Politics, Religion, and Organic Farming (Part 1)

In addition to politics and religion, there is a new subject that is becoming very un-PC to discuss with strangers and friends alike. There are few subjects as polarizing within the modern discourse on how we should live our lives. Organic versus Conventional is the new Obama versus Romney.   

First debater for the conventional side is George Carlin, who said: don’t worry, the planet is fine -- it’s the humans who are in trouble:

“The planet will be here for a long, long, LONG time after we’re gone, and it will heal itself, it will cleanse itself, ’cause that’s what it does. It’s a self-correcting system. The air and the water will recover, the earth will be renewed. And if it’s true that plastic is not degradable, well, the planet will simply incorporate plastic into a new paradigm: the earth plus plastic.”

Carlin is obviously not a scientist, and his argument is flawed in a sense, but he has a point: maybe humans have a tendency to desire an outcome (saving the planet, in this case) without fully understanding why we want to save it, much less how to achieve this lofty goal. Of course, we have a strong innate desire to leave the world a better place for our children, and it is no question that using less fossil fuels and natural resources may help prolong the human race and potentially help us live happier, healthier lives. But the truth is, we are really only at the beginning of figuring out the questions, much less the answers. 

It is no doubt a beautiful thought to envision a world where organic farming (particularly the soil-nurturing, local, polyculture type glorified in The Omnivore’s Dilemma) completely replaces our energy-intensive, polluting industrial farms. Think of the purity, the community, the back-to-the-roots feeling of sustainable living that we conjure with this vision. It is not an unworthy one either, but like many visions of idealism, it does not necessarily have much in common with the current realities of how farming is done.

As Americans, we believe that optimism and idealism are all that are needed to make a grand idea work. But from experience, we know that it is not always that simple. These admirable traits mean nothing until tempered with hard work, strong and accurate reasoning, and somewhat realistic expectations. On this debate, even the most pro-organic admit that there are no easy answers, even to the most basic of questions:

What is the definition of “organic”? This difficult question looms at the foundation of the debate.  The regulatory requirements for “Certified Organic” do not really fit into what many feel is the nature and purpose of organic farming. And how we currently practice organic farming on the industrial scale is not necessarily sustainable or keeping to the true nature of organic farming. Should “Certified Organic” mangoes be considered a sustainable source of food if they are sold in an Indiana grocery store in January after being shipped from a heavily irrigated, Certified Organic, 10,000 acre orchard in the Brazilian foothills of the Amazon? And aren’t mangoes supposed to be wildcrafted in the first place?

Are small farms using sustainable practices considered organic? Many believe that something is wrong with the system when small polyculture farms growing food for local communities (which often define the meaning of sustainable) are not able to achieve organic certification. Many small organic farms are cooperating together and working on ways to self-police and self-certify through grassroots efforts. The local, sustainable farming movement is growing and so these could eventually supply a significant part of our food – at least for fresh, local produce available during the warm months of the year.

I’ll examine the other questions of this thorny debate in my second post tomorrow.