Newsweek says Organics are OVER

[underpants]

PROJECT GREEN
Natural Response
As prices of organic foods rise, plain old fruits and vegetables suddenly look better.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/135377>1=43001

With food prices rising, the bloom is going off organics. The healthy-food craze mushroomed this decade, growing 150 percent since 2001 to reach $19 billion in sales last year. Driven by a rising demand for food free of pesticides and growth hormones, organics went mainstream, moving from tony Whole Foods to the produce aisle at Wal-Mart. But now with gas near $4 a gallon, the $7 gallon of organic milk doesn't look as good. (A gallon of conventional milk at Kroger will run you as little as $2.99.) In a new survey from WSL Strategic Retail, only 27 percent of shoppers thought organics were worth the money—even though most agreed they are healthier. After years of 20 percent annual sales growth, consumers are curtailing their consumption of organics, according to market researcher the Hartman Group. "Organic strawberries looked nice in February," says Nancy Massotto, who runs a "green parenting" network in Caldwell, N.J. "But I'm not paying $6 for a pint when I'm paying $4 a gallon for gas."

Organic foods face the same pressures that have driven up the cost of plain old white bread 16.3 percent this year. Energy and commodity prices, along with corn farmers' gold rush into ethanol (feeding our tanks instead of our tummies), are sending the grocery bill skyward. Organics' growth and premium prices once persuaded farmers to go through the costly three-year process to cleanse their fields of chemicals to become USDA-certified as a green grower. But now with corn, grain and soybeans at record prices, the financial incentive is to grow conventionally. The rising price of organic grain is making it tough to feed all those free-range chickens and synthetic-hormone-free cows. Some organic farmers in the Northeast are even converting back to chemically enhanced crops to boost the bottom line. Fewer organic farmers means higher prices and less variety on greengrocers' shelves. "Organics is becoming the private school of food," says Ken Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group, which tracks organic-food production. "It's great if you can afford it. But pricing it out of people's reach is not a strategy for expansion."

Some true believers in natural living are adjusting by simply eating less. New Hampshire karate instructor Mark Dana has cut out fruit for breakfast and grass-fed beef (which has jumped from $6 to more than $8 a pound), and serves himself smaller portions. "The cost of feeding myself processed foods is far greater than the cost of organic foods," he says. The problem is that hard-core devotees like Dana represent only one out of five organics shoppers, according to the Hartman Group. Most are more price-sensitive. Darlene Sall suffered sticker shock on her first visit to a Whole Foods near Chicago last week. "Wow, that milk is a lot," she said, eyeing a $5.99 gallon. "That's more than I'll pay." It's a response that seems increasingly natural in the organic aisle.

[graywarrior]

1. Hell, organics and non-organics cost about the same right now!

[underpants]

3. No no no

can't be these real smart media people says otherwise!!!

[graywarrior]

10. They eat shit, what do they know?

[El Pinko]

84. I buy fresh fruits and veg as much as I can afford, as healthy as I can afford...

...I avoid processed foods/junk foods like the plague, but my budget simply will not accomodate regular purchases of organic foods.

And I really resent the implication that my family and I are ignorant and "eat shit" just because we can't afford to do all our shopping at Whole Foods.

[truedelphi]

28. Yes and no. Org Milk is way

More expensive than Clover (a local CA brand)

And Clover is almost organically run - so I guess that I'm not buying organic milk until I win the lottery.

But in the summer, org tomatoes at Safeway and reg tomatoes are the same price. Sometimes Organics are cheaper.

I quit buying organic produce at Whole Foods because people in produce wore perfume or fabric softener, tons and tons of the stuff. when I brought the expensive goods home, I could taste the chems from the human handlers.

[peacetalksforall]

42. I buy little there for other reasons. There deli and poultry people have

a real attitude - haughty and evasive. All other employees are fine - that is probably only at the one I go to. I also resent that they are morphing to shelves full of stuff they make. Pretty soon they will not be called a store, they will be a 365 outlet.

[LisaM]

59. Haughty and evasive - LOL, have you been shopping at the Roosevelt Whole Foods

in Seattle?

