Organic for Everyone!
Making Organic More Accessible
By Steven Hoffman and Kat Schuett
“Organic food should not be seen as a luxury. It’s not a 48-inch flat-screen television that you splurge on. It is something that is integral to the health of each of us and the planet. We need to all be working toward a food system where organic is available to everyone no matter what income or geography.”
—Mark Winne, author of Closing the Food Gap
No one would argue with the fact that everyone deserves access to food that is not exposed to toxic chemicals linked to cancer and myriad other maladies. Most of those in the organic industry joined this movement to create a healthier world—not just for those who have a Whole Foods Market around the corner from their home—but a better world for all.
While we have made tremendous progress in the past few decades, we still have many barriers to cross in order to say that organic is truly accessible to all. Today, many still believe organic is financially out of their reach. Research from the Hartman Group found that when consumers were asked why they didn’t buy more organic, the reason most often cited (71 percent of the time) was that organic was too expensive.
Others simply don’t have access to organic—especially those in inner city or rural areas. The USDA estimates that currently 30 million people in the United States live in “food deserts,” areas where healthy food is difficult to obtain, or “food swamps,” urban areas with no access to fresh foods but flooded with unhealthy fast food instead. Additionally, most children who eat school lunches are given no access to organic during a time when toxins in food can affect their development the most.
Today, however, the dream of “Organic for Everyone” is coming to life through the proliferation of farmers markets, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) and Farm to School programs throughout the nation. It’s being fostered by many organic companies who are reaching out to bridge the gap through education and economically savvy initiatives. It is even being introduced into governmental programs through a new wave of leadership that sees the importance in providing organic, healthy, nontoxic food to our children. It is a dream that is being grown from the ground up by young organic farmers who see farming as a way to make a positive impact in the world.
Progress So Far
While many changes need to happen to make organic accessible and more affordable on all levels, the good news is that today organic products are more accessible than ever. Globally, organic acreage increased 6 percent in 2009 compared with 2008, to a total of more than 91 million acres under organic production, according to data presented at the 2011 BioFach world organic exhibition in Germany by the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) and the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM).
In the United States, the industry has rebounded significantly from the economic turmoil of the last few years, and judging by Whole Foods Market’s rising stock price, up from a 52-week low of $33.96 to close at $65.68 on April 5, a litmus test for the industry overall, it looks like organic continues to be poised for strong growth in relation to the overall market. In fact, total U.S. sales of organic products grew 5.3 percent to $26.6 billion in 2009, according to the Organic Trade Association’s (OTA) 2010 Organic Industry Survey.
Consumers, of course, continue to drive the growth, as they are drawn to organic products one food safety concern after another. According to the “2009 U.S. Families’ Organic Attitudes and Belief Study” conducted by Kiwi Magazine and OTA, nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of U.S. families buy organic products at least occasionally, chiefly for health reasons. The study also shows that 3 in 10 U.S. families (31 percent) in 2009 were actually buying more organic foods compared with a year earlier, with many parents preferring to reduce their spending in other areas before targeting organic product cuts. In fact, according to the survey, 17 percent of U.S. families said their largest increases in spending in the past year were for organic products.
How Do We Make Organic Accessible to Everyone?
While the organic industry continues to grow, the total sales of organic products still constitutes only 3 to 5 percent of the total spent on groceries within the United States—which means we still have a lot of people to reach. How do we help consumers understand the true cost of food and vote with their dollars to support the organic movement? And how do we reach more economically challenged consumers and change the perception (and sometimes the reality) that “organic is too expensive” or that it is only for the elite?
The Foundation for the Next Phase of the Organic Movement
While organic is gaining more ground in the marketplace, much of the progress in creating widespread access to organic is taking place in the fertile soil of local communities—through schools, farmers markets, CSAs and community gardens. It is in these grass-roots efforts to improve their own communities that a true appreciation for organic is germinated. This appreciation grows into a set of values that leads these people to support the organic movement with their own actions, from pushing for political initiatives to supporting organic in the checkout lane.
Organic in Schools
One area that has organic companies and local communities working together is school lunch programs. First lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign led to the president signing the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010—which includes a $10 million Organic Pilot Program to help provide organic food choices in school nutrition programs. The program is dedicated to providing nutrition platforms to help improve the health of students by eliminating nutritional deficiencies and risks for diseases, including childhood diabetes and obesity. The initiative will be the first major upgrade to school lunch programs nationwide in more than 15 years.
