Organic Food Production, in Practice, May Just Be an Ideal

January 4th, 2012

FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda

COMMENTARY | Food is a touchy subject for many Americans.

Whether it’s about how Congress ruled last November to classify pizza and ketchup as vegetables in school cafeterias, or how some restaurant chains have mandated that the nutrition information for all of their food items must be listed in menus or on the ordering boards, it’s easy to see how the topic of food has maintained a constant struggle. That struggle has been between those who believe it’s the government’s job to have a hand in what Americans eat and those who feel it is their own right to choose what they will and won’t eat, no matter the health value.

The latest concern, though, is not about one entity’s role in determining what people should eat. Instead, it’s about the prospect of allowing people to continue eating a certain way, with government and restaurants obliging the accommodations.

Many Americans are at least familiar with certified organic alternatives to normal grocery store fare, and more and more are embracing the organic lifestyle. That’s all well and good – even admirable, in my opinion. That is, until you realize just how sustainable that way of food production is in today’s overwhelmingly mass-produced society.

A Dec. 30 New York Times article cautioned that the exponential growth in popularity of organic food, combined with its commercialization, threatens its very existence. The ideal of food that is free from pesticides and chemicals and locally produced is becoming little more than that, just an ideal.

Americans want organics year-round, which complicates the local aspect. As a result, much of the organic produce sold in the U.S. during the colder months actually comes from Central and South America, where farmers and U.S. Department of Agriculture officials are constantly haggling about regulations, such as how to avoid aquifer depletion and how to redefine the specific conditions organics may be cultivated.

Buying organic has tended to promote healthy and sustainable ideals in Americans’ minds. But the irony in so many taking on these ideals is that the supply can’t match the demand – at least not locally, and not year-round.

I fear the prospect of total outsourcing, as companies whose current U.S. operations become too small to produce the quantity of food to satisfy their consumer base and must move to Central and South America full-time. The outsourcing would be out of necessity, to ensure that companies had product, but a major problem would be a loss to the original organic ideal. And with the pressure to many food companies to carry organic products of their own, regulation may soon be watered down to accommodate the booming market.

While Americans will continue to be split on whether U.S. government mandates on food are beneficial, perhaps they need to first recognize how their own roles in fueling the problem in the first place.