Whole Foods has concocted a rating system for produce and flowers called “Responsibly Grown.” It takes into consideration such factors as how the farmers that grew the product protect the soil and wildlife on their farms, their use of pesticides, how they conserve energy and water, treatment of their workers, and the astrological signs of their managers. (OK, I made up that last one.) Whole Foods then prominently displays the rating: Unrated, Good, Better or Best.
In order to have their products rated, farmers must pay a fee to Whole Foods and fill out a lengthy questionnaire.
Many organic growers are incensed at Whole Foods. National Public Radio science reporter Dan Charles quotes a California organic fruit farmer who is outraged and puzzled by this. “Organic is responsibly grown, for goodness sake,” he says.
However, organic agriculture is anything but responsible. It is an expensive and expansive hoax perpetrated on consumers and is harmful to the environment.
Because of its systematic rejection of many advanced methods and technologies, organic farming produces far less food per unit of land and water than conventional ones. A British meta-analysis published in 2012 in the Journal of Environmental Management found that “ammonia emissions, nitrogen leaching and nitrous oxide emissions per product unit were higher from organic systems” than conventional farming systems, as were “land use, eutrophication potential and acidification potential per product unit.”
Maybe Whole Foods should introduce another category for ratings, which would encompass everything organic: “Wasteful of water and arable land, often contaminated, and harmful to the environment.”
The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis. Read full, original post: Has Whole Foods Finally Figured Out That Organic Foods Are Jaded And Overrated?
