Consumer appetite for organic foods reached $13.4bn in the US last year – so why is only 1% of the country’s cropland dedicated to organic farming?
Marc Garibaldi, a farmer in California’s Central Valley, no longer uses conventional pesticides and fertilizers because he doesn’t want to work with toxic chemicals at his 40-acre cherry orchard. His farm was officially certified as organic a few weeks ago, but the path to securing that designation was long and costly: he spent three years working to demonstrate the use of eco-friendly pest and soil management practices and paid between 10%-20% in higher labor cost.
Yet he was unable to convince processors that pack and ship his harvest to pay more for his fruit – which he was already cultivating by using the organic standards set by the federal government – during that period.
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Source: Guardian Environment