Posted on 04/18/2015 5:14:36 AM PDT by HomerBohn
There are three things driving a surge in organic imports:
1.U.S. farmers have been systematically pushed into growing mostly GMO crops; grown primarily for fuel, animal feed and cheap processed foods. Russia even used our food supply as an example for the EU to dump us and join them instead.
2.U.S. consumers are not only demanding fresh, organic produce as well as non-GMO convenience foods – but also want meat, dairy and eggs from animals that were fed non-GMO or organic feed.
3.Other countries primarily grow non-GE crops, and plenty of organic. They’ve got the goods and they reap the benefits of trade.
This is ridiculous, as the U.S. could not only use a valuable export, but could honestly use a supportive, in-house product. Yet again, we find ourselves outsourcing for staples. Shouldn’t our own farmers be benefiting from this rise in demand coming from their country? Yet again, farmers have been tricked and kicked by the very companies with which they sign agreements.
U.S. consumers are coming into awareness about how their food affects their health and want superior products, which sadly, aren’t always available here…yet.
An analysis of U.S. trade data released Wednesday by the Organic Trade Association and Pennsylvania State University shows a spike in corn from Romania and soybeans from India. The chief executive officer of OTA is prompting farmers that the market is open for converts. She called it a “help-wanted” sign for farmers and said, “There are market distortions that are pretty striking.” [Also see: Study Quantifies Market Value of Nature’s Farming Services]
Bloomberg Business reports the bulk of the imports are to feed U.S. cattle and poultry:
As a result, imports to the U.S. of Romanian corn rose to $11.6 million in 2014 from $545,000 the year before. Soybean imports from India more than doubled to $73.8 million.
Sales of foods certified by the U.S. as free of synthetic chemicals or genetic engineering reached $35.9 billion in 2014, an 11 percent increase over 2013 and about 5.1 percent of U.S. grocery spending. The organic sector’s average annual growth of about 10 percent is triple that of overall food sales, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture and trade association data.
[…]
The four years of records show rapidly growing trade relationships. In 2014, U.S. organic exports were $553 million, almost quadruple the 2011 total. Imports last year were $1.28 billion, led by $332.5 million of organic coffee.
Supply farms were forced to seek foreign sources with the rapid demand spikes, as 90 percent of U.S. corn and soy are genetically engineered, a definite no-go for organically raised animals, animal by-products and produce. Some organic feed companies have recently seen sales quadruple and sought supplies from Canada. Read Bloomberg for more figures and some tug-of-war about future markets and whether or not it’s worth it to grow organic in America.
And interesting turn of events since yesterday’s Bloomberg report: Tom Vilsack, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture announced that the government would offer support to boost the U.S. production of organic.
While expressing an interest to help small family farms and boost the rural economy, he told Reuters:
There’s been significant expansion and interest in organics. Both the number of producers expanding and the sales expanding are an indication that this is a fast-growing aspect of agriculture.
A peculiar announcement considering Vilsack’s past infatuation and staunch defense of biotech. I don’t buy those intentions at all. Not with Agenda 21 tactics, a crumbling food system and economy, corporations that drain and frack the daylights out of drought-stricken aquifers, states that only vote yes to label GMOs in the far-off future, and the DARK Act looming in Congress. Those things tell me to be vigilant and not to get too excited.
On a lighter and more productive note, we can keep up that consumer demand because, right now, it cannot be ignored. On the other hand, don’t forget to reach out to farmers, but also demand ways for them to make a living using better methods – there isn’t incentive to do so currently, in fact, quite the opposite. Let’s not let them fall behind the market curve. Maybe we could bring this news to Farm Aid’s attention so they can focus on helping their family farmers who wish to convert but without losing the farm.
Unfortunately, there are stifling obstacles that stand in the way of simply switching to an organic farm. More so if the “DARK Act” passes through Congress. (Hint: it punishes non-GMO farmers with fines and makes them produce labels!) For one thing, it’s not about simply switching seed, and farmers are in a sense, punished if they use natural methods. As one recent study pointed out, it would be economically better to use nature’s free services and organic methods but only if it were allowed to be economically feasible!
Non GMO farming has proven to be even more sustainable than using Monsanto seed.
About a year and half ago, I got serious about what I was putting in my body, and started paying close attention to which meats were steroid enhanced, which veggies were GMO and not. Interesting you would use the term, "luddite" as I've gone to essentially a 19th century diet, and as much as possible, a pre-electric sleep cycle and restoration of my circadian rhythm.
