Food Co-ops & Whole Foods Grocers Choosing Micro Eco-Farms
Food co-ops have long been allies of sustainable farms. More and more are now choosing the local, small sustainable farms that go beyond organic. Here’s an excerpt from Weaver Street Market in North Carolina, courtesy of Ruffin Slater, General Manager.
Organic is becoming a commodity
Wal-Mart announced earlier this year that it would greatly expand its organic selections and offer rock-bottom prices--only 10% more than its already-cheap conventional food. Wal-Mart's entry into organic food signals that organic food has become a commodity. Like every other commodity, Wal-Mart's organic food will now come from wherever in the world it can be produced most cheaply, including China. As giant businesses like Wal-Mart enter the organic arena, we are already seeing lobbying pressures to dilute organic requirements, and attempts to circumvent the standards that do exist.
These changes to the organic food industry mean we risk losing important values traditionally associated with organic farming, such as improving the environment, keeping family farmers in business, and treating farm workers fairly. We also risk losing a labeling distinction that has helped us make meaningful choices on your behalf.
Our response: Authentic Food
Our response to this trend is to continue to emphasize products that meet a higher standard, those that we call 'authentic food'. Authentic food means organic products from small farms that embody the spirit of organic farming, rather than factory farms that do the minimum to get by. Authentic food means products from local producers who contribute to a sustainable food system, retain artisan production techniques, and allow family farmers to stay in business. Authentic food means Fair Trade—fair payment to farmers in the developing world who produce crops such as coffee and chocolate that can only be grown in warmer climates. Authentic food means products from our own kitchen and bakery, where we can control ingredients, quality, and freshness.
Our plan to bring you Authentic Food
1. Product sourcing for authentic food has become more complex. We can no longer rely on labels such as 'organic' to tell us how food is produced. We need to do our own investigation, get to know the producers, and visit their operation. We need to develop the capability to buy directly from small producers in economically viable quantities. We need to assist small producers to meet our needs for quality and consistency. In order to accomplish these things, we have hired a Head Merchandiser to lead our product-sourcing efforts, and we have rented a warehouse in Hillsborough to enable us to buy directly from small producers.—
Thank you, Weaver Street Market!
The Center for the Micro Eco-Farming Movement
