by Michael Greaney

Created on: January 06, 2009

Whenever I see a sign or advertisement about "organic food," my initial reaction is to ask (sometimes out loud), "What other kind is there?" I realize that there are certain inorganic elements essential to the human body and, ultimately, all organic matter is composed of inorganic elements, so the label "organic" turns out to be misleading and inaccurate.

Still, I understand that what less picky people mean by "organic" is produce and other foodstuffs raised in a manner that does not harm the environment or employ chemical fertilizers, and so on - which leads to endless discussion over what actually harms the environment, and to what degree some fertilizers are non-chemical in nature. My grandfather, for example, made a point of testing his soil and liming it or adding potash as necessary to adjust the acidity for his crop mixture, as well as adding manure. As a result, the other farmers in the area who did not take proper care of their soil later had to undertake expensive restoration programs after they exhausted their soil, while the fields on my grandfather's farm (now owned by others) are at least as productive as they have been for the past two centuries. Are such materials, used for millennia, "chemical"? Of course, but most farmers would also agree that they are "natural" and "organic." Hence the confusion over what is meant by the "organic" label.

The other common stipulation is that, to be truly consistent with an environmentally safe approach to food production, it should be locally grown. This, too, presents serious problems. The definition of "local" can be as vague as the label "organic." Some otherwise thoughtful individuals claim that "local" means only what you yourself have produced on your own plot of land (shades of the old BBC television comedy, "Good Neighbours"!). Others include only what is produced within a certain number of miles from where you live.

The most consistent definition of "local" (and, unfortunately, the least wise) is, in my opinion, whatever you and your family produce on your own land using your own resources. Anything else becomes, in the end, completely arbitrary - e.g., how many miles from home is "local"? Who is my "neighbour"? The problem is that, carried to its logical conclusion - subsistence farming - there is insufficient arable land in the world to support earth's population, and anything less than a system-wide reliance on organic and locally-produced food is self-defeating and a delusion, as opponents of the

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>