You may believe in the ideal that organic produce is locally grown in an environmentally sustainable way, but Elisabeth Rosenthal of The New York Times reports that much of America's organic produce is imported from Mexico and Central America where crops are increasingly raised through methods that can damage water tables, empty wells and put produce into an energy-intensive global supply chain.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has a long list of requirements that farms must follow to label produce as organic. The use of fertilizer, pesticides and hormones is prohibited, but there are no environmental sustainability guidelines. Experts say organic farms are less ecologically harmful than conventional farms, but sustainable-agriculture scientist Michael Bomford of Kentucky State University told Rosenthal organic agriculture is not always sustainable, as it was in the past. He notes such farming has stressed California aquifers in the same ways as those in Mexico.
Rules may soon change, because "Organic standard setters are beginning to refine their criteria so that organic products better match their natural ideals," Rosenthal reports. This includes requiring use of renewable energy for buildings and allowing milk cows to graze instead of confining them to feedlots. However, she says each narrowing of "organic" leads to a political tug-of-war between farmers, food producers, supermarkets and environmentalists. (Read more)
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has a long list of requirements that farms must follow to label produce as organic. The use of fertilizer, pesticides and hormones is prohibited, but there are no environmental sustainability guidelines. Experts say organic farms are less ecologically harmful than conventional farms, but sustainable-agriculture scientist Michael Bomford of Kentucky State University told Rosenthal organic agriculture is not always sustainable, as it was in the past. He notes such farming has stressed California aquifers in the same ways as those in Mexico.
Rules may soon change, because "Organic standard setters are beginning to refine their criteria so that organic products better match their natural ideals," Rosenthal reports. This includes requiring use of renewable energy for buildings and allowing milk cows to graze instead of confining them to feedlots. However, she says each narrowing of "organic" leads to a political tug-of-war between farmers, food producers, supermarkets and environmentalists. (Read more)
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