it is so important. 8) Throw an organic wine
tasting party. 9) Take organically grown dishes to pot-lucks
and let folks know it's organic origin. 10) Look at your
children. See their innocence and vulnerability. Make your
gift to them your efforts to ensure their right to thrive- not
merely exist- in a clean, whole and caring environment!
In Summation
There are so many
products produced organically that it is no longer a question
of "is it possible?". The question is like two sides
of the same coin: 1) how to motivate mainstream growers,
processors, grocers, restaurants, etc. to make the transition
to organically grown, and 2) how to balance our food
production system so that it is more equitable for field
workers, farmers, present and future consumers and the
environment.
For these things to
happen, 1) consumers need to create a demand for suppliers to
supply and 2)the true importance of farming as a profession or
craft needs to resurface. That's where all you folks who buy
groceries and eat food can be so darned important! There has
to be a grassroots demand to transition or the status quo will
never change.
Embrace your
responsibility; seize your power; step out in faith and KNOW
that one person, doing what he or she is able, can and will
make a difference!
We reiterate, things
of value are not attained cheaply or easily.
Thanks for bearing with
the length of this article. We hope it has been informative
and will provide fuel for the fires of your commitment!
