The Natural Organic Farmers Assoc. of New York (NOFA-NY) had organized this Transitions conference to introduce conventional farmers to ideas to reduce their use of chemicals, not to become completely organic, but to save money and reduce risks. The topic wasn't the only first; it was also the first time NOFA-NY co-sponsored an event with Cooperative Extension and Geneva Experiment Station. Only 200 were anticipated, but already 300 farmers packed the room.

The conference arose from Dave Stern's experience as Chair of NOFA-NY's Organic Certification Board. I began NOFA-NY's certification program in 1983 with eight farms; Dave became Chair of the Standards Board in 1985, and by 1988 the program grew to 37 certified farms. Dozens of farmers called or visited Dave to discuss their concerns about chemicals. Most knew little about modern organic farming, and needed reliable information.

Dave recalls, "I got letters and calls about certification, but mostly people who knew I wasn't using chemicals came by the farm. They were very frank about—why they were thinking to get off chemicals. Their concerns were the same—over 60% were farms that weren't making money. The 40% were either new at farming, or had philosophical or other reason to change. Some it was health—you know, family were sick, or they felt they were polluting their land and water."

The trickle to Dave Stern's farm grew to a steady stream. Scott Smith, now Chair of NOFA-NY's Standards Board, reports 66 farms were certified in 1989, and applications are already in from over 100 for 1990. Now, in mid-February, the curious flooded a conference hall.

NOFA-NY President Mike Kane wound up his welcome as I strolled to the front and left my recorder on the stage. Standing to the side, I studied the faces which filled the hall to capacity. I recognized organic farmers I'd met with for seven years, but they were lost in a sea of newcomers. These were farmers' faces, not urbanites or office workers, with leathery, wrinkled skin wired to thick, strong hands that worked daily with soil, weather and machinery. They spent their life in partnership with Nature, watching green plants push out of soil. They listened' close to everything said with quiet, deliberate intensity—they weren't here to be entertained.

I peered into their faces to sense why they were here. Few came for philosophic principles and ecologic vision such as sustained my own activism through the last decade. From the look in their eyes, I knew most came for money. Farm chemical costs, like oil prices, had- risen in that same decade; bag fertilizer was no longer cheap. But no eye gleamed with notions "organic" is a new, high-priced commodity; we all knew in farming, organic or otherwise, no one gets rich quick.

A few eyes seemed tired of constant risk from acutely toxic chemicals, even angry that economics and science conspired to force a Devil's deal on them. They all knew agricultural chemicals do far worse than make you sick; many create cancerous chaos in cells, or shatter the genes of offspring. But few eyes shone with a clear vision of clean water, healthy soils and biological quality; these eyes seldom look past fence lines and bank statements.

TRANSITION TECHNOLOGY

What they heard was nothing new, but as ancient as agriculture itself, for the elements of good farming are ages old. Organic isn't invention or innovation—it's not even new. . At the turn of the century organic was the only system of farming; full-scale use of chemicals began only 40 years ago. Speakers reiterated timeless practices of crop rotation, cultivation, intercrops, diversified stands, nurse crops, cover crops, trap crops, and nutrient cycles. There were digressions into machine age techno-jargon—custom spreaders, costs-benefits, cultivators, and spray rigs—but most talk was of practices that were traditions long before machines and chemicals.

Growing food organically isn't easy. It challenges the profits and innovativeness of any farmer. Organic farming requires 50% more management, and a great deal more labor, especially for weeding. The risk is higher without sure-cure, quick fix chemical remedies for bugs, disease and nutrients. Conversion from chemical farming usually takes a few years; during this time farm income may be lower. Organic farming demands of farmers deeper understandings of the interactions of soil, crops, insects, and disease.

Crop rotation, a perfect example, is growing crops in different fields each year, never growing the same or a related crop in the same field in successive years. Crop rotation means variety, and variety gives stability to biological systems. Early Romans, Greeks before them, and even more ancient Chinese were well acquainted with crop rotation.

"Rotation" identifies Nature's circular design where all things continually move in endless orderly cycles. In a field, nutrients don't stay in one place, but constantly move: in summer nitrogen accumulates above ground in green leaves, flowers and fruit; in winter nitrogen returns to soil as microbes, roots and rot. Nitrogen never really goes anywhere, but tirelessly shifts about in plants and soil. In nature it's less important to "get anywhere" than to simply sustain the ceaseless dance of cycles and seasons.

