News flash!

[electricland]

Maybe it's me, but if I were a Canadian farmer, I'd feel pretty goddamm patronized by "joeyjb"'s comment at the bottom of this article: Organic farmers lagging behind demand at the supermarket: StatsCan

"FARMERS TAKE NOTE. People are willing to pay more for good healthy food," Joey informs us. Gosh, really? If you were a farmer, how would you respond? I favour:

"I already produce good healthy food, dumbass."

Or possibly: "Thank God we have you, JoeyJB! The damn trade associations like Canadian Organic Growers never share nuggets of wisdom like that one!"

And that's without getting into exactly how much of what you pay at the supermarket actually goes into farmers' pockets.

I think this may have caused a crucial circuit in my brain to blow, so what would you tell our buddy Joey?

Comments

[texaslawchick.livejournal.com]

We've looked into getting organic certification for the cows at the ranch, but it's almost impossible. The soil conditions on our particular property make it impossible to graze without using some fertilizer, which negates organic certification. But we don't use antibiotics or pesticides or hormones or anything else that's particularly un-environmentally friendly, and the cows are exclusively grass fed.

"Organic" in and of itself is just a label that suggests that a food product has met a certain check list. It doesn't suggest that other food isn't healthy nor does it suggest that the food with that label is particularly healthy.

[raithen.livejournal.com]

exactly.

Also, there is the fact that people will sometimes completely pass over locally grown, really healthy, fresh, and low-to-no pesticide/meds/etc food in favor of organic stuff shipped hundreds or thousands of miles. Which is troubling on all SORTS of levels, from global warming to pure taste to supporting local farmers.

*sigh*

[pretentiousgit.livejournal.com]

I'm reading the Omnivore's Dilemma right now and maybe never want to eat again.