by Jeff Johnston

Organic food – many people are growing it, and even more are buying it. As many of you are aware, demand for, and sales of, organic food are growing at double-digit rates annually, and are far exceeding supply. However, customers at the Knives and Forks market in Toronto, Ontario, or at The Zone Organic Market in Kamloops, B.C., would likely tell you they buy organic food because they are concerned about their children’s health (most research on allowable chemical residue levels in foods is based on adult intake and is not accurate for predicting safe levels for children) or their own health (a recent poll revealed that cancer is a major concern of many people). Or they’ll say it tastes better than chemically grown food. But organic agriculture isn’t just about growing food without chemical residues, nor is it just about growing food that tastes better than typical supermarket fare.

Organic farming is about working with the land: improving land that has been degraded, and maintaining land that is fertile and productive. It is about raising animals using ethical and humane methods. It is about providing an alternative to corporate agriculture and the huge conglomerates that run our food system. Organic agriculture has a wide range of environmental and social benefits that we, as members of the organic community, have not been promoting. As members of COG, we have an enormous opportunity and, I believe, an obligation to promote the environmental and social benefits of buying organic food.

We have to start talking to friends, relatives and co-workers about the environmental degradation caused by conventional agriculture – soil erosion and water pollution; loss of soil biodiversity and fertility; the poisoning of birds, bats and other wild life. We have to start discussing the social costs of being distanced from the people who grow our food – corporate concentration of farms and processing plants; small farmers losing their farms; citizens having less and less say over what they eat; rural life disintegrating as people move to the cities to find work. We have to begin talking to them about the benefits of organic agriculture – increased soil retention, fertility and biodiversity; less siltation of our waterways and less chemical runoff into them; a return to prosperity for small farmers; a sense of community developing around the farm or the urban community garden.

If the people we talk to can then see the connection between the destruction and degradation of our environment and our society, perhaps they’ll spend those few extra dollars for organic food. And they’ll begin to have a sense that they are contributing to a better world, both environmentally and socially. Frankly, I don’t think environmental or social reasons will convert thousands of people in Canada to organic, but every person who begins to buy organic is another person telling the government and the agri-business industry that business as usual is no longer acceptable where the environment, society, and our health are concerned.

The following are some of the environmental and social benefits of organic agriculture, and methods to reach the people you want to talk to.

If you’re a farmer, create the opportunity to talk to customers by putting up a sign at the market that says "One million earthworms per acre thank you for buying organic" or "The birds and wild life of Uwanna Farm thank you for eating organically." If you have a community shared agriculture (CSA) operation, use your newsletter to address the environmental and social issues with your sharers.

If you’re a consumer, talk to your friend the angler and let her know that organic agriculture means less damage to streams and rivers (from siltation and algae growth), resulting in more – and healthier – fish to catch (and lower government expenditures restocking salmon and trout in our rivers). Or talk to the naturalist down the road about the birds being poisoned by chemicals used in conventional agriculture. Let him know that little brown bats each eat as many as 500 insects per hour, and that if many of the bugs are full of insecticides, soon the bats will be dead from accumulated poisons. Speak to him about the loss of bird habitat here in Canada as farmers put marginal lands under the plough in order to survive lower prices, smaller subsidies, and higher debts. And speak to him about the severe loss of habitat in Central and South America as forests are cut down to create grazing lands for cattle destined for North American consumption.

If you’re a member of the Canadian Nature Federation or a provincial naturalists’ association, ask them to officially support the sustainable practices of organic agriculture. Write a letter to the editor of their magazine and let other people start thinking about the organic agriculture/natural world connections.

If you live in the city, talk to community groups about how CSA projects and community gardens are bringing urban people together. Talk to them about how buying locally grown foods brings us closer to the farmers who work long hours every day to feed us. Talk to neighbors about setting up a food buying club, or organize a group to buy shares from a CSA farmer.

If you work in or own a store that sells organic food, post information that allows your customers to make the connection between organic food and a world that works a little better for every person and every thing.

We all know that organic food tastes better and is safer for us. It’s time for us to speak out about the contribution organic farming makes to the environment and to society. If you want to express your opinion on this issue, or if you have some suggestions on how to speak more effectively about these benefits, send them to me in care of COGNITION (address on page 3). Thanks to Summer Fike and to the Knives and Forks farmers for their input and ideas.