Within about six months, I went from a 38" waist back to the same 32" waistline I sported in my 20s. Yesterday, I donated blood and my BP was 118/68, and that was after my morning coffee and (natural tobacco) cigarette. My energy level and productivity are as high as ever. Anecdotal I know, but if that's luddite, I'll take it.
Organic means - Overpriced, on the verge of spoilage, and full of bugs. No thank you.
If you can, grow your own. I attended a couple of organic gardening classes last year and adopted some of their procedures. Some of what they were doing seemed counterintuitive, but made sense in what was being accomplished.
Basics are minimum/no tilling, good hydration, soil testing ensuring a broad spectrum of minerals/elements in the soil. They do this using rock dust(25-30 mineral/elements) and sea water(90-100 minerals/elements).
The vegetables were the best we have grown, the taste difference is dramatic from what one gets at the grocery store.
Letting the market decide is the best way to do this.
Someone should look into the studies showing organic foods are higher in carcinogenic and other harmful chemicals than vegetables grown with modern pesticides. My recollection is that plants when attacked by insect and other pests generate their own chemical defenses. These, of course, are contained in the plant tissue and don’t rapidly degrade and can’t be washed off like modern pesticies. I believe the end result is that organic fruits and vegetables are pretty high in chemicals of their own.
If so, or if there is no real harm in modern farm products, then “organic” is not exactly Luddite. With its higher price and waste of acreage, it is more of just a stupid tax.
On that basis, as long as organic remains a market choice and is not enforced or subsidized by food Nazis with my tax money, I’m OK with it.
As I understand it, US regulations for labeling grains ‘organic’ and non-GMO call for three years without chemicals or GMO planting before the crop can be sold as such. That means only a big corporation could afford to start on a large scale, or it’s left to boutique farmers on marginal land. Probably just easier and cheaper to import, assuming you can trust Romania.
and these other countries lie, they say it is organic, but it isn’t...while the grower in the US can’t compete.
They have tested these foods from other countries, want to know one item that keeps coming up in the tests?
Lead and Mercury, Lead is still used in gasoline in some countries and many other countries have just recently stopped.
And I loved the story of the guy who got a tapeworm in his brain because the farmer in the other country was using human feces that was fresh.
Yes, label all foods containing GMO ingredients and “let the market decide”. Just what phony free marketers fight against.
E Coli bacteria genes spliced into corn genes (this is gmo) created a franken-food with the power to kill bugs and other living things. RBC’s don’t like e-coli dna either. Early organ failure is only one result of gmo corn.
If I understand that chart correctly, it is showing autism rates increasing at a very similar rate to organic food sales increasing. Is it trying to indicate that there is a link between autism and organic food? If such were true, autism would have been rampant before the agricultural revolution and the advent of farming using chemicals. For after all, ALL food was organic before chemicals and genetic modification.
How much corn is being imported due to our using food to make crappy fuel?
Label GMO content? Not just GMO content, but also all harmful chemical content.
And, as one poster has pointed out, all corn products for the last thousand years or more have been GMO. Might be some more fruits and vegetables that are GMO, too.
There are over 1.8 BILLION bushels of excess corn in the US market.
Lol, another one trying to pretend that what nature and Luther Burbank did was the same as what Monsanto and other corporations are doing in laboratories. Not quite. There are lists of GMO crops and it is not yet a long list, but does include most all corn, soybeans and rapeseed and a few vegetables.
But just label foods containing those recognized GMO food crops and let the consumer decide. What could be more free market and American as apple pie?
We have a few heirloom varieties planted every year... or buy them when we don't.
The taste difference is dramatic.
Even organic tomato sauce in a jar tastes so much better.
If you really understood that chart, you’d know that he left off the /sarcasm tag intentionally.
Your analysis is correct, but unnecessary. I suspect he was just jerking the chain of the anti-science crowd who want to cashier an invaluable industry using random anecdotes.
I think people should know what chemicals, naturally occurring or otherwise, are in their food, too.
What would be the harm in people having knowledge?
...saying a transition to organic farming and stricter regulation is urgently needed.
This gave me a good laugh. Thanks.
There are around 600 chemical compounds found in roasted coffee. About 200 of them haven't even been identified yet. Yup, it's your right to know what those are.
What would be the harm in people having knowledge?
What would be the harm in requiring people take and pass basic chemistry or human nutrition 101? Of course, if we did make those classes compulsory, people wouldn't be demanding to know all the chemicals in every single food.
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