Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>]

Very interesting points on this from several people. Here's the original
section that ran up red flags for me, and my comments on it below.

"... the main reasons for higher organic prices are structural and will
stick around for the long term or foment a huge ruckus when Wal-Mart
insists on diluting organic methods. ... But there's no excuse other than
yuppie snobbery for charging extra for plain organic potatoes, carrots,
spinach and breads, many non-organic customers complain.  Having long
suffered from this double standard on food prices, those who know and
respect what organic food is about are pretty defensive about its high
prices. In contrast with the artificially low price of synthetic or
industrialized food, the relatively high price of organics captures
something like the full cost and value of growing and marketing real food
that meets environmental and human health needs.

"But organic producers can't externalize costs without losing their way.
They can't dump manure from factory barns into rivers and then buy chemical
fertilizers; they have to compost manure and return it to the soil, which
is more expensive. They can't grow miles of one crop and spray with
chemicals; to discourage pests, they have to grow a wide range of crops,
which is more labour-intensive and expensive.

"They can't jam produce into a truck, then spray it with fungicides that
keep it from spoiling and gases that keep it from looking haggard;
post-harvest handling has to be quick, skilled and careful, which costs
money.

"The only way to mess with organic prices is to mess with organic rules,
already under constant pressure in the U.S., where the Department of
Agriculture controls the organic label and has allowed standards to erode
to the point where factory-style cow and livestock barns are setting the
norm."
---------

My thoughts on this hot NM afternoon waiting for rain (had less than 4" so
far all year):

I tend to agree with those who predict "organic" will get watered down more
and more, though big box stores will have a harder time with just in time
"organic inventory" and will bypass the little grower completely. 

Most big box stores will not support locally grown organics; for the most
part they'll sell packaged stuff trucked in from China, Mexico, or halfway
across this country.  For their fresh produce they can still truck it in
coolers from Arizona, Florida, or Imperial Valley, and it'll be hard to cut
prices on it because of transportation costs.  What China-Mart will do is
what they always do, force suppliers to cut their costs by buying in bulk
on contract, constantly threatening to desert them and go to their
competition. So called "organic" prices will go down some relative to other
foods. 

Let's keep in mind, they can still meet "organic" regulations with produce
that's bred for mechanical handling and shipping - tomatoes you can use for
baseballs, tasteless melons, and so on. Just withhold chemicals (allegedly)
and ship'em out. All organic, huh. 

That said, we local growers can survive and profit far more by playing to
their weaknesses. We already know reliable practices to cut costs and labor
dramatically that they can't make use of. We can grow tastier and more
nutritious produce, and sell locally without worrying about loss in
shipping and handling. And we have to do this. 

Besides families growing their own as they're able, we need a few million
growing to feed their local communities and doing it right to live on the
money they make from it. Not impractical at all. There's no other way for
what's coming. There's no other way for thousands of local communities
right now.