In contrast, the market is linear. Straight lines of crops lead to commodity lines on conveyor belts to checkout lines of rectilinear boxes and UPC bars. Of course, the bottom line is cash flow in ledgers. The line ends when food is consumed; there's no tomorrow, just a sensational sale now, at a current price. The contrary worlds of farming and marketing—of nature and commerce—have long been round peg and square hole. Today, bag fertilizer allows farmers to grow crops year-after-year in the same field.

In his new book The New Organic Grower, Eliot Coleman reveals Universal Principles: Basic Laws of Crop Rotation: "Crop rotation, the single most important practice, offers many benefits. Each crop takes different nutrients from soil; each responds to different fertilizer. Each affects succeeding crops and is affected by preceding ones. Since the current crop can benefit a future crop, there is reason for rotation."

"Rotations improve insect and disease control by spacing susceptible crops at intervals to hinder buildup of specific pest organisms. Rotations effect weed control in a similar way. For example, buckwheat grows thick and quick to choke out weeds, while rye's numerous fine roots exude substances to inhibit other roots."

"Rotations encourage the best use of soil amendments, improve soil structure and make nutrients more available. Some plants more effectively extract nutrients from soil; their residues make nutrients available to later plants in rotation. For example, deep rooted plants bring nutrients up from subsoil, then make them available to shallow rooters in successive years. Squash undersown with legume green manure is a beneficial preceding crop."

Farmers love to grow things, so morning and early afternoon were devoted to production. Time and again I've seen farmers talk until midnight about seeds, varieties, cultivation, bug control, fertilizer, yield, and vigor. By then everyone's too tired to talk about marketing, so the meeting adjourned. As Gene Logsdon wrote in Whole Earth Review in Spring 88, "Farming demands the highest intelligence and stubbornest spirit in the face of adversity. Only love of nature, love of nurturing, and love of the land can bring the right kind of intelligence and stubbornness. But no love, intelligence or stubbornness will help unless you find a market."

TERROR IN THE MARKETPLACE

An afternoon panel on Marketing included a solitary representative from NYS Dept. of Ag & Markets. The Dept. was asked to help organize the event, but agreed only to send this lone speaker. From the floor a farmer questioned the Dept.'s position on organic certification and labeling. After hesitation, the spokesman offered an apologetic, "I know of no organic food or sustainable farm policy in the Dept." He was right—there's none, nor will there be without concerted public pressure.

As I left Transitions snow had ceased and sun shone, but cold wind swirled the new flakes. All day I sensed a restlessness in the audience—as if farmers had come looking for quick fix formulas that don't tax their profits or thinking, like terminal cancer patients in the office of an unorthodox therapist. Months later, Dave Stern reflected, "I felt people at Transitions were looking for fixes for individual problems, and speakers didn't provide that. I'm not sure what farmers in transition are looking for can ever happen in a workshop. The biggest thing we must change is the farmer's mind, and we're not reaching that."

Yet, in the next month, three remarkable things happened:

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) published a report Intolerable Risk: Pesticides in Our Children's Food that documented the vulnerability of children to pesticide residues on fresh produce. NRDC estimated one in 4000 U.S. children will develop cancer from consuming Alar in apple products. CBS TV's 60 Minutes devoted 20 minutes to the NRDC report, focusing on Alar. It seemed that Sunday the whole nation listened.

Two weeks later, actress Meryl Streep, in a personal campaign against Alar, mobilized America's housewives by telling them on TV's Donahue Show to buy organic food. Consumer Reports found Alar in 75% of apple juice samples purchased in NY. Calls flooded every organic producer, and a rush of organic food sales quickly depleted end-of-winter inventories.

March 16 a National Conference on Sustainable/Organic Ag Policy was held in Washington, DC. Opening speaker Senator Patrick Leahy, Ag Committee Chair, told a SRO crowd: "1989 is the Year of Sustainable Agriculture." The organic chicken returned to roost in DC. Cosponsored by Agriculture Department's in Texas, Vermont, North Dakota, and Minnesota, this landmark meeting featured government speakers from Mass., Iowa, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Oregon, and California, but there was nary an observer from NY's Ag & Markets. The many New Yorkers there were dazzled after NY's political poverty; we returned with new vision.

Suddenly consumers had a new awareness of food safety. They questioned farming methods and discovered food grown without pesticides and hazardous chemicals. Market impact was immediate and dramatic; organic sales jumped 30-50% and stayed up. After years of hearing consumers wouldn't pay for organic food, the opposite was now true. Demand was so strong a major organic supplier sold a six month inventory of organic apple juice in three weeks! Earth's Best, an organic baby food producer in Middlebury, VT, had a six-fold sales increase in March and April.

