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Originally Posted by hippysandy  It's not surprising that the pesticide company would be the one to criticize the First Lady's organic garden. After all, it is the one to be affected by the rise in popularity of organic products. |
Well, yes and no, hippysandy.
For most people, those who shop in supermarkets and the like, it's the same company.
Agriculture is the most integrated and concentrated industry in America. We don't say "Monsanto" merely as a symbol. Between Monsanto, its partners, and its wholy owned subsidiaries and divisions, it really does control much of the world agriculture.
This includes organic divisions of its factory farms. And the thing to understand is that unlike the small, diverse farmers we like to think are supplying those organics you see in the market, they actually come from those factory farms.
Among other differeces between them and the small, diverse famer: the organic divisions of the factory farms use the same non-sustainable methods as they've always used. The practice mono-culture rather than diversity. The flood the land with chemicals (albeit, ones acceptible to the law). They use specialized equipment that rather than helping sustain the land continues their tradition of pillaging it. And they grow the same vegetable varieties (almost always hybrids), and treat them the same, and put them through the same food distribution system as their more conventional crops. Thus, other than price (which is artificial), the organic tomato you see in the supermarket is precisely the same as the conventional one you see in the next bin.
If you pick a tomato when it isn't ripe, hold it in cold storage, then gas it just before delivery so it develops color, it doesn't matter how it was grown. It will still be tasteless and all but nutrient free.
It isn't so much organics that concerns the agri-giants. After all, they wrote the rules, so "organic" means whatever they want it to. It's the sustainability message that has them scared. Just imagine if that caught on with the consuming public. Oh my God! People will be demanding chemcial free vegetables (and, more and more, protein animals), raised locally, using sustainable methods. And that would have a serious effect on their bottom line.