If international agribusiness was more like high school, 10 years ago foods labeled ‘organic’ wouldn’t have won a seat at the cool table. Organic food would have probably had a body odor problem, worn headgear all the time, and sat at the table where kids ate boogers and tried out for school plays and never made the cut.
But today Organic’s acne has cleared up – both in Eugene and around the globe.
Not only is Eugene home to long-time organic-friendly stores such as Sundance Natural Foods and Red Barn Natural Grocery, but newer businesses like Laughing Planet Cafe and Cozmic Pizza have sprouted up around the city and national chains are following suit.
Safeway, Target and Wal-Mart have all recently introduced organic options.
In October of 2002, the USDA implemented national standards for all organic labeled food in the United States, requiring it to be produced without sewage sludge, bioengineering, ionizing radiation and most pesticides among other standards, according to its Web site.
The USDA does not contend that these products are safer or more nutritious, and many advocates of conventional foods say there is no added benefit to eating organic products, but Annie Dochnahl, a health educator at the University heath center, disagrees.
“There are a lot of documented benefits as well as benefits not well-documented yet,” Dochnahl said.
Lobbyist groups such as the Oregon Pesticide Education Network have published numerous reports expressing mounting concerns about the effects of pesticides on food safety, farm worker health and water quality.
With its restaurant located in the EMU, Holy Cow Cafe’s almost completely organic menu is the result of owner Kathee Lavine’s experience living on a conventional farm for six years and watching pesticides put into the land.
“When we moved to Eugene we decided that feeding college students was the best way to make (a difference) because it’s the first time they are able to make independent food choices,” Lavine said.
But buying organic products disagrees with many students’ wallets. For example, organic large tomatoes at Market of Choice on Franklin Boulevard cost $2 more per pound than conventional large tomatoes and organic apples cost more per pound than non-organic ones as well.
Lavine called organic products’ popularity a “mixed blessing” because while increased interest brings prices down, small farms are being bought-out as single foods are grown on bigger farms and then shipped around the globe.
“The question,” Lavine said, “becomes, What is better: an organic strawberry shipped from china or a non-organic one grown locally?”