On Thu, 23 Feb 2006 09:08:27 -0500, Bill Truesdell <bhfarms@SUSCOM-
MAINE.NET> wrote:

>In essence, what you are saying is that all other honey, except organic,
>is suspect.

That's the last thing I mean to be saying, even if it is what my customers 
hear.  My biggest complaint with formal organic standards is that they 
become another least common denominator, in other words, that they 
turn "organic honey" into another commodity.  Instead of producers and 
customers together seeking the path of maximum integrity, a bunch of local 
producers are first disqualified and then it's back to a Walmart mentality 
of cost-cutting.  That's a perfect recipe for irresponsible production AND 
consumption.  

One way or another I think customers need to be put in a position where 
they can choose to support beekeepers that are enriching the community.  
There's a lot more to truth than what can be proved in a lab test.  I'm 
thinking big picture here: I value small, local producers because they make 
my community more vibrant, because they make the local economy more 
balanced and stable, because they decrease dependency on Chinese labor and 
Middle Eastern oil, because they provide opportunities for my children to 
make a living in the community, etc.  And because I'd rather trust my 
neighbor than some faceless market mechanism to provide a wholesome jar of 
honey.

As a consumer I want to know, for instance, if the jar of honey I buy is 
enriching my neighbor and my community or if it's (and this is all 
relative, it's all just shades of gray) enriching the stockholders of 
Monsanto and Exxon.  I completely agree that sin is universal.  Which means 
to me that there is no honey that isn't "suspect."  And that is all the 
more reason not to content ourselves with "organic" or any other minimum 
standard.  I want to empower the consumer to support what he believes in.  
And I want his beliefs to have a basis in genuine knowledge.  An educated, 
informed consumer might choose to support a beekeeper that is always trying 
to raise his standards.  Letting my "honey do the talking" really doesn't 
seem like enough.  My honey is like my fourteen month old daughter: it's 
very endearing, but it can't communicate a whole lot.

If I can teach my customer to appreciate the things I do to go beyond 
whatever minimum standards, then he might decide those things are worth 
supporting.  How else am I to make those extra steps from becoming a 
competitive disadvantage that undermines the viability of my business?

Perhaps just as important as communication is the face-to-face 
relationship.  Of course, I need to sell more honey to make a living than I 
can know faces, but much more than any legalistic standards, I value the 
accountability of a personal relationship.  I see the personal, face-to-
face relationship as a mighty enabler of quality and responsibility, and I 
see a lot of things in the "organic" standards working against that.

So my concern with the pushers of "organic" is the same as my concern with 
the skeptics of "organic": both seem to want content themselves with 
different minimum standards.  I don't want to accept any end to the 
potential for improvement.

Eric

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