Suddenly a tiny, almost sacred, ideal was mainstream market material. But the situation's disproportion left many of us alarmed: only 1 % of U.S. farms are organic, yet 4 of 5 Americans would buy organic food, and near a majority would pay more for it. Less than 30% know "organic" means grown without synthetic chemicals, and nearly 25% believe "organic" means residue-free. This gap between supply and demand—consumer awareness versus practical, legal fact—is an abyss which may swallow us all.

Yet, light began to dawn in the U.S. food system. What it revealed wasn't pretty. Small may not always be beautiful, but greed is always ugly.

No light fell in Albany, NY, where Cuomo appointed his third Ag Commissioner in six years.

POLITICS IN TRANSITION

It surprises folks to learn farming is NY's largest industry, but each year consumers spend $16 billion on food. NY farms heavily specialize in one product: milk. With $2.9 billion in annual sales, dairy dominates NY farming, accounting for 56% of 1988 farm receipts.

And NY dairy business is in trouble. Dick MacGuire, Cuomo's third Ag Commissioner, knows how bad business is—he got out of it himself just a few years ago.

When Cuomo took office in 1982 he retired Roger Barber, who ruled Ag & Markets through almost two decades under Nelson Rockefeller. New Commissioner Joseph Gerace, a County Executive from a vineyard and farm region in western NY, made dramatic changes to restructure a Dept. sunk on its regulatory posterior.

The new Governor commissioned two studies of NY food industry. An Ag 2000 study collected comments at 15 conferences held across NYS, while Arthur D. Little Consultants prepared a private report. Both studies agreed: make NY farming "market-driven." As Bob Lewis, Director of Ag & Markets' Direct Marketing Office, put it: "Farmers always go to consumers saying, 'I grow these products—buy them.' They must learn to say, 'Consumer, what do you need? Let me grow it for you.''' Market orientation called for Ag & Markets to get active in marketing and promotion to develop NY agriculture and food industry.

One change was an Organic Food Advisory Committee. In 1976 NY's Legislature passed, without Ag & Markets support, a bill to set up a Dept. committee of seven members: the Commissioner, two organic farmers, two organic food processors, and two consumers. Seven years later, when I began NOFA-NY, I learned of the bill and lobbied to form this forgotten committee. In 1983, at its first meeting, I was there as consumer representative.

Commissioner Gerace apologized for "inexcusable delay" to form the committee and promised steady support. To represent him, he chose Pat Reilly, Director of Ag & Markets' NYC Office, and Bob Lewis, Director of Direct Marketing, also in NYC; both knew food from a consumer's view. After five meetings the Committee began to discuss an Organic Food Label Law to recognize existing organic definitions and standards in NY.

Then crisis swept America's farms. NY's conservative dairymen fared better than Midwest and Southeast farmers, but financial pressures yielded increasing farm foreclosures. A political showdown between Gerace and farmers over NYC milk licenses developed. Gerace insisted NYC milk markets should be open, and opposed vested interests which kept NJ and Pennsylvania milk out of the Big Apple. In the end, muscle power won, Gerace lost and resigned.

Next, Cuomo tapped Donald Butcher, President of Morrisville Ag & Tech College, who coordinated the Ag 2000 study. But political heat and greener pastures gave him a short tenure in Albany—by the end of 1988 he was in DC, a well-paid lobbyist for agribusiness.

In another political showdown that year safe food and pesticide wary consumers lost. NYS passed a law requiring 24 hour notification by pesticide applicators, including farmers. NY Farm Bureau challenged this law in court, and it was declared to overextend the authority of NY's Environmental Conservation Dept.

So Mario had to reach again deep into his barrel of monkeys to find a new Commissioner. He turned to the farmers who'd given him so much trouble and tapped Dick MacGuire, a third generation farmer, for 14 years President of NY Farm Bureau, NY's largest and most conservative farm group. For the first time in decades NY had a farmer in this top job. MacGuire's term as President of NY Farm Bureau assured him intimate connections to dairy industry and agribusiness. It seemed Gerace's efforts to make NY farming respond to the market was about to unravel.

In the confusion of crisis and commissioners, the Organic Food Advisory Committee was forgotten and didn't meet for two years. Organic farmers watched the procession of power, wondering what the new Commissioner's attitude would be toward organic food, sustainable farming, pesticide regulation, and markets. It didn't take long to find out.

