Local or Organic? I'll Take Both

Organic food is popping up everywhere these days, including the once-inhospitable shelves of chain supermarkets. Organic Rice Krispies and Organic Frosted Flakes now compete for prime retail space with their pre-organic cousins. Organic Oreos are due out soon, signaling agribusiness' final capitulation to the organic onslaught. Consumer Reports tells us that nearly two-thirds of Americans bought organic foods and drinks in 2005. Organic foods sales have been expanding at a rate of five to 21 percent per year since 1997,compared with two to four percent for the overall food industry. Meanwhile, the price of Whole Foods Market stock has shot up like Jack's beanstalk. Since organic represents only 2.5 percent of the total food market, there's plenty of room to grow. And big business is hungry for the profits.

Good news, right? For years now, we've tried to buy organic, locally grown food—and, at last, the free market is giving us exactly what we want. Not so fast, say nutritionists and environmental activists, who warn that an overemphasis on buying organic could bring a host of unintended consequences. These critics caution that local organic growers, who practice a community-based agriculture system valuing small diversified farms and humane animal husbandry, are rapidly being edged out by "Big Organic" firms, whose business practices, fossil fuel consumption and focus on highly processed foods are indistinguishable from the industrial food system.

So what should concerned shoppers do?

The conundrum deepened last spring, when Wal-Mart announced its plans to add 1,000 new organic products in all its stores and "democratize" them by charging only 10 percent more than it asks for comparable conventional foods. (Currently, consumers pay an average 50 percent premium for organic.)