The organic food movement’s adherents have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams, but success has imperiled their ideals. It simply isn’t clear that organic food production can be replicated on a mass scale.
And it looks like big business is going to do it their way …
Just as mainstream consumers are growing hungry for untainted food that also nourishes their social conscience, it is getting harder and harder to find organic ingredients.
There simply aren’t enough organic cows in the US, never mind the organic grain to feed them, to go around. Nor are there sufficient organic strawberries, sugar, or apple pulp — some of the other ingredients that go into the world’s best-selling organic yogurt.
A similar situation has arisen in Australia as well. A couple of years ago it was noticed by the organic and free-range egg industry that there were way more eggs being sold as free range than were actually being produced in Oz. I often wonder if community garden projects, or small urban plots (similar to the UK) aren’t an answer for thoses with no space to homegrow.