Actually, they're not all that way, but the bulk of them are. I don't know if they think they're all that because they work there, or if they just haven't been trained on customer service, or what. It may partially be because they seem to train them sort of specifically. I'll ask someone in one aisle about a product that's not there, and they'll have to go find another employee to locate something two aisles away. And I went in recently specifically to get two things, one being pre-made hamburgers. I looked in the self-service, not there. Tried the meat counter. They sent me to the meals-to-go section. She said she was out and couldn't make any more that day. I know it seems like a little thing, but I'd had a long day and just didn't want to make my own hamburgers (plus mine are sloppy; I like the machine ones). Basically, either they had a policy that precluded her from walking over to the meat counter, getting some hamburger and making me two patties, or she was refusing to do it.

A few weeks ago, we were there, and I'd gotten a container of hot soup to go. The employee picked it up by the lid and it spilled all over the scanner and her scales. She wiped it up, and I went (not one of them, mind you) back and got more soup and darned if she didn't pick it up the same way the second time! (At least that time it didn't spill). My boyfriend said that the next time he went, they were still doing it.

[Occulus]

97. Lack of training.

This is everywhere, from the grocery store to the post office, and speaks directly to the greeds- not the needs- of the employer. Training takes time and money, and following training, the employee gains a bit of dignity by feeling that they know what they're doing. Temps cannot possess dignity, because then they'll want higher pay, benefits, and union membership.

Case in point: postal casuals.

Postal casuals (I work for USPS, I'm about to hotly disparage postal managers' conduct and decisions, and no, postal managers are not "The United States Postal Service" (that's a message for any postal managers trolling who might think I'm disparaging the USPS) are not adequately trained for the job. How do I know this? Because I know that postal casuals are simply "shown around" and then "trained" on the job by postal regulars (or other casuals!!) who aren't, well, trained to train other employees. I've seen it happen with my own eyes.

When I was hired in, PEDC (the in-house Postal Employee Development Center) put me in class for something like three or four days learning detailed information about every machine in my section before I ever set foot on the floor. I was taught and tested on the differences between classes of mail, handling procedures, safety protocols, and so forth. Not so for casuals. They are almost literally thrown on the workfloor, to sink or swim almost on their own.

Additionally, postal casuals, unlike myself as a full time regular employee, receive no health benefits, sick leave, vacation time, or union membership (including the right to ask to see a union steward), work six days a week with a single day off that constantly shifts, may be worked up to fourteen hours a day on a whim, at will, without warning, get paid about half what I do for the exact same job, and can be fired for any reason at all. They are treated, by comparison to me and other full time employees, like the dirt under your feet.

How many people know of full-time nonmanagement jobs in the service sector that have the job benefits and perks I do? Job security? Union membership? But those things come with a modicum of dignity on the job that makes employees "uppity". Employers, in a bad economy, have a field day, because people will take what they can get, and trade off things that they see as "perks". They're demoralized, exhausted, and beaten before they even walk in the door. Service employers love that, because it keeps the employees "in line".

Never mind that well-paid, well-trained employees who are educated about their jobs increase customer loyalty and satisfaction; they would have to be paid better for those things because, well, the employees would be better employees. We need a "flexible workforce" in order to compete. :puke:

Bitter? Who, me? :sarcasm:

[roscoeroscoe]

82. organic-er than thou.

but hey, TRADER JOE'S!!!!!!!!!!!!

take that, whole foods. :)

[latebloomer]

47. Whole Foods pisses me off

even though there's one a few blocks away and we shop there a lot. They are SUCH a ripoff.

This weekend I bought some "brownie bites' at Kings'- another pricey store in our town- for an event my daughter was attending, I realized I didn't have enough and ran over to WF for another box. The exact same box of brownies, from the same manufacturer, was a full dollar more!

I wish there was a Trader Joe's nearby-- they have a lot of organics and are much more reasonable.

[NashVegas]

69. Depends On Where You're Buying

I've noticed at my (conventional) super-markets and Whole Foods, Organic Valley's price for a half-gallon has jumped from about $3.60 to $4.25-$4.75. But the smaller natural foods stores have it for well under $4, still.

[trotsky]

91. That's exactly what I thought.

The land that grows organic isn't in competition to be land that grows plants for ethanol. I haven't really seen the prices of the organics I buy go up much at all. The conventional stuff, is a totally different story.

[SpiralHawk]

2. If you want clean food, then...

either grow it yourself or join a CSA.

The industrial ag system that gives us industrial food is a staggering giant, grievously wounded by its own pollution, mutation, and death-grip dependence on petroleum for everything.

Despite Newsweek's premature obit, sustainable systems will find a way to sustain themselves -- no matter what happens to the industrial economy and industrial--petro-genetic mutant, chemicalized food-facsimile production.

