permaculture

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lfl@intrex.net>]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [SANET-MG] Fwd: organic foods under attack
Date: Thu, 3 Nov 2005 18:04:46 -0600
From: richmo@INDY.NET
Reply-To: richmo@indy.net
To: SANET-MG@LISTS.IFAS.UFL.EDU

Joe,
It was not my intent to deflect attention away from the organic issue. 
However with that said, I would like to
relate some history of what happenned here in Indiana and much of the 
the midwest after the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990.  We had 
plenty of time to think about where we were going because it took so 
long for the bureaucracy (corp influence not withstanding) to promulgate 
the regs.  About 1997 it appeared that the USDA organic nonsense was 
inevitable. I was then the Director of the Indiana Chapter of the 
Organic Crop Improvement Association. Being small farmers, most of us 
agreed that it was hard to remember when the USDA had done anything 
positive for small farms.  Many of our people panicked because they were 
growing organic soybeans for export and they would have to be part of 
the system. Most of the real farmers who were not trying to grow beans 
for export ( people grew those dam beans just to capture the premium) 
realized that since USDA means government means corporate swinging gate 
that organic as we knew it would never be the same. We understood that 
we needed to grow something much different like " local food systems". 
We had very little experience in such an endeavor and understood that it 
would be much harder than growing the things we had been accustomed to 
like beef or tomatoes or carrots. We stopped promoting certified organic 
because certified organic does not mean sustainable or even 
environmentally compatible.  We knew how folks tweaked and pushed the 
system to call products organic when it still did not focus on healthy 
soil or nutrient density or healthy farms or healthy people. However and 
most of all OFPA did not care about making a living on a small farm or 
ensuring any aspect of quality of life or sustaining rural communities. 
We have a long way to grow and go but at least we are not contributing 
to or wasting energy on USDA organic and corporate global sharks. What a 
waste!!
Later

Rich Molini
Atlanta, Indiana
http://www.geocities.com/eiofarm/