CONFUSION OVER SAFE FOOD

Ag & Markets prints a Journal of NYS Food and Agriculture. The March-April '89 issue featured the new Commissioner's installation, where he said among his greatest priorities is "creation of a new Division of Natural Resources to deal with increasingly difficult questions concerning the environment which affect both agriculture and consumer."

Page five's article For a Safer Food Supply quoted Dr. Elmer George, Director of the Food Lab, "Basically we have a pretty safe food supply. In a typical month, 1012% of 2,400 samples may be in violation." Apparently the Dept. felt the heat from the market. Did they really believe pesticide wary consumers were reassured that only "10- 12% may be in violation?"

The next article, headlined IPM Promises Safer Food Supply, opened with stunning statements: "Is there a ray of hope for consumers confused by specters of pesticides fouling their food supply? Do we have to hand agricultural products over to bugs and fungi to have healthy environment? Or do we have to move to "organic" products whose natural pesticide may be more dangerous than those made by man?"

The Journal's solitary use of "organic" in quotes suggests the word is quarantined in Dept. rhetoric. It completely perverts organic principles: safe food grown without toxic chemicals; in court it would be challenged as misrepresentation. Organic farmers saw it as another insult from the Dept. To call consumers fed up with unsafe food "confused" not only insulted them, but was ignorant of genuine cases of EDB grains, aldicarb watermelons and water tables, and clustered birth defect among farmworkers. It shows as little intelligence as Reagan's comment "Trees cause pollution."

Page eight headlined An Apple a Day is Still a Safe Bet. MacGuire was quoted: "NY is the second largest apple producing state in the U.S. We have broad statutory responsibility to maintain safe and clean food supply in NY. We are committed to protect NY consumers in keeping with Ag & Markets Laws which assign broad responsibility to protect the food chain."

Skilled government watchers saw through this PR as obvious "spin control"—empty promises, false assurances and excuses for inaction. We awaited the Commissioner's own comments on organic food and sustainable farming.

TURNING BACK THE CLOCK

At an April farm meeting MacGuire said he'd "meet soon with those people who want to turn the clock back 100 years on farming." On the morning of May 8 he met with NOFA-NY's leaders. "Isn't this a Health Dept. concern?" was his best comment. The Commissioner had a 1950s view of our 1990s eco-crisis.

That afternoon at our first Advisory Committee meeting in two years heard NY's Chief of Inspection say, "Organic doesn't mean anything." I countered, "Several court decisions set judicial definitions of organic, 16 state statutes define organic, 40 U.S. certification programs have organic definitions, the 1990 U.S. Farm Bill tells the USDA to define organic, and three bills in NY's Legislature will define organic. It may be convenient right now to say 'organic doesn't mean anything,' but in two years it'll be painful not to have a definition for this phenomenon in the market." Our Committee passed several resolutions of advice for the new Commissioner.

Three days later, a front page article in The Wall Street Journal headlined: Back to the Future: A Movement to Farm Without Chemicals Makes Surprising Gains. Obviously the author hadn't spoken to NY's Dept of Ag & Markets, where organic farming was a joke at best, a nuisance at worst.

At a second Committee meeting on June 12 the Commissioner's spokesman said "for his Dept. to endorse organic food would raise public alarm about the quality of food they now consume." I replied, "Aren't we talking about the Emperor's new clothes? A Lou Harris poll in November—before Alar—found 84% of Americans would buy organic food, if they could get it, and 49% would pay more for organic food, if they could get it. Yet NY's Ag Commissioner won't even recognize that organic food exists." Our Committee unanimously passed seven more resolutions.

That night I wrote Cuomo a second letter which ended, "This year Iowa will consider legislation to place a $1 per pound tax on Atrazine, the #1 persistent pesticide appearing in public wells throughout the state; Atrazine only costs $1 per pound. Iowa already taxes fertilizers and pesticide containers to raise $4 million to fund sustainable farming. Iowa is but one of several farm states to get serious about reducing farm chemicals which have contaminated public water supplies. Will NY learn from these states? Or must we wait for crisis before our government acts to protect groundwater, assure safe food supply and encourage sensible, sustainable farming?"

DRINK YOUR BST, JOHNNY

The Governor sent my letter to the Commissioner. On July 11 MacGuire wrote me: "...except a single statute, New York hasn't adopted specific legislation governing production and sale of organically-produced farm products. Until such legislation is enacted and funded, it is impossible for this Department to address stated concerns."

