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  • From: Clansgian AT wmconnect.com
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Homestead] The King Saul Effect
  • Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2006 11:12:02 EDT



Rob:
> All that said IMO when WalMart and Monsanto decide what can have the
> "organic" label it won't be organic anymore.
>

I can't help but think along these same lines. Some time back on some list
or the other, I commented on the likes of Melissa's Farms, which boasts
30,000
acres of organic produce, are only "organic" [wink, nod, nudge] by a very
curious definition of the word. I pointed out that in my very modest holding
growing food for a family of six and a few neighbors now and again, I had
mounds
and heaps of compost piles, most of the them 'in situ' now of days with the
result that as much as a quarter of the total garden space is "fallow" with
3'
high compost piles. For a 30K acre farm, where's the compost piles?
Someone
had answered in the tone that suffers fools that such a large farm couldn't
be
bothered with trifles like compost piles, they sheet composted the fields
direcly.

Do tell. I most earnestly doubt it. An inch of compost (the minimum) for
30,000 acres would be like moving in another county's topsoil for that one
farm
between every crop. Fact no dout is that by 'organic' they mean they only
use pruchased fertilizer from a specific list and use pesticides from a
specific
list. What *used to* be meant by 'organic' was growing vegetables out of
humus and decaying organic matter. The idea of organic fertilizer used to
directly feed plants was oxymoronic.

No doubt that with WalMart making some sort of stab at retailing organic
produce some good will come of it: perhaps less overall pesticide use,
perhaps
less chemicals in storing and processing.

But make no mistake, when Monsanto (and ilk) get into supplying "organic"
[nudge, nod, wink] fertilizers and "organic" pesticides so that agribusiness
can
supply WalMart with "organic" food, the tail will vigorously wag the dog.
Whatever Monsanto sells, whatever agribusiness produces, whatever WalMart
sells,
THAT will be the definition of organic.

Remember that the Israelites insisted on having a king in spite of Samuel
warning them that they didn't really want one. Like that the small barefoot
hippie farms that pushed and scrambled for years for a national organic
standard
have their own King Saul now.

Did you happen to see the excellent Pixar flick "The Incredibles"? As the
villian, Syndrome, muttered as he was about to mass market super powers, "Now
everyone will be Super. And when everyone is Super, no one will be!"

Soon all food will be organic. Which is to say, no food will be organic.




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