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Chronological Thread  
  • From: "TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Organic Food Goes Mass Market
  • Date: Thu, 04 May 2006 10:05:34 -0600


For some time I've been warning that market growers and CSAs need to compete
with stores on price, and now they stand to lose out to the big guys. Below
article shows the threat. Too long, organic growers and CSAs have smugly
claimed their products ought to cost more, and besides they have to make a
profit. We do have to make money by marketing our work, but we have to cut
costs and labor.

I began our predecessor list Soilmakers on the conviction that healthy,
humus-intensive soil is the main key to profitable, local market growing with
less labor and lower input costs, including less land and water. Other
factors include season extension techniques, marketing direct to regular
customers, and selecting only varieties that work well in a particular
climate and market. I've also argued that sustainable market growing must
first of all sustain the farmer or family trying to stay in business and keep
their land.

The problem can only squeeze growers more viciously as fuel prices keep on
driving up the cost of doing business. Yet those who can make a living by
growing on small farms or plots without power machinery may well be the
survivors.

There's a wealth of knowledge and experience among those on this list, so
fire away. But keep this in mind: if this is not the key to growers'
survival, then what is? This will bring out denial in some quarters. But the
old adage applies: deal with reality, or reality will deal with you.

paul, tradingpost@riseup.net
---------------
The outstanding scientific discovery of the twentieth century is not
television, or radio, but rather the complexity of the land organism. Only
those who know the most about it can appreciate how little we know about it.
- Aldo Leopold in Round River, 1933
-------------

Organic Food Goes Mass Market
Supermarket Chains Launch Less-Expensive House Brands;
Blue-Chip Special--$1.79
May 4, 2006; Page D1
http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB114670795156643418.html#CHIP

It's getting cheaper to go organic.

In a bid to capture a slice of the fast-growing organic-foods market,
mainstream supermarket chains are rushing out their own store-brand lines
that can cost significantly less than comparable specialty brands often found
at health-food and gourmet stores. The pricing could remove a big barrier for
many Americans who have wanted to try organic rice, cookies or cans of soup
but have been put off by the prices. Though the store brands are less
expensive, the chains say they adhere to the same federal standards for what
constitutes organic as other brands.

(see link for whole article)







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