Thursday, June 01, 2006
The San Francisco Chronicle reports on what it terms the “explosive” and ‘extraordinary” growth experienced by Earthbound Farms, which “started two decades ago as a three-acre roadside farm” 90 miles south of San Francisco and “has grown into the country's largest grower of organic produce, with more than 100 types of fruits and vegetables on 28,000 acres in the U.S. and abroad.
“Earthbound's extraordinary growth is only the most visible example of how organic farming is changing,” the Chronicle writes. “Small family farms created as an alternative to conventional agriculture are increasingly giving way to large-scale operations that harvest thousands of acres and market their produce nationwide. And with Wal-Mart, Safeway, Albertson's and other big supermarket chains expanding their organic offerings, the transformation may only be in its early stages.”
The big concern in some quarters is that what sometimes is called “Big Organic” is becoming increasingly industrialized, and that the shift will “lower food quality, weaken standards and hurt small family farms.
As organic goes mainstream, critics say, the movement loses touch with its roots as an eco-friendly system that offers a direct connection between consumers and the land where their food is grown.”Of course, the folks at Earthbound Farms and their brethren do not share these concerns, saying that they follow the same organic procedures as smaller farms, and that the greater availability of organic produce can only grow the category, not diminish it.
“Earthbound's extraordinary growth is only the most visible example of how organic farming is changing,” the Chronicle writes. “Small family farms created as an alternative to conventional agriculture are increasingly giving way to large-scale operations that harvest thousands of acres and market their produce nationwide. And with Wal-Mart, Safeway, Albertson's and other big supermarket chains expanding their organic offerings, the transformation may only be in its early stages.”
The big concern in some quarters is that what sometimes is called “Big Organic” is becoming increasingly industrialized, and that the shift will “lower food quality, weaken standards and hurt small family farms.
As organic goes mainstream, critics say, the movement loses touch with its roots as an eco-friendly system that offers a direct connection between consumers and the land where their food is grown.”Of course, the folks at Earthbound Farms and their brethren do not share these concerns, saying that they follow the same organic procedures as smaller farms, and that the greater availability of organic produce can only grow the category, not diminish it.
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