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Is Big Organic a Cause for Panic?

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By Laird Harrison

Not long ago, organic food dwelled in the countercultural margins of the grocery world. Filling up your fridge with organics meant a trip to a co-op or natural foods store where cashiers wore their hair in dreadlocks and the scent of patchouli oil mingled with the aroma of carob beans. So the announcement last year that Wal-Mart, the biggest retailer in the world, planned to sell organic food—including new versions of Kellogg’s Rice Krispies and Kraft Macaroni and Cheese—drew headlines.

But Wal-Mart’s announcement was only the latest step toward the mainstreaming of organic. Already, over the past decade or so, small organic farms have consolidated into large ones, major supermarket chains have started stocking organic products, and distributors have begun importing them from other countries. Additionally, multinational food processing companies have bought out numerous familiar small brands. For example, Coca-Cola now owns the fruit juice company Odwalla Organics; General Mills bought Cascadian Farms; and J.M. Smucker acquired the R.W. Knudsen Family, Santa Cruz Organic, and After the Fall beverage brands.

The image of a small vegetable patch farmed by ex-hippies no longer corresponds to the reality behind much organic food. This trend poses both opportunities and confusion. On one hand, people can choose from more convenient, widely available, and consistent products. On the other hand, more of this food is transported long distances, is highly processed, or contains unhealthy ingredients. Faced with this new complexity, many consumers wonder just how organic organic is right now.

The big boys
When it comes to following the letter of the law—in this case the organic standards set up by the USDA—big companies abide as well as little ones. “I’ve seen small operations try to work around the standards, and I’ve also seen large companies do an excellent job, and vice versa,” says Bob Scowcroft, executive director of the Organic Farming Research Foundation. “I don’t feel that relative to the rules, size is something we should be concerned about.”

Indeed, size often leads to consistency. Until the large companies entered the scene, supplies frequently fluctuated, depending on local weather and the whims of individual farmers. You never knew what you’d find on the shelf on any given day. But multinational companies like Natural Selections, which sells organic produce to the country’s major supermarkets under its Earthbound Farm label, have put an end to all that. “We’re proving that organic can feed the world,” says Myra Goodman, the company’s cofounder and executive vice president.

Natural Selections brings in $350 million a year and employs more than 1,000 people, growing fruits and vegetables in numerous regions, states, and countries as far flung as the Pacific Northwest, the Southwest, British Columbia, Chile, Mexico, and New Zealand. By following the harvest as it moves around the globe, Natural Selections can as...

Author: Laird Harrison

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