That week I saw MacGuire on local news promoting Bovine Somatotrophin (BST), a synthetic hormone which boosts milk production 10-25% per cow. President Bush declares War on Drugs and the National Football League requires drug-free athletes, yet NY's Ag Commissioner sanctions drug-induced supercows. BST isn't even approved yet, but several large grocery chains have banned BST milk from their brand name products.

Even more infuriating was his comment "in the future we'll have fewer but bigger, more efficient farms in NY." Farmers need higher milk prices, yet the Commissioner pushes a drug which will increase milk supply and lower prices, condemning more farmers to bankruptcy. We need more farmers, not fewer. Farming is doomed in a state whose Ag Commissioner sanctions deliberate farm extinctions.

On Sept. 11, in a story carried by all national networks and many locals, five supermarket chains, a food distributor and the National Toxics Campaign signed a six point agreement called Pesticide Reduction Goals. Tired of government inaction, the stores asked suppliers to disclose all pesticides used to grow food and encourage growers to phase out by 1995 64 pesticides considered potential carcinogens by EP A.

EPA, National Ag Chemicals Assoc., and four industry trade assoc. were quick to counterattack in a same-day press conference. EP A said it was "troubled the supermarkets put the onus of pesticide regulation on retailers." The industry called the program "irresponsible," claiming "pesticide pledge programs by narrow special-interest groups will do virtually nothing to improve the safety of our food supply."

Two days later the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) released Alternative Agriculture, a report that farms that use little or no chemicals are as productive as those who use pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. We in organic industry knew it all along, but now NAS was endorsing organic farming for food and environmental safety, intending to reverse 40 years of policies encouraging heavy use of pesticides, drugs and synthetic fertilizers. Two report authors were New Yorkers: Dr. David Pimentel in Entomology at Cornell Univ. and Dr. Kate Clancy in Nutrition at Syracuse Univ.

ROAST TURKEY OR COOKED GOOSE?

But Albany remained impervious to the light. At our next Committee meeting on Sept. 18 we learned the seven resolutions passed at our June 12 meeting hadn't even been read by the Commissioner. I left Albany convinced I was wasting my time; the Dept. had no serious interest in organic food, safe food, pesticide safety, or sustainable farming.

At the Equinox I fired a third "missal to Mario." It was full of fire—I had a turkey to roast. At its end, I wrote: "Lest we delude ourselves this issue is limited to pesticides, last year European scientists found half the sulfur in acid rain is from sewage and fertilizers over-enriching rivers, lakes, estuaries, and oceans to cause algae blooms. Massive algae death yields toxic "red tides," depletes dissolved oxygen and spews dimethyl sulfide into air to cause tree deaths in distant mountains. Acid rain and climate change are international political concerns."

"I tire of being reasonable; reason seems unknown to the Commissioner. The other option is power, so I will speak to those voices in the market. Are your ears open? As the son of a neighborhood grocer in Queens, I have faith in your common sense understanding of the importance of food; I no longer have any faith in the Commissioner."

NY's obstinacy is highlighted by actions of neighbor states and Canadian provinces. New Hampshire provides organic certification at NOFA's request. Vermont's Agriculture Dept. pays NOFA certification inspectors and distributes NOFA standards. New Jersey Ag Dept.'s Director of Regulatory Services sits on the NOFA-NJ Certification Board, and his Dept. provides inspectors for organic certification. Both Quebec and Ontario laws recognize organic definitions, standards and certification. All New England states funded an attractive full color brochure on organic food and certification, but NY refused to cooperate or share the funding.

CSPI's American's for Safe Food reported "half of the nation's states have significant activities to promote sustainable agriculture. While in Washington proponents scratch and claw just to hang onto a tiny $4.45 million LISA program the Bush administration and chemical lobbies want to kill, states are spending more money on ambitious programs to increase production and marketing of food grown with few or no synthetic pesticides and fertilizers." Great things were happening in other major farm states, but not in NY.

Meanwhile, in NY's Legislature, the organic goose almost got cooked. Three organic bills were introduced in 1989—two drafted without any input from organic producers. One Assembly bill put all authority for organic policy, including definitions and standards, in the hands of an Ag Commissioner who is at least uniformed, if not hostile.

Caught off-guard without lobbyists or an effective legislative committee, NY's organic industry could only respond in the negative. At a May 17 Assembly hearing 19 of 20 speakers spoke against the bill. NY's organic producers made it clear they don't trust the Dept. to support their concerns, and warned consumers seeking genuine safe food not to expect better treatment. In the face of this opposition, the bill was held for more input and revision.

