I think people seem to confuse organic agriculture (which is mostly  
industrial farming done differently) and a sustainable natural system  
of farming often referred to as permaculture these days.  Whatever  
organic was back in the 60s and 70s was transformed into a massively  
costly and fragile system that requires almost as much fossil fuel  
input (in some cases more) as standard commercial farming.  Organic  
free range chickens are still packed on top of each other, organic  
free range cattle are still kept on feed lots, and there are massive  
plots of monocrop greens and carrots and whatever.

As both a farmer and a beekeeper who practices both GMO market crop  
farming and sustainable produce farming I can say that I am not too  
sure if there is an answer to the problem.  The main problem is  
meeting a demand and greed both on the seller and the consumer.

Cheap food breeds a cheap food culture and it becomes a cycle.  I  
think the only way to exact a certain level of change is to change the  
pricing structure.  Make food cost more.  Eating habits will change.   
Demand will lessen, local farmers and region farmers will be better  
capable of meeting demands and what they are unable to produce for  
national larger farms will be able to meet the demand without having  
to rely on a ridiculously cheap foreign supplier of questionable  
quality.  I have no clue how you achieve this type of change except by  
educating people what is good and what isn't.  That is a tough thing  
to do, but possible, at least locally and on a small scale.

Organic these days simply means a tax you pay to enable you to place a  
label on a product to sell at a higher price.  That is TRULY what it  
is. There are changes, don't get me wrong, but it is by no means  
sustainable.

No different than honey really.  The demand for honey in this country  
means honey gets cheaper (even though we have seen a rise recently)  
because we beekeepers are get dumped on, when it should mean the  
opposite.  Organic honey for .89 cents a pound.  Utter rubbish and an  
insult if you ask me.  Their beekeepers should be making more and we  
should be competing fairly and at a fair price.   The cheaper it gets  
the higher the demand and the more crap comes in....the more fraud and  
the more hazards we see effecting our people.

Richard Stewart
Carriage House Farm
North Bend, Ohio

An Ohio Century Farm Est. 1855

(513) 967-1106
http://www.carriagehousefarmllc.com
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