About CSAs - Community Supported Farms

"Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) offers a way for every human being to be directly involved in the care and healing of the earth, while also ensuring a supply of clean, healthy food for their families and their neighbors."

http://www.chiron-communications.com/farms.html

[underpants]

5. Exactly

Since the rains are abiding a bit here I am digging up the garden this week.

We tried to join a couple of CSA's this time last year.... they were all sold out. Hmmmmm :think:

[flashl]

11. You beat me to introducing CSA. nt

[devilgrrl]

4. I thought "plain old fruits and vegatables" were organic by default

:crazy:

[underpants]

6. No don't you know that *wink**wink* some of the organic growers are *wink* cheating a bit

they really were never into it that much you know *wink*

:sarcasm:

[nashville_brook]

7. totally!

sheesh.

[tblue]

9. Nope. Yer eatin' lotsa nasty chemicals & crap.

This is so sad. I'm glad my hubby's into veggie gardening.

[devilgrrl]

14. Yeah, well most people don't throw chemicals and crap into their vegetable gardens...

at least not the people I know.

[gateley]

32. The 'biggies' do --

Sunkist, etc.

[devilgrrl]

36. Oh, I'm sure.

nt

[Hekate]

8. With food prices rising, some organics' prices are on par with non-organic counterparts....

I'm just sayin'. I'm actually looking at the organic produce where I shop and saying "Why not?"

I'm really grateful to not be buying for a whole family right now. It's just Mr. H and myself, and he's not retired yet.

Hekate

[LisaM]

12. I did join a CSA, and did it for a few years with two other people at work

I was very disappointed. I don't know who their market was, but at the end of a long work day or week, the last thing I need to do is go home and figure what I'm going to make with their weird food (purple potatoes, anyone?)

About half of the food went to waste, because it was too challenging for everyday use. Lots of strange greens, lots of purple potatoes, kale, etc. Very little in the way of staple vegetables and fruits. Even their apples were odd.

I'm not saying that there weren't things there I'd have tried if I had lots of time to invest in prep and reading recipes. But I don't have time. And we did this through our work, so the CSA knew it was going to working people.

It got so the dreaded "bag of mixed greens" at the end might as well have been a hot potato. No one wanted it. When there was something normal that we all wanted to cook with, we fought over it!

I felt bad because I wanted to support the CSA, but it gave me no control over my menus and I threw a lot of stuff out.

[underpants]

16. I am sure that that has been the experience for many people

not most but some or many

Thanks for offering us a real experience. Seriously.

[LisaM]

27. It was really too bad

The food that I used was really good. But I don't get home till almost 7:00 most nights, and just didn't want to be that challenged by the ingredients they gave me. If I got home at 4:00 and had a big kitchen and all the time and space in the world - it would have been different. I truly supported the concept, which is why I stuck with it as many years as I did.

[latebloomer]

51. We had a similar experience

with a so-called "food coop"-- actually a privately owned business where you have to take turns bagging the goods. You couldn't choose what you wanted and got stuck with stuff you'd never buy. In some ways it was cool because you tried different things and recipes were included for the weirder produce. But a lot of the preparation was very time-consuming. And we too wound up throwing stuff out.

So when Whole Foods came to town we quit the coop. It's madly expensive, though. I bought 3 shares of their stock so as not to feel so ripped off! Hasn't been doing that well.

[jeanruss]

55. organic food preparation

It took me about 2 years to completely get into the organic food shopping and prep, and now I wouldn't eat any other way. As it is healthier to eat fruits and vegetables uncooked, dinner prep is very fast for us. Ever since we made the switch 6 years ago, we are never sick. We never get colds, flu and the myriad other illnesses that most Americans are being medicated. Using food as your medicine seems to be really true for our family. We also use non-toxic cleaners and only purchase sustainable products. I know that people complain that it is expensive, but I always counter that with the fact that it is SOOOO much more expensive to be sick. Also, organic products are sometimes more expensive, but we are buying so much less now of everything, that we have MORE money now than before. I think it is healthy to simplify and go for quality instead of cheesy quantity.