Assemblyman Maurice Hinchey, Chair of the Conservation Committee, invited NY's organic producers to draft a bill which contained their ideas. The resulting Ecological Agriculture Law creates an Executive Council in the Governor's Office. Several state agencies—Health, Consumer Protection, Environmental Conservation, Social Services, Ag & Markets—would sit together with public appointees to formulate policy. In this scenario Ag & Markets is but a single player forced to react to issues.

Despite the total impasse at Ag & Markets, there's hope for organic food's political future in NY. In 1989 NY's Legislature passed a two year ban on irradiated foods. Governor Cuomo signed the bill, against the advice of his own Health and Ag Commissioners. The reason for was public pressure. Now, organizations who fought irradiation are looking a new issue to embrace, and their eyes are settling on safe food and pesticides. Among them is NYS Attorney General Robert Abrams, named NY's "Environmentalist of the Year" in 1987.

Organic farmers and distributors will have to overcome their rational paralysis Albany will do nothing for organic farming, an attitude that amounts to surrendering the political battlefield without firing a shot. But while farmers may win a battle or two, only the voice of consumers will turn the tide of war that threatens both our food supply and global security. Even if the Dept. succumbs to public political pressure, any controversy or conflict with entrenched agribusiness (such as pesticide notification) is sure to earn the Commissioner's veto.

Nonetheless, amid a hot market, aroused legislators, scientific affirmation, and awakened environmentalism, the Commissioner is a sitting duck. It's time for consumer activism in Albany. Organic industry must work together to lobby for legislation it wants, rather than having it dictated, as nearly happened in NY this year. Although it's inevitable both state and federal governments will pass organic food legislation, only a farmer-consumer alliance of will assure a change of heart in Albany or in Washington.

CALIFORNIA DREAMIN'

Meanwhile, nearly 90% of the organic food sold in NY comes from California on the opposite coast. The food may be organic, but it is neither ecological nor economical.

California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF) was founded in 1973 by 13 farmers. Six years later CCOF helped pass California's Organic Food Act to set legal definitions for organic products. In 1988 CCOF listed 239 certified growers, and membership rose 460 by spring 89, while certified acreage increased from 26,600 to 36,700. In 1985 CCOF hired its first staff member; today there are 40 qualified inspectors and 30 apprentices. In 1988 California organic food sales were estimated at $100 million, double the previous year. This sounds impressive, yet a single supermarket sells $5 million in chemical produce in one year.

But now big California farms are changing to organics. Superior Farms made the transition on 135 acres of grapes—for starters. In all of NY there aren't 135 acres of organic grapes. And Jack Pandol, former member of the Calif. Board of Food and Ag, said publicly Pandol Brothers will convert all 5,000 acres to organic methods by 1995. Even The Packer, the produce industry trade newspaper, suggested in an editorial, "The future looks bright for organics... if the movement is replaced by a vibrant new industry." (What do they mean, "if the movement is replaced?")

Duncan & Sons Farming Corp. of Lamont, in southern San Joaquin Valley, has 1,600 acres in vegetables, of which 1,200 are organic; the other 400 are "in transition." Under the Cal-Organic name Duncan produces 7.5 million pounds of potatoes and 17 million pounds of carrots, plus broccoli, lettuce, cabbage, and 20 other crops on land not meant for farming at all until chemicals and irrigation came.

Duncan got serious about organics in 1985 when another Lamont grower grew watermelons in a field overdosed with aldicarb. One drop of aldicarb on skin can kill a human. Over 170 people got sick and the tainted melons were destroyed. Yet of 25 farms in Lamont, only Duncan made the transition. Duncan employs a full time pest control advisor who, after getting ill from spray exposure, switched to organics.

California's Organic Food Act, with a one year waiting period, is the weakest standard in the U.S.—the lowest common denominator. The potential for fraud is real. But while rumors circulate, few documented cases have surfaced.

In 1989, Pacific Organic, a San Diego wholesaler, was investigated by Calif. Dept. of Health Services (CDHS) for repacking chemical-grown carrots in organic bags, after being photographed in the act by CCOF. No criminal charges were filed, but the wholesaler was closed for four months. The publicity boosted CCOF's reputation, and forced CDHS to enforce the law for the first time, and institute enforcement in the future.

Brian Baker, CCOF inspection coordinator, offers, "Consumers have to insist that produce is certified, become familiar with certification schemes and insist that retailers don't carry unverified products. Shoppers must become more responsible for their food quality."

