@morethanorganic

Ever consider why society developed like it has?  Here, society means over-consuming countries such as UK and USA, where life is automated.  Make no mistake about this, making a living from farming the land is probably the hardest phyiscal work you´ll get.  Manual building work may be more intense, but that´s a 9-5 job, whereas farming is a lifestyle, all hours, all weathers, all days.

By now you´re wondering where this is going?  You know farming is hard physical work, right?  You´ve been here, done it, you know it?  Unless you have experienced at least a month of living this lifestyle, you have no idea of the work involved.  This was my level of experience four years ago, planning to start an organic farming business.  I´d read the visionary work by the likes of Fukuoka and Steiner, I was educated, there was a growing market for organic, the time was right, I had my vision, I had the drive, so I plunged in.

Four years on, the romance has gone, along with many of my impossibly high standards.  That´s what prolonged hardship does, it flattens us, both physically and mentally.  We are forced into being realistic and practical.  The romantic view of farming, of the good life, is far removed from reality.  Unless of course, you already have pots of money and you´re not dependant on the land to earn a living: you´re a hobby farmer, you´re playing, enjoy your fantasy!

So back to the question about society developing how it has, it´s logical right?  Most sane people don´t feel the need to work with their hands till they bleed, right?  People want nice houses, cars and holidays, right?  In a way it´s all so hypercritical, those of us who fight against the dominance of big agriculture, we are products of that system: we didn´t need to toil in the field, so we went and got a nice office job and shopped at Sainsbury, at the weekend.  At the same time, we developed idylic ideas about  how good life could be, if all farming was organic, we could always eat food of that quality, and hey, we might even be prepared to pay a little more for it, but only if we´re convinced of some personal health gain: so we turn to the marketing people´s message, and yes, that reassures us, so we spend a little more on our certified organic labels, if we have the money to do so.

Yes, organic has health benefits, simply because it´s closer to nature, but supporters of organic would do well to focus on it´s sustainable system benefits for local communities and multiple generations.  It´s for these reasons I´ll continue to develop certified organic farming, and not simply to make you feel good because you´re buying something that´s more healthy for you.  Oh, and yes, it will cost more than your average supermarket fare: why wouldn´t it?

So to the next question, can organic farming feed the world? Technically it may be possible, but this isn´t a realistic question to be asking right now.  This is no longer a battle between organic and big agriculture.  The important question now is how to develop more independent and sustainable food systems. In the West, this means, more people getting involved in farming with more smaller farms selling food more locally.  It means not being reliant on artificial fertilizers and developing community banks of natural seeds.  It means communicating between farmers and communities and the re-building of trust.  Organic certification does all this in one hit, but I´ll not sit and preach organic standards to farmers who want to start moving towards more sustainable values.  If farmers see a business opportunity in certifying organic, they will do so, but otherwise, meeting some exact standard is not the issue here.