[jeanruss]

56. organic food preparation

It took me about 2 years to completely get into the organic food shopping and prep, and now I wouldn't eat any other way. As it is healthier to eat fruits and vegetables uncooked, dinner prep is very fast for us. Ever since we made the switch 6 years ago, we are never sick. We never get colds, flu and the myriad other illnesses that most Americans are being medicated. Using food as your medicine seems to be really true for our family. We also use non-toxic cleaners and only purchase sustainable products. I know that people complain that it is expensive, but I always counter that with the fact that it is SOOOO much more expensive to be sick. Also, organic products are sometimes more expensive, but we are buying so much less now of everything, that we have MORE money now than before. I think it is healthy to simplify and go for quality instead of cheesy quantity.

[fed-up]

85. "greens" are very tasty if in season-just steam them eat plain or add to soups, stir-fries, stews

My BF is an organic mostly "greens" farmer and we met when another friend suggested I get my greens from him as they were the best in town. I had tried at the local store and it was out of season and very bitter.

My BF stops harvesting for a few weeks in winter and then again in late August when the high heat here turns the greens bitter. I eat his greens-kale, chard, spinach and/or salad almost every night of the week.

They provide the enzymes that were lacking in my diet when I was very sick with food allergies

My great aunt grew all her veggies and ate chard and kale almost daily-she lived to be 96!

They require almost no work besides washing/steaming


and purple potatoes-just cook same as regular


this year BF will be planting half an acre of yams-another easy cook vegetable


the internet is a great resource for new recipes if you end up with vegetables you are not familiar with...

[leftchick]

13. my organic milk has not gone up

yet

[tridim]

33. Can't do organic milk, it smells and tastes like poop to me

But I think that has more to do with the pasteurization process than the product.

[kwyjibo]

57. That's strange. I think organic milk is delicious... so much better than conventional.

[blondie58]

96. yeah, organic milk doesn't taste any different to me

and I worry about the long term affects of me or my daughter ingesting the antibiotics that are given to the cows. It is not that much pricier than non organic here in CO.

[RebelOne]

92. Drink soy milk. It tastes great and is healthier.

[riverdeep]

15. Fertilizers are sustained by petroleum.

Eventually, the industrial monoculture farms will collapse. There will be fits and starts, like an old jalopy. But eventually, organic will be the new 'normal'.

Notice that part of what is driving up the prices of soy, corn and grains are futures trading and subsidies. Once again, let's go for short term profit instead of restructuring the way we grow food and distribute food.

[endarkenment]

17. The last time we had out of control inflation

we at least had wages that more or less kept up with prices. The difference this time is that the fucknutz are managing to keep wages suppressed while inflating the cost of commodities. That said, I'll eat local and eat organic whenever I have a choice, and in the long run local and organic produce will remain competitive on both quality and price.

[anniebelle]

18. Organic is better and more affordable than ever in our area.

We are so lucky here in Chattanooga to have Greenlife Grocer, which has expanded twice since we moved here 6 years ago. Also if you have a Seventh Day Adventist Community in your area, their markets also have a nice selection of anything organic. I'm finding more and more choices, but only because I started really looking for 'safe' food.

[mike_c]

19. "The healthy-food craze...."

'K. The author pretty much lost me right there-- I mean, I don't make any special effort to buy certified organic foods most of the time, but to even hint that eating healthy foods is some sort of fad and that we'll all get over it in the end is a bit too much, IMO. Like, wow, I'm glad that's over so now I can go back to eating crap that'll make me sick! What a relief!

:crazy:

[XemaSab]

37. You hippie

Why do you hate industrial society? :eyes:

Dude, I am reading this website. I bought some pepper plants from them at last week's farmer's market, and there was this really cute guy there. I had the opportunity to bust out my favorite pick-up line:

"Did you go to Humboldt?"

Their website is... interesting. If you have some time you should check it out.

http://www.shambhala-shasta.org/

And not to go totally off topic, but farmers markets are a great place to go get organic, local veggies.

[mike_c]

44. I only go there to meet women....

:rofl:

True story-- well, it was truly told to me, I wasn't there for the actual event, which might be an Arcata urban legend, but the folks who told me were the ones it supposedly happened to. Anyway, they (a man and a woman) where walking down the street in Arcata carrying groceries from Safeway when one of the usual plazoids spare-changed them. They said, no, they didn't have any spare change but they'd just bought groceries and would be happy to share some food. The homeless dude scopes the Safeway bag, looks dubious-- this was a homeless plaza dweller, mind you-- and asks "I dunno, is it organic?" They said they weren't certain that it was and he declined the offer of free vittles.

