Welcome back to the LocalHarvest newsletter.
Last week a LocalHarvest farmer said something that has had me thinking ever
since. This gentleman sells his products through our online catalog, and
mentioned that compared with many of his other customers, LocalHarvest patrons
tend to be, shall we say, 'discerning'? In his words, "If there's something not
right, they're not bashful about letting us know." It's not just him, we see
the same thing across our catalog sales and throughout our directory. Many
LocalHarvest fans consider themselves foodies, and take food and its quality
seriously.
Surely there is nothing wrong with that. I am the same way. But for myself, at
least, it can go too far. I notice in myself a growing tendency to see the
marketplace as the only arena in which calling for a higher standard or
expressing displeasure seems worth the bother. With dispiriting news coming in
from all corners of the environmental and political spheres, if I'm not
careful, speaking up as a consumer could become the only place I expect
results, the only place righteous indignation can gain a foothold against
skepticism and pessimism. When "But I paid for that!" moves me to the phone,
and "But that's not right!" doesn't, that is a problem.
Here's an example. Many of you read about the Obama administration's recent
move to deregulate genetically modified alfalfa, and Big Organic's tacit
endorsement: after all, we can't expect to keep organic meat GMO-free forever,
can we? Within a week I had received a half a dozen emails encouraging me to
call the Administration and urge them to make it right. I deleted them all.
Then I read an article in Time, talking about how the local food movement is
the new environmentalism.
I don't agree with it entirely, but the author's point about the flavor factor
being a strong motivator is one with which we at LocalHarvest wholeheartedly
agree. We hear the same story over and over again: people join a CSA, start
shopping at the farmers market, or plant a garden because it seems like the
right thing to do, but more often than not the rationality of "good reasons"
quickly gives way to pleasure. They go back to the market week after week
(expand the garden, re-up for the CSA) because in some little or big way
they've fallen in love with the sumptuous pleasures of food at its best.
Which, in the end, is food worth defending. If the food movement is the up and
coming grassroots political force, then people like me have to get over our
pessimism and general reluctance to speak up, and pick up the phone. Allowing
ever more genetically engineered crops to bury their untested roots into our
precious soil is simply not acceptable, agribusiness behemoths be damned.
Washington has been moved by a couple hundred thousand phone calls before and
will be again. Why not over the issue of
GE alfalfa,
which, besides the usual threats of genetic engineering, promises to introduce
herbicides to millions of acres of alfalfa that currently grows just fine
without them? Since the USDA has already approved the altered seeds, we need
to take our comments right to the top: the President Barack Obama Comment
line, at (202) 456-1111. Or you might prefer to use the White House
contact web page. Let's speak
up about the things that matter.
Take good care this month, and eat well. And as always,
we'd love to hear from you.
Erin
Erin Barnett
Director
LocalHarvest
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