Demand for organic food grew steadily before Alar publicity. Bill Knudsen, President of Knudsen & Sons of Chico, CA, said, "...support for organic was there before the recent notoriety." Organic is no fad, or a flash in the market, but a solid swell which will see continued growth. So while producers scramble to meet growing demand, overall organic food industry continues on a strong growth cycle.

But "organic" isn't just "no spray," nor can it ever be "residue-free" in our now fully polluted world. The issues involved with organic food run deep, to the very heart and soul of our relationship to Nature. CCOF President Bill Brammer wrote in fall 1988, "Organic farming is more than producing food that's 'safe' or 'clean' because tests show detectable residues don't exceed arbitrary levels. Organic farming is crucial to clean and healthfi.111and, water and air for us and our children. Our commitment extends beyond produce you eat—to air you breathe, water you must drink and land you and your children must live on."

THINK GLOBAL—ACT LOCAL

What's remarkable is dramatic growth in California organic industry came without any support from the California Dept. of Agriculture (CDA). Until 1989 CDA's only act was to give consumers CCOFs phone number. NY and CA lead a team of "mule-ish" states who wouldn't know an organic carrot if it bit them in the mouth. And with Bush instead of Reagan at the reins of the federal wagon, we aren't likely to find the trail out of Death Valley.

Safe food may be the organic carrot that gets the U.S. food system "donkey" moving, but beware the stick of global eco-crisis. Acid rain, ozone holes and greenhouse effect are by-products of industrial progress, and our greatest industry is food and agriculture. Dimethyl sulfide from decaying algae is but the tail of a dragon ravaging Gaia's atmosphere.

To drive the connection home, in Sept. scientific journal Nature reported nitrogen fertilizer is a culprit in global warming. Research found bacteria in soil treated with nitrogen fertilizer take up far less methane gas than those that aren't treated. Scientists suspect acid rain also reduces the methane consumed by soil bacteria. Methane, one of the most potent greenhouse gases, is 20 times more powerful than carbon dioxide to trap heat at Earth's surface. Many scientists fear increasing amounts of methane and carbon dioxide will warm the globe by 4 to 9 degrees in the next 50 years. How can farmers farm if climate changes and weather is unpredictably extreme? This a powerful reason for farming to go cold turkey and to buy organic.

If climate change is "too far afield," consider that rainforests are slash-burned for cattle ranches to export beef. The previous century saw buffalo and Indians slaughtered to make way for cows, cowboys and a unique American brand of macho. One simple consumer action could reschedule our appointment with our ecological legacy: stop eating beef.

The second way consumers can make a difference is politics. There will be no institutional change without unprecedented public pressure. In 1990 the best arena for consumer activism is the state level. Bend the eyes and ears of your governor and legislators; insist that your state get to work to assure you safe food grown in living soil by sustainable farming. Political impasses like NY and CA will only be broken by loud voices crowing in the marketplace.

Since the Alar scare, FDA and EP A continue to state the U.S. food supply is safe. But consumers now have "pesticide" and "organic" firmly in their vocabulary, and surveys show over 80% don't believe government is protecting their food from toxic chemicals. An EP A survey last summer revealed 50% of the public consider residues in food one of America's top five environmental issues. And July 2nd NY Times poll found 4 out of 5 agree "protecting the environment is so important requirements and standards can't be too high, and continuing environmental improvements must be made regardless of cost."

CULTURE IN TRANSITION

Talk of politics and economics quickly obscures the underlying issue: how we inhabit the Earth. It's critical that what seems only fashionable trend become permanent solution. The battleground for safe food and healthy environment is the soil of farms. As long as farms decline in numbers, the war is being lost. Farming as a way of life disappeared early in the 20th century and was replaced by farming as business. After 40 years of trigger happy, chemical crazy farming, consumer alarm over safe food is acute, and consumer faith in government is a muddied puddle. Now, as the 20th century draws to its close, it seems time to take an oath and return to traditional values.

Can a society drowning in wastes make sensible choices for food safety? Like an addict kicking junk, quitting is only a first step. With a clear head and humble ambition, once chemically-dependent persons must rebuild stable, sensible lifestyles of work and healthy relationships. So, too, once our culture recovers a sober, common sense view of our path into the future, we have creative challenges to design a society to get our children there. For farmers, going "cold turkey" after 10 to 30 years of chemical dependent farming takes great courage. Like any newly sober family member, farmers need steady, patient support from consumers.

