Organic, Inc.: Natural Foods and How They Grew by Samuel Fromartz
]Samuel Fromartz is a business writer who has written for Fortune, Business Week, and Inc. who found himself shopping at a local farmer’s market and Whole Foods. So he decided to find out about the organics industry. This is the story of how organic food went from smelly hippies to a multi-billion dollar industry, and it’s fascinating.
The first two catalysts for the industry were spring mix (from the company that eventually became Earthbound) and soy milk (from the original makers of Silk). But far more interesting that the case studies are the philosophical wars waged between those who believe organic food should be small and local, and those who believe that the methods are not bound by size and a “mega-farm” can adhere to organic methods thereby spreading the benefits of organic food to as wide an audience as possible.
I am firmly on the side of the latter. There’s no doubt that local is better, or if not better, certainly fresher, and that’s a good thing. But the fact that I live in a land frozen half the year shouldn’t mean that I have to sacrifice my health because nothing can grow between November and May. The zealots seem to be saying that in order to reap the benefits of organic food I have to move to California or Arizona or something. Sorry. Ain’t gonna happen.
I found an example of this attitude I found locally in an organic lamb farm. Their website says that they don’t ship because “we believe you should buy local, within 100 miles. We can help you find someone local.” Now, if you don’t want to ship, that’s fine. It’s a hassle and it’s expensive. But I can tell you that there is nothing closer (other than, obviously, a large market like Whole Foods). So the inference here is that because I live in a large city, trying to life the car-free lifestyle, I have no right to better food without either buy or renting a car to visit her precious farm. And what of the other hundreds of thousands of people here stuck with public transit. Fast food for you. Tough.
But enough of my rant. Back to the book. There are fascinating tales of the fights to define exactly what “organic” means. People may remember the recent USDA attempts at (re-) defining what organic means and whether the application of sewerage sludge on fields would be allowed. (Lobbyists for mega-food got that inserted into the language, but the USDA was forced to remove it by public pressure.) Then other, less obvious issues arise. A common practice in grain farming is to flood grain storage bins with carbon dioxide to limit pest infestation. CO2 leaves not harmful (other than, obviously, suffocation if you’re stuck in the bin) and leaves no residue on the food. Should this be allowed? If so, what about other less innocuous things that might be used in processing? The description of how non-organic soy oil is processed pretty much convinces me to not eat non-organic soy oil. I always assumed soy oil was extracted the same way as olive oil or even apple cider or grape juice. The fruit or beans are chopped up really small, then squeezed. But what happens is the beans are soaked in a petroleum solvent called “hexane” which leaches the oil out of the beans, then the hexane is allowed to evaporate (the residue is used for animal feed or the production of TSP). Ew!
Anyway, it’s fascinating read from both a food and business point of view.