Under the Organic Pilot Program, competitive grants favoring socially disadvantaged schools will be offered for schools to increase organic offerings in their meal programs. Because the Organic Pilot Program is not mandatory, the Appropriations Committee will decide on funding for the program.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced the proposed changes, according to an article in Organic Authority, which include: decreasing and limiting the amount of french fries that can be served and adding a meal calorie maximum, because children consume 30 percent to 50 percent of their calories at school and there are currently no caloric guidelines in place. Other changes include sodium reduction, the inclusion of orange and green vegetables and more money per child per meal for schools to help bring in higher quality foods.
But many organic companies are not waiting around for the government to take action. Organic Valley has been working with chef Ann Cooper, “The Renegade Lunch Lady,” to get organic milk into schools. “We bid on some school lunch programs and found that even if we cut our margins completely and priced the 8-ounce pints at cost, our bids were still about double that of the conventional milk prices,” says Organic Valley’s vice president of sales, Eric Newman.
So they started thinking outside the drink box, and Cooper suggested that Organic Valley go old school and return to “bag in the box” milk, dispensed out of the large retro stainless steel coolers used in cafeterias back when most of us were kids. Using this bulk method and reusable cups, Organic Valley was able to offer children in elementary schools in Berkeley, CA, and Boulder, CO, organic milk for around the same price as conventional.
Organic Valley also helps with many “farm to school” programs, which were allotted $40 million in the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act. The National Farm to School program, coordinated by the Center for Food and Justice, Occidental College and the Community Food Security Coalition, was started in 2007 and now works with over 9,629 individual schools throughout 48 states. The program seeks to provide healthier meals to schoolchildren while also supporting local farmers. This organization also spearheaded the FoodCorps—a national school garden program.
Nature’s Path Foods is also working to get organic in schools by creating a pilot program with the Marin County public schools in northern California to provide organic cereal for the school’s free and reduced-price breakfast program. Working within these budgets is extremely challenging, however, says Maria Emmer-Aanes, marketing director. “These schools only get 72 cents to spend on each child for breakfast, or $1.50 for breakfast and lunch,” she says. “It doesn’t give us much to work with, but we figure if we can crack the code with this school system, we can do it with others.”
Veritable Vegetable, a Bay Area–based regional organic produce distributor, provides many schools with organic fruits and veggies at or below cost. Founder Bu Nygrens points to the fact that many schools nowadays are not even equipped for fresh produce. “One of the schools we worked with in Berkeley didn’t even have knives because they had transitioned completely to canned foods,” she says. “A lot of things have changed, but these schools work with such restricted budgets. Communities really need to work together to change municipal policy on these issues.”
Many community members themselves also have taken steps to get organic in their schools. The Olympia, WA, school district adopted a policy in 2004 banning junk food and encouraging organic food in school cafeterias. Today, the school district’s organic salad bar has proven to be so popular—and surprisingly, economical—that all Olympia grade schools now have one. “It’s about a long-term investment in the health of our children,” Olympia’s Lincoln Elementary School principal Cheryl Petra told USA Today. “We are the responsible adults. We can do this,” she said. California school districts in Berkeley, Santa Monica and Palo Alto also have organic food programs.
Farmers Markets—the Gateway to Organic
Mark Winne, author of the book Closing the Food Gap, points to farmers markets and CSAs as the most important ways to create access to organic in all types of communities, including food deserts and other disadvantaged neighborhoods.
The number of local farmers markets has increased from 1,755 in 1994 to 6,132 in 2010, with 16 percent growth over 2009 alone, according to a study published in August 2010 by the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service. Farmers markets are growing in the winter, too, enabling year-round accessibility to organic foods: the USDA in February 2011 reported that there are 900 winter farmers markets in operation—a 17 percent increase over the past two years. Additionally, CSA projects, which allow members to buy a share of produce directly from the farm on a weekly or biweekly basis, have also sprouted up in many neighborhoods. In 1984, there were only a few hundred CSAs. Today, there are an estimated 4,000 to 5,000 CSA farms, says Local Harvest, a national nonprofit CSA organization. Many CSAs also offer members an opportunity to work at the farm in exchange for a share of organic produce.