Farms are the front line in efforts to heal the chasm which now separates civilization and Nature. Living from annual cycles of soil and season, farmers work with Nature in first person. As our ambassadors before Nature, they take what will become us, and give back what thanks we return. The decade long and deepening farm crisis is testimony America has neglected its farms and farmers. We must change fundamental relations between city and country—consumer and farmer. Urban areas need to recognize and support farms and food industries which supply their food.

For consumers seeking safe food, pesticides and sprays are alarmist issues. But the complexities of biological life will never fit well in cellophane packages any more than AIDS can be defeated by condoms. Can anxious consumers see beyond this latest hot issue to understand how sustainable farming works with Nature, not against?

Ultimately, the challenge is the marketplace, not political arenas in our capitols. America's consumers are beginning awaken to the global impact of their daily diet. Will public demand for safe food and a healthy environment faithfully nurse ecological agriculture out of its childhood? Or is "organic" a trendy wave in an ocean about to give birth to a legion of Hugo's?

There are early signs of change. In July-Aug Utne Reader, Gene Logsdon wrote: "Nationwide over a million farms were lost in the last 20 years, and over a million people left the land since 1980. Yet, of all places, Massachusetts gained over 500 farms since 1978. Maine, despite very bleak potato trade, gained over 400. Minnesota gained 2000 farms in the last census; Wisconsin, Georgia and Florida each gained 1,000." This new growth of farms needs steady nourishment of consumer allegiance and political policies.

In the war between man and Nature, farmers and consumers are cast as dug in on opposite sides of the checkout line. It's time consumers crossed over the DMZ to work with farmers, and paid a higher dollar in exchange for a lower eco-price. But Closing the Food Circle requires us to account not only for small farms, but also backyard gardens and backroad homesteads not totaled in statistics or sales receipts. Consumers can become producers, too.

EARTH AND MOTHERHOOD

But summer's subtlest surprise came in August when NYS designated Coccinella noemnotata—the orange-and-black ladybug—its official insect. In the Middle Ages,

Christians dedicated ladybug to Virgin Mary, calling it The Beetle of Our Lady. Europeans believed if a ladybug crept across a young girl's hand, her matrimonial prospects would improve. The little bug was also believed to cure colic and measles, even toothaches. Unlike other bugs that people squash and forget, the death of ladybugs was lamented in the English children's poem, "Ladybug, ladybug, fly away home," inspired by ladybugs killed in post-harvest burning of hop vines.

The ladybug is a mainstay of sustainable farming. It's happiest satisfying its appetite for aphids that destroy crops. A century ago cottony cushion scale, an insect pest, threatened California's fruit crop. Ladybugs were brought in to save it. Today, organic farmers shell out as much as $20 a quart for these beloved creatures to release in fields. What subtle awareness is creeping through NY's Capitol?

The Beetle of Our Lady speaks a deeper truth about sustainable farming. Jay North, a grower of edible flowers and herbs, reports, "Our main customers are women age 45 and 65 who really know their foods—women willing to pay another nickel for real quality."

Ultimately, organic, safe food is an issue of feminine values. Women are by tradition responsible for food, health, nutrition, and nurturing. It is, most of all, infants and children who are at risk from tainted food. And milk, chickens, cows, lambs, seeds, and eggs are produced by females of each species. But business means "use," not "care," and money breeds "usury," not "nurturance." Changing values which motivate our food system requires a shift in not only the balance of power, but the very nature of power—and the power of Nature—in our society—a process already underway. One hopeful sign is that American eagles, once decimated by DOT, are returning—with our help.

THE GOING GETS TOUGH....

Our Earth faces multiple ecological crises of unprecedented, monumental proportions. In view of the unmistakable consequences of continued war, it's time to declare peace. We haven't much time to change direction and create farming and diet to harmonize and heal our battered environment.

The point of this article isn't just history and journalism. It's a tactical report from the front line, and a call for reinforcements. If you're a hunter, get this sitting duck in your sights. If you're a mother, use this recipe for roast turkey; add your flame to the fire. If you're a farmer, help steer NY's mule down a new path. If you think you're only a consumer, heed this rooster crow—cackle your concern to your capitol. If you're a legislator, make sure the right goose gets cooked. If you are spiritual, promise our Mother not to support continued chemical assaults against her Web of Life.

If you are a human being, act—NOW. You have to eat every day; either way and any other, you're making a choice, and a difference.

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The Earth Renewal and Restoration Alliance — www.championtrees.org — updated 2/6/2007