Last week I began speculating as to how the inevitable ‘scaling up of organics’ would affect the craft here in Ontario (note I did not call it an industry – perhaps a sign of things to come…?!) with the entry of the Norfolk Organic Growers Association into the marketplace headed by 1000 acre conventional grower Nightingale Farms of Delhi, ON.
Perhaps now I will briefly wade into the debate over the Scaling up of Organics, waters which are about as murky as they come. To begin with, don’t even bother taking your socks off here and wading in yourself if you are expecting to come away from the discussion with a clear cut answer – one does not exist and it is very difficult to draw lines in this sand.
Looking at this from a consumers standpoint in the present, clearly reliable, affordable access to an organically produced pepper/tomato/eggplant/etc from an Ontario farm is a good thing – very good in fact because these nightshades in particular are hard to come by domestically and if southern Ontario has the right conditions to grow them by the thousands then so be it. But has anyone been down to the tomato belt these days in the extreme southwest of the province?
Huge conventional greenhouse operations dominate the landscape while seasonal workers toil by the hundreds in the hot dusty fields. Conservation lands, treed fence lines and wetlands are few and far between, perhaps a situation that more organically minded farmers might be able to remedy. But what if the conventional organic grower is only organically minded in terms of inputs and not in their respect for and regeneration of nature?
From a producer point of view, I am encouraged by the Norfolk Organic Growers joining others like the Bay of Quinte Growers Coop, the HOPE Collective and other large organic growers like Pfenning Organic Vegetables – it will mean greater food security for organically minded Ontarians. From experience I know how hard it is to manage the complexities of seeding, weeding, watering and harvesting a four acre market garden and I can appreciate that by narrowing the range and increasing the scale of crops under cultivation (as most of these large growers do) a farm can do better with their bottom line. In this sense I think that the cooperative approach – you grow the carrots, I’ll grow the beets and we’ll piggy back each other on our marketing and administration expenses – shows real promise.
Normatively speaking, however, I wonder if we want ALL of our organic growers going large? Will the increase in scale result in a loss of biodiversity; will the absence of chemical inputs offset the cost of closer agro-ecological links (not to mention farmer-consumer contact) that come with more intimate market gardens? I remember having a conversation with a lady from Germany at the market recently who was describing how her country is going gangbusters for organics, but at the same time the balance between large farms and small market gardens has remained relatively stable. Which is to say that there has proven to be enough room in the ‘growing’ marketplace for both.. Apparently farmer’s markets are still very strong and organically oriented, farmers are still selling their veggies from small roadside stands and farm stores, but grocery stores also now carry much wider selections of ‘mainstream’ organic produce at slightly lower prices. “Where do you shop?” I nosily asked. “At both,” she said. “We like buying direct from our local farmer, but if he doesn’t have something I need I am usually at the supermarket once a week anyway so I can pick it up there.” The greatest benefit, she said, of organics becoming more commonplace is that it has brought prices down and brought even more organic consumers & producers into the fold.
Now to the downside. A reliance on mechanized systems, plastic intensive horticulture and imported labour are hallmarks to me of an unsustainable system, but just as much as packaging, imported foods and long distance food transportation are as well on the consumption side – so what do you do?!
Large scale vegetable farms will also necessarily gravitate to sandier, looser soils due to the need for these soils to be extremely workable and tractor friendly. Not only will this compaction impact the soil health, but sandier soils require greater ongoing fertility amendments as sandy soil does not hold up nutrients as well as heavier silty or clay-loam soils. Thinking ecological footprint wise, most of this fertility will come from livestock operations, either composted horse or cattle manure, fish meal or perhaps pelletized chicken manure. Nice eh? Sandier soils also don’t hold water as well either, thus making irrigation demands even greater. Furthermore, recent taste tests have show that vegetables grown in sand are not as nutrient dense or as tasty as those grown in silt, loam or clay soils – all other variables being equal.
In the absence of a community oriented operational agenda, one wonders what impacts the scaling up of organics will have on rural communities, our food supply and our environment. Does 200 acres of plastic covered monoculture even count as organic, given that it is still clearly an assault on nature? Do we want to continue to funnel our food through the large scale grocery store chains, even if lower prices come with higher packaging, more food miles and more consumer dollars exiting the local economy? If the scaling up of conventional agriculture is any indication, corporate organics may run contrary to the foundations of the organic movement, which in this farmers eyes stem from our connections with nature and require thinking holistically and inclusively about our relationship with ecological, economic and social systems. What it is likely to do, however, is bring organics further into the mainstream for all consumers to enjoy – if you like your peppers in plastic packaging that is.
Perhaps the most important lesson to be found in what Norfolk Organic Growers are doing is that here we have an agricultural region that had formerly been dependent on growing tobacco and ginseng, both at great expense to the environment, but rather than go down with the ship this group of farmers have shown vision and courage by banding together and moving into the growing organic niche. Perhaps as our own region assesses its agricultural future, we might want to consider what cooperation in the field of organics could do for the future of our farmers and our environment if we strive to maintain a sustainable balance of small and large farms, artisan market gardens and diversified mixed family farms.
Thinking outside the box –
