Not only is corporate organic agriculture not socially sustainable, it isn't environmentally sustainable. Why have the U.S. federal regulations changed so much in recent years, allowing a far greater range of previously unacceptable additives? The motivation is economic. Why does huge agribusiness sell organic? The motivation is economic.

As the demand for organic has risen, there has been more money to be made from the label "organic." So, corporate agriculture lobbies for regulations that favor their own convenience and the exclusion of small farmers. Corporate farms take on the label "organic" and make it prohibitively expensive and complex for small farmers to maintain organic status no matter how they raise their crops.

Before you believe the label "organic," find out who makes the products you buy. Can you stand to support them? That is really the most important question.

• Before you look through the articles below questioning the status of organic within agribusiness, consider joining your local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) to boost your optimism about organics. Center for CSA Resources has a directory. Support a local farm by letting them grow clean food for you: http://www.csacenter.org/

• Who Owns Organic Brands? Start by taking a look at this chart showing the structure of Organic Industry Structure as of June 2007. It gets more complex every year. http://www.certifiedorganic.bc.ca/rcbtoa/services/corporate-ownership.html

• Safeguard Organic Standards Campaign of the Organic Consumers Association.http://www.organicconsumers.org/sos.cfm

• Carmelo Ruiz-Marrero, "Clouds on the Organic Horizon: Is organic farming becoming the victim of its own success?" November 25, 2004, CorpWatch.org. http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11712

• Steve Sprinkel and Mark Kastel, “The Corporate Attack on Organic Agriculture,” November 25, 2004, The Cornucopia Institute. http://www.organicconsumers.org/organic/corporate-attack.cfm

• Mark Kastel, “Corporate Ownership: Tracking the shifting sands of the organic industry,” Sept. 2004, Cooperative Grocer through Organic Consumers Association. http://www.organicconsumers.org/organic/takeovers091004.cfm

• Jason Mark, “Corporate Organic Quandary: Big Business Follows the Green,” August 24, 2004, Alternet. http://www.alternet.org/story/19645/

• "Mergers in the Food Industry: Who owns organic/natural foods companies?" last updated June 16, 2004, Organic Consumers Association. http://www.organicconsumers.org/Corp/mergers.cfm

• Who Owns Organic? The Global Status, Prospects, and Challenges of a Changing Organic Market. December 2003, Rural Advancement Foundation International USA (report in pdf format): http://www.rafiusa.org/pubs/OrganicReport.pdf

• Kit R. Roane, "Ripe for Abuse," 22 April 2002, U.S. News & World Report. Explores labor abuses on organic farms in the western U.S.--physical abuse, safety, harsh conditions, low wages. Shouldn't fair labor go together with organic as a socially and environmentally sustainable whole? http://ipm.osu.edu/trans/042_221.htm

• Michael Pollan, "Behind the Organic-Industrial Complex," 13 May 2001, New York Times Magazine. Is organic food better at any cost? This article marks the beginning of many consumers' questions. http://www.mindfully.org/Food/Organic-Industrial-Complex.htm

• The list, unfortunately, goes on and on. If you are interested in truly organic agriculture for your foods and fibers, consider joining the Organic Consumers Association, a nonprofit organization representing consumers rather than industry. http://www.organicconsumers.org

copyright © 2000 - 2007 Lori Taylor. Used by permission.