Besides offering lower prices by cutting out the middleman, Winne points out that farmers markets and even CSAs are now becoming equipped to work with food stamps, or what is now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). SNAP uses Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards and a swipe machine, which many farmers markets do not have. Through state programs, however, some markets are receiving funding to buy this equipment, which is a huge step in making organic produce available to those with low incomes. Additionally, Winne says that many charities and organizations are setting up programs to double the value of SNAP dollars if they are used to buy produce at farmers market.
Clean Greens Farm & Market in Seattle is an example of how farmers markets are being used to make organic more accessible. Clean Greens was created by a group of community members three years ago with the goal of growing organic produce and selling it at a reasonable price to inner city families who might otherwise not be able to afford it. “We’re teaching the community how to be stewards of the earth. We’re not just growing food, we’re educating the community,” Clean Greens’ Lillie Brinker told KOMO News in Seattle. Clean Greens runs a 22-acre farm in Duvall, east of Seattle. Starting in early summer and running through October, organizers operate six small markets throughout Seattle’s inner city Central District, where they sell the produce to the surrounding community.
In Washington, DC, social entrepreneur Ann Yonkers helped establish 10 farmers markets throughout the nation’s capital. Yonkers founded FreshFarm Markets to promote locally grown foods. The organization’s first market in Dupont Circle, established in 1992, now boasts a yearly customer base of more than 100,000 locals, and Yonkers has helped increased access to fresh and organic foods in much needed areas of the city.
To help get healthier food into food deserts, Veritable Vegetable sells its organic produce at cost or below to several farmers markets and co-ops in inner city neighborhoods in the Bay Area, including Phat Beets Produce in Oakland. This market aims to create a more equitable food system in urban communities by providing affordable access to fresh produce via the creation of farm stands, farmers markets and urban youth gardens.
Altogether, with the schools, farmers markets and foods banks it works with, Veritable Vegetable provides produce at cost (or below) to over 20 organizations in the Bay Area. The company also offers free webinars on sourcing wholesale organic produce and other topics through the Healthy Corner Store Network, a think tank that seeks ways to swap out sugar- and fat-laden foods at inner city corner stores with healthier products.
“I believe that in serving underserved communities, one day it is all just going to pop. As these people learn more about organic, they are going to grow the movement from the community level. Some people have been suspicious of ‘organic’ because of the perception that it was for the elite. But when their kids, who have been learning about organic in the community garden, come home and talk about composting and pesticides, they start seeing organic in a different light,” says company founder Nygrens. “Also, if we get some of the federal subsidies for conventional corn and soy off the table and give more support to organic farmers, then the true cost of food becomes more comparable. We all have to push for this on a legislative level.”
Urban Agriculture to the Rescue
Besides gaining access to farmers markets, those living in urban areas are also learning how to grow their own healthy, organic food through community gardens. One community leader that has garnered many accolades is Will Allen, a former professional basketball player, and now, through his organization Growing Power (www.growingpower.org), an organic gardening mentor to scores of inner city teens. Because of his work in Milwaukee and elsewhere educating urban youth how to grow sustainable food, Allen was named in 2010 one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the world.
“If people can grow safe, healthy, affordable food; if they have access to land and clean water, this is transformative on every level in a community. I believe we cannot have healthy communities without a healthy food system,” says Allen.
In awarding a $500,000 Genius Grant to Allen in 2008, the MacArthur Foundation said, “Will Allen is an urban farmer who is transforming the cultivation, production and delivery of healthy foods to underserved, urban populations … Allen is experimenting with new and creative ways to improve the diet and health of the urban poor.”
Other organizations bringing organic to the inner city: Denver-based Growhaus (www.thegrowhaus.com), an indoor farm, marketplace and educational center in Denver’s Elyria-Swansea neighborhood, whose goal is “to provide healthy, affordable food for the surrounding community and raise awareness about issues of food justice and sustainability.” Growhaus calls itself “an interactive urban farm and marketplace.”
Another program, launched by the Chicago Botanic Garden, is now in its eighth season. The Green Youth Farm (www.chicago-botanic.org/greenyouthfarm/) provides summer jobs for high school students and teaches them the