Yes We Can! -- Garden Organically

The White House is going to have an organic Victory garden after all. Although they have ignored the opportunity to have Iowa's own Ed Fallon tend it, it is still a good thing that Michelle Obama is making a point of showcasing the effort. Now if they can get the Presidential limo to run on biodiesel (as Air Force One doesn't qualify as "public transportation").

Commend the Obamas as Ed did.

Agritourism: Another Vision for Iowa

According to Purdue University research, nature-/agricultural-based tourism is the fastest growing sector of the U.S. tourism industry, averaging a 30 percent increase since 1997. From farmhouse bed-and-breakfast operations to winery tours, specialized product sales and Halloween attractions, farmers are taking a chance on tourism and it is paying off.

According to the Iowa State Extension, "agritourism is a growing segment of the rural economy in many areas of Iowa." Iowa agritourism includes farm-based bed and breakfasts, Christmas tree farms, markets, fruit and vegetable u-picks, hiking for a fee, hunting/fishing for a fee, mazes for a fee, wineries and more. An issue is as this type of tourism increases, will more farms go organic in part for the safety of their visitors and for the growing demand for organic, locally-grown products?

Ethical Shopper provides some clues:

The growing interest in organic foods, local farms, and farmers’ markets has led a growing number of people to these functioning farms. "It’s grown because more farmers are finding out it’s an important avenue to bring in revenue and stay on the farm" said Rich Pirog, associate director of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University. " Secondarily, it’s increasing because we’ve moved to an experience economy. People want to have a farm experience.”

As I reported in an earlier blog, small farms are growing rapidly in Iowa and agritourism may be a way for the small, family farm to stay a small, family farm.

Iowa State is sponsoring a conference on the subject on March 7th called "Visit Iowa Farms - Becoming a Destination!" the 2009 Visit Iowa Farms Conference at Honey Creek Resort at Lake Rathbun, Iowa.

Blog for Iowa has more archived from last year's event.

Nothing Good for Organics on the "Horizon" for Milk (or Soy)

From News Target

There has been a continuing erosion of organic standards since large corporations started struggling for a share of the market. According to this recent NewsTarget interview with Ronnie Cummins of the Organic Consumers Association, the standards for organic milk have been particularly compromised.

Horizon Organic, the company that supplies Wal-Mart, has continually ignored federal organic standards -- specifically, a cow's access to pasture.

Their "organic" milk actually comes from factory-style dairy farms where the animals are kept in intensive confinement and have been imported from conventional farms as calves.

In fact, the problem has gotten so out of hand that the Organic Consumers Association has called for a consumer boycott on Horizon and its partner Aurora Organic, its first for an "organic" product.

The organic milk controversy extends to organic soy milk as well. Horizon Organic's parent company, Dean Foods, also bought out Silk, the leading organic soy milk brand in the United States.

Dean Foods has pushed for lower organic standards in the United States and to allow industrial-style production to be called "organic."Meanwhile, major grocery chains import cheap, so-called "organic" soybeans from China, where the workers are treated much like slaves and organic standards are dubious.

They are also imported from Brazil where the Amazon rainforest is being bulldozed in order to create more acreage for growing soybeans.

What is the USDA doing? Why isn't Tom Harkin all over this?