ABC World News is running a three-part series on organic food that concludes tonight. It’s worth viewing, if only to see the messages the “mainstream” is getting.
The first segment, on the mainstreaming of organics, made the point that there were, uh, problems with the ramping up of organic food. (Full disclosure: they interviewed yours truly.) The issue was dealt with deftly, but my favorite part of the segment was when an organic cattle rancher in Marin County actually called his cows and they came. Not being from a farming life, I found that quite amusing.
The second piece, on last night, focused on the increased global sourcing of organic food, focusing on Stonyfield Farm. CEO Gary Hirshberg gives good quote (as we used to say in the news biz) and he does so here. In short, Stonyfield cannot feed consumers all the organic yogurt they want without sourcing ingredients from numerous countries. One point ABC did not make, however, is that the vast majority of Stonyfield’s organic milk comes from small New England farms, through an arrangement with Organic Valley. So to support small local dairy farms, they must go global — discuss!
Although, like all TV news pieces, they were short, they also show just how much organic is coming into the consciousness of the ordinary shopper. No wonder 75 percent of all Americans have now bought organic food — even if they are still puzzled over what it is.