BTW, did you see that we've had two bomb threats already today? It's the first day of exams. :rofl:

[XemaSab]

45. Did you hear this from Elias?

'Cause he's the one who told it to me. :P

AND it wasn't Safeway, it was the Co-Op. :P

Yeah, I just saw the website... did they ever catch the guy who tried to blow up the Mormons back in '99? :shrug:

[mike_c]

48. not that I'm aware of...

...but I honestly don't know. Jeeze, that was almost 10 years ago?!

Billy Ellis told me that story-- I guess it's part of the Arcata landscape now and gets renewed every couple of years.

[XemaSab]

54. Might have happened again to Elias about 5 years ago

If you don't know Elias, you should. He's one of the few genuinely decent folks around there. :thumbsup:

[NashVegas]

71. Great Catch

[gollygee]

20. I wonder whose influence is behind that article

What advertiser suggested an article about the supposed demise of organic foods?

[Warpy]

21. As the news about how the FDA has been gutted

by this administration gets out, organically grown food is starting to look a lot better, not worse, especially with so much produce coming from offshore.

The only question is what needs to be organically grown, and what can be trusted in the supermarket with a good washing and thorough cooking.

Generally speaking, cruciferous veggies (cabbage, broccoli, et al) don't suffer from overapplication of pesticides, while fruits like apples and pears and salad veggies are loaded with pesticides.

I have a sneaking suspicion that people who turn away from organic foods in the health food store this summer will be eating out of their GARDENS, not out of the supermarket the way Newsweek is crowing.

[XemaSab]

38. Seriously... after all the poison food coming from China

it's time to take a sober look at organic, local foods.

What's worse, paying a dollar more, or dying from some horrific poison or bacteria? :shrug:

[Stinky The Clown]

22. Health Food Craze = Retailers Price Gouging for Shit Produced to **WEAKENED** USDA Regs

As soon as Bushie-Boy got the USDA to change the definition of "organic" to be favorable to agribidniss and not humans, our local Safeway (no doubt in line with corporate guidelines) replaced as much normal produce as they could with 'Organic" ..... and in some cases the prices doubled.

Fuck them. The food was sitting there rotting. The lady who is in charge of the produce section told me they were throwing away a lot more produce than before the "Organic Craze".

Meanwhile, our local Pan Asian soopermarket is doing a kick ass business with ten times the selection at half the price. The only downside is freshness. Some of their stuff has alarmingly short shelf life.

[BurtWorm]

23. That food dude whose name I forget (well-informed and informative, aren't I?)

says organic food would be a lot cheaper if it was subsidized as heavily as ultra-refined food. And we'd be a healthier society as well.

Great to have media that do the corporations' work for them, isn't it? Always ready to encourage Americans to be lazy-assed cheapskates when it comes to the important things in life, like food!

[SoCalDem]

26. Small organic farmers do not buy TV ads or glitzy magazine ads

There was a PBS sepcial a while back about a small town in the northeast somewhere who BOUGHT shares of a local farmer's farm, so he would not have to start selling parts of it off to developers..

the town actually has meeting with him regarding what they would like for him to grow... they volunteer at harvest & planting, and everyone in the town loves the process..and the farmer is making money too :)

[Retrograde]

72. Nor do they buy members of Congress

Agribusiness has a lot of money to spend on lobbyists to make sure those farm subsidies keep coming, not to mention campaign contributions. And, surprise, just look at who profits from things like ethanol initiatives.

I was grumbling about the high prices at the farmers' market last weekend. Then I went and looked at the prices for similar items when I went grocery shopping today: the market is still cheaper.

[SoCalDem]

75. and when you pay for the food, the money goes to

the people who tended it, planted it and picked it

[XemaSab]

39. Michael Pollan?

He's my baby-daddy. :D

[BurtWorm]

43. That's the food dude!

[killbotfactory]

24. Organic foods don't use petroleum based products for fertalizer or pesticide

And they are usually grown locally so there is less transportation cost.

If they are more expensive now, that won't last very long with the rise of oil prices.

[XemaSab]

25. Who the hell buys strawberries in February?

:shrug:

If you're sucker enough to do that, you SHOULD pay 6 bucks a pint.

