Organic versus GMO; An Alternative View

Organic foods are a hot issue.

I love feedback from my ideas. I welcome it. I adore it. On my own I know very little, through talking to other people I can learn a lot.

Today I will introduce some more details on my views on GM/Pesticides vs Local-Organic-Heirloom Crops. I will refer to them as "big-ag" and "little ag" practices owing to the David versus Goliath nature of the current paradigm even though I recognize that organic foods are big business and are not solely produced by small local co-ops. The following is a very brief description of what I see the differences between big ag and little ag models.

Big Ag Practices

• Pesticides and excessive fertilizers which lead to algal blooms
• Genetically Modified Seeds (bigger, faster, stonger but... see my previous entry)
• Whatever Monsanto sends in the mail
• Shipping across the world long before they are ripe
• Super cheap and available at the supermarket up the street
• Mostly lower nutritional content (picked off the vine green and ripens while shipping)

Little Ag Practices

• Creative Farming Techniques which reduce the need for pesticides and fertilizers
• Natural Genetic Variety (protection against pathogens, see potato famine)
• Heirloom seeds
• Shipping across the city or even being picked up from the farm
• Farmers market, Co-Op, or harvested in your own backyard
• Mostly higher nutritional content (picked off the vine ripe)

As the median real-income of the world grows we are going to see a burgeoning middle class which can afford higher quality of food. However, we can't feed all those people with little ag practices. We must blend the two models into something more... sustainable. Interestingly, its the people on the outsides of this middle class that are the major consumers of organic food because they are producing it within their community as they have for generations or because they can afford the better flavor and nutrition which local/organic produce provide.

Ironic isn't it?

There are plenty of people who opine about the terrible direction agriculture has taken and I think there is some value to that. For myself though, I am dubious about the added nutritional and health benefits of organic foods and have a problem paying a lot more for organic food at HEB. However, when I lived near the Wheatsville Co-Op, which sells organic food direct from local farms at a reasonable price, I went there as often as I could. This suggests to me that there is a sweet spot for little ag in our supermarket world we just need to explore different food delivery models.

Thanks for reading, I just wanted to point out that genetically modified foods and big ag aren't the answer to all our food problems.

Cutting US corn subsidies on the other hand...