Re: Demand for Organic Foods Soaring

[Guest guest]

According to the USDA, certified organic cropland in the United States grew nearly 75 percent between 1997 and 2001

A couple of years ago I was reading article in Time (or maybe Newsweek?) about farmers who are turning to organic. One man said every year when he sprayed the pesticides on his crops, his kids got really sick, and he finally decided he'd had it! He turned to organic farming practices because of what the crop dusting was doing to his family's health and this trend was growing by leaps and bounds. Where I live in eastern PA, organic food is very reasonable, especially in the summer. Initally this surprised me because this is PA Dutch meat, taters and bacon grease territory. However, there is a lot of competition between our numerous weekly farmer's markets and the grocery stores, so everyone lowers their prices trying to beat each other and the organic wave is beginning to hit. I can now get a 3 lb. bag of certified organic onions for $1.00, and a huge bunch of organic beets (with tops) for $1.29. Most organic greens like collards, kale and spinach go for $1.79-$1.99 a lb.. I think eventually this trend is going to spread across the country and everyone will be able to afford to eat organic. Years ago there is no way I could afford to eat this way as the prices were simply too high for my budget. I personally think it's great.

Gloria

[Guest guest]

I wish the trend would hit the midwest...

Suzi...isn't there a lot of farmland where you live? Are there farmer's markets? I wonder why trends like organic hit certain areas and not others, The people here certainly aren't on the cutting edge of progress but they LOVE their food. Last week I went to a huge outdoor market they have here every Wed. Now this struck me as humorous....a couple stands had organic mixed in with the regular produce and they really didn't seem to care about the difference. To them, lettuce was lettuce. I spotted the boxes labeled "organic" and the "certified organic" sticker on the cellophane. They were selling regular romaine as well as organic romaine lettuce 3 heads for $1.00. I guess to some of them, vegetables are vegetables ;-).

Gloria