Meanwhile, at the local farmer's market last week, they were going for 2 bucks a basket.... :shrug:

[glowing]

30. In Florida that's strawberry season...

[XemaSab]

40. She's rockin' out in New Jersey

:shrug:

[glowing]

99. Then, she should expect to pay for Cali or Florida berries.

[underpants]

31. LOL

good point

Notice how it is all or nothing and you simply MUST buy from Whole Foods... :eyes:

BTW- if they are doing so poorly they probably wouldn't be opening a store here in Richmond in two months or so

[NashVegas]

73. I Loath Whole Foods With the Fire of a Thousand Suns

The best thing about their entrance to the Nashville market is there are now more small green-grocers taking advantage of disgruntled, ex-Wild Oats-ex-Sunshine Grocery customers.

[MercutioATC]

29. Depending on the state, "certified organic" isn't "certified organic" anyway...

I'm in Ohio. My parents have always been '60's hippie throwbacks. New age philosophies, organic foods, meditation...you name it.

They have a "certified organic" farm that actually is organic. Raised beds and a lot of tilling for weed control...poo for fertilizer.

However, the certifying official is more interested in getting the required fee than verifying anything. He looks at the land, takes their word that they don't use chemicals, and once he's collected the money, he certifies them. No soil tests.


In some states, at least, "organic" is a scam. We need a national standard that truthfully reflects what true organic is, and we need to only certify farms that meet the standard.

[Tumbulu]

83. The USDA introduced and implemented a National Organic Standard years ago

It is usually called the NOP. There is a little symbol and everything.

It has made the paperwork aspect of certification really infuriating, IMO.

[demnan]

34. Organic Foods taste better

Even the apples I bought last week for just 50 cents more per pound were twice as tasty as ordinary grocery store apples.

If people want hormones in their milk, they can go ahead. Where I shop it doesn't cost that much more than regular and usually the date is later so I actually get to drink it before it goes bad.

[nashville_brook]

46. organic milk last a hell of a lot longer -- tastes better too!

non-organic fruit isn't a bargain if it's awful.

fruit is something i always try to buy organic. organic berries, bananas and apples aren't even in the same league as non-organic.

[devilgrrl]

35. I bet Monsanto is funding this article

:popcorn:

[XemaSab]

41. In cooperation with Dow and ADM

:eyes:

[coriolis]

49. "organic"...bah. ALL food is organic. A scam that sucks in a LOT of people.

:eyes:
(yeah, yeah...fertilizer, insecticide, hormones, bla bla bla...I've heard it all)

[endarkenment]

52. yeah why worry about what you put into your body?

[coriolis]

63. More to the point why do YOU worry about what I put into my body?

This seems like a perfect candidate subject for "mind your own fucking business"

[endarkenment]

65. I don't.

What makes you think I do? I haven't worried about how you are stuffing your gob with crap once in my entire life. If you want to eat crap go right ahead. Does it taste good?

If you insist on publicly displaying your total ignorance on a subject, I might comment on that. If you don't like having your idiocy commented on, I suggest not displaying it in public.

[coriolis]

76. Okay fine, not you personally. The thing is, I really don't need a bunch of do-gooders telling me

let alone insisting, what I should be eating. It's like smoking Nazis on steroids.

[endarkenment]

88. Nobody was insisting you do anything.

Rather you just blithely asserted that those of us who try to eat healthy and local are delusional.

[Richard Steele]

58. Yeah, science is HARD. Easier to just believe what makes you feel good. nm

[coriolis]

64. I can't help wondering how you know what makes me feel good.

:eyes:

[Richard Steele]

70. Ruh-roh, raggy:

[mainegreen]

50. Organic or not, the cost is dependant on the cost of producing it.

Organic can be cheaper or more expensive depending on what you are growing, what the season is, how it was grown (there is no one organic farming method). Plus the word 'Organic' itself is contentious. I eat food I consider organic that the government doesn't, and there is food labeled organic meeting gov't standards that I would never consider organic.

This article is cherry picked and serves an agenda.

[depakid]

53. GE/Newsweek has about as much credibility as Fox

Haven't picked up one of their sorry tabloids in years....

Life's too short to go around misinformed.

[nam78_two]

78. My sentiments exactly.nt

[JackRiddler]

60. The reasoning here is pure sophistry

Where's the cumulative treatment? Oh, never mind, we're going to go with anecdotes and quotes from lone consumers.

These little stories seem to be saying -- the article elides saying it outright -- not that organics are rising in price, but that gasoline is. Because gas is more expensive, people have less cash in their pockets. They are forced to buy cheaper food.

