While a lot has been written about the ethics of growing food organically, not a lot has been written about the people who actually do this every day of their lives.  I recommend that every interested person visit a local organic farm operation to get a better sense of what is and isn’t truly “organic” – this was a real eye-opener for me.

Sandy Morden is the owner/operator of Morden’s Organic Farm Store.  She is also the owner of Nutri-Spring, a company that makes granola and other commodities for Toronto, Canada area health food stores.  Both businesses are run out of the same location. 

The business of Nutri-Spring started up in 1986 with two rural farmers who decided that there was a need to sell granola and related products to health food stores in the Toronto area.  They were ahead of their time; in 1986 about the only people considering how organic their granola was were starry-eyed hippies.  Sandy signed on as an accountant.  Sandy gradually acquired shares in the company and moved it down to her sixth-generation family farm, and finally acquired the company when the two partners wanted to retire.  Morden herself suffers from gluten and dairy allergies, necessitating the research that led to the development of many of the products sold at the store. 

So many years in the business has taught Sandy some hard lessons about what sells and what doesn’t, and how much competition she faces from US companies that can do it cheaper, even if the food is being imported and wasting fossil fuel in the process.  Nutri-Spring makes a quality product; I bought a container of the Apple and Ginger granola and haven’t looked back since.  They package it in a reusable plastic container and not in a splashy box like most other organic granola/cereal companies.  The cost is also comparable – 500 grams of Nutri-Spring granola is only 5.99. 

“Localvore” is becoming a buzzword in the environmental community.  Morden’s store is a localvore’s dream.  Butter, milk, meats, gluten-free flours, gluten-free pies, and locally grown vegetables all adorn its shelves.  While it is more expensive, Morden sees a lot of patronage in the form of younger mothers who want to feed their families correctly, and many others besides.  With rising food costs, more and more people will probably be visiting Morden’s store, as the prices at Morden’s come into line with those at major grocery stores. 

Morden also cautioned against what major grocery chains are calling “organic”.  An organically labeled chicken may have been fed organic feed, but would still be cage-raised, which is antithetical to the idea of a correctly raised chicken.  Also, US farmers only need to let their fields lie fallow for one year in order to call their fields “organic”, as opposed to the three years that is required for fields to properly leach out legacy pesticides and fertilizers.  The soil that your organic pepper was grown in is very likely to have contained conventional chemicals just one year ago, meaning that the pepper that you have just paid a higher price for isn’t actually delivering on the value that you thought it had. 

Organic vegetables are produced by starting with a field that has lain fallow from conventional farming for three years in order to get rid of the chemicals present in the soil.  The seeds are then planted and fertilized with organic fertilizer, and pesticides are not used.  That is essentially all there is to the production of organic vegetables.  The “finicky” nature of organic farming lies in how exactly to grow a good crop without using pesticides or non-organic fertilizers.  The reality is that less is often produced than on a conventional farm, but the quality is higher.

Organic farms, at least Morden’s, also stay away from genetically engineered strains of vegetables.  Morden rightfully stated that we do not even know what the effects of these vegetables are yet, so until more proper scientific studies are done, they should not be used.

Morden also hires local workers from a mental health group home close to her farm, and they participate in a profit-sharing program annually with Morden.  This way she is not just helping out her community, but ensuring that the workers are fairly paid for their labour. 

The greatest revelations came when I broached the topic of pricing.  Morden is not trying to make a quick buck off of environmentalists.  She in fact takes a very low margin off of every product that is sold, simply because she needs to sell her products at a certain price point in order to compete.  Morden and the farmers that she buys from do not qualify for any subsidies from the federal government, because they do not use conventional farming practices.  Their only subsidy is the low margin that they make off of selling their products.  I found it to be quite an eye-opener that the Canadian government, so well known for supporting its farmers, in this case is utterly failing both the farmers and consumers by not subsidizing organic farming operations. 

There is also the important fact that imported food receives a subsidy as well.  We have the food to feed our nation, and yet a tin of blueberries from California costs less than an organically grown tin from Ontario.  This just doesn’t make a lot of sense.  This is an area in which government can step up and immediately end the waste of fossil fuels, and yet the already established system is change-averse.  Too much money is being made off of the extant system by the government.

That said, prices of vegetables are now almost comparable to those at the local grocery store – the only thing that is quite a bit more expensive is the meat.  However, in my mind, it is worth it. 

Morden’s is best known for their meats.  They have four different categories of meats; wild meats, which are killed in accordance with strict federal regulations.  Wild fish, which are not farmed; levels of toxicity in such fish are much higher than those caught in the wild.  Naturally raised meat fed with feed that does not contain animal by-products, and certified organic meat that was also naturally raised but fed with certified organic feed as well. 

It is important to note that all of the meat sold at Morden’s does not contain any extra estrogen or nitrates.  The only thing that you must do differently to the meat is keep it frozen until use, due to the lack of nitrates.  With the wild meats, one needs to cook them “slow and low” as they are extra lean and cook differently from regular meats because of this.  A slow cooker is wild meat’s best friend. 

Estrogen injected into meats and taken into our bodies increases our risk for various female cancers, the foremost being breast cancer.  How many of you have denounced hormone replacement therapy while stuffing a burger into your mouth?  Sort of antithetical.  Estrogen is injected into the cows to make them grow faster.  Nitrates are responsible for the red colour of ground beef and steaks, and when ingested are converted to nitrates, which are carcinogenic. 

I purchased some chicken wings to throw on my barbeque at home, and found them to be some of the best chicken wings I’ve ever tasted.  However, the expense does mean that we can’t buy all of our meat there, yet.  My partner and I have vowed to purchase something from Morden’s at least once a month – that will already save lots of fossil fuel.  

References

• Interview with owner, Sandy Morden