But wait, higher oil price = higher prices of standard foods, which are on oil-based fertilizer, pesticides and transport across continents.

Never mind that! Does not compute for Newsweek. Some people have no cash in their pockets and are therefore no longer buying organic.

Golly, what a happy circumstance! Maybe they'll start eating dogfood so they can keep their tank full.

[underpants]

89. a great analysis

thanks Jack :hi:

[JackRiddler]

95. blush

thank you...

[bananas]

61. Where does it say "Organics are OVER" ?

I couldn't find it anywhere in the article.

[underpants]

90. This is the gist of the article

at least to my reading

[ElsewheresDaughter]

62. get radical and grown your own food!

[Wcross]

66. But food comes from grocery stores, doesn't it?

:sarcasm:

[and-justice-for-all]

67. It is organic is you grow your own...nt

[KamaAina]

68. KamaAina says Newsweak is OVER

a slightly higher grade of cat box liner than most daily papers, is all. :P

[scarletlib]

74. This doesn't make sense to me.

Organic foods are grown without the use of petroleum based fertilizers etc. So the only energy costs should be the field equipment and transportation to market. Regular foods using petrochemical fertilizers will have those same costs plus the costs of the fertilizers as well. Seems like regular food would start to come up in costs nearer to organic when you factor in the increased cost of the petrochemical fertilizers which organics do not have.

(Of course food from all sources is seeing rising prices due to increased transportation costs. I will still buy local/organic whenever possible.)

[L0oniX]

77. Monsanto wins uhm ...bad mojo

This is more about Monsanto's oppressive and aggressive pursuit of anyone who produces their own seeds from generation to generation. Monsanto is trying to quash all other seed producers so they can force all to purchase from them including those in the poorest of countries. They are now using patent laws to stop everyone they can especially when cross pollination occurs. Once cross pollination accidentally occurs they file a lawsuit against the farmer for patent infringement.

[AZBlue]

79. Some organic food is still affordable, but fruits and veges are outrageous.

I've had to pretty much stop buying them, which really bothers me. But, I can't afford a $4 head of lettuce.

[Indenturedebtor]

80. I used to be all gungho for organics until

Until someone I think here on DU pointed out the plain truth that growing things organically uses more land which destroys more habitat etc. I don't know what the answer is, but organics might not be it.

[goforit]

81. Disagree......Organics will lower prices to survive.

[Indenturedebtor]

86. Only if we grow them on the same amount of land somehow

Please refute that. I really do want to know the answer.

[Raksha]

87. I'm on a fixed income, but still determined to buy locally-grown food,

and organic whenever possible. No way can I afford to shop at Whole Foods. I solved the problem by joining an organic produce-buying co-op, which I found by following up a link here on DU.

$20 a share (plus $1.00 for administrative costs), and on Saturday I came home with two shopping bags full of fruits and veggies that would probably cost twice that much at Whole Foods. It's still an effort for me since I don't have a car, which means I have to take my little shopping cart on the bus to schlep the stuff home, but it's still worth it. The strawberries and the huge Maui onion I brought home were harvested that morning.

Sometimes (with milk, for example) I have to pass up the organic kind because I simply can't afford it, but there is still a lot you can do just by cutting out the middleman.

[xchrom]

93. setting aside the organic argument -- but fixing my eye on price increases period --

what i believe to be true is this --

we're not experiencing inflation -- we are experiencing a very real price adjustment upwards that has been kept low for a very long time.

we've trained the american consumer to shop for the cheapest price -- with all sorts of products racing for the bottom of the price barrel -- food included.

but it wasn't sustainable -- and now we are beginning to experience something like the real cost of things.

and this article is underscoring that.

[LanternWaste]

94. I think I'll wait a little while more before I issue a verdict.

Organics are over. God is dead. Dewey defeats Truman... et. al.

I think I'll wait a little while more before I issue a verdict.

[hunter]

98. Yeah, right...

:eyes:

Next thing you know the factory food producers will start suing people for growing and eating organic food, especially organic food that costs less than the genetically modified stuff they grow in a toxic petrochemical soup.

They've already made some moves in that direction.

I think in the ideal world of the agricultural industry giants the Federal Government would be able to auction off patents for basic foodstuffs, much as they auction off the radio spectrum. Some big corporation would own the right to produce carrots, for example, another the right to produce eggs. The food police would be able to shut down anyone who grew these foods without a license.

That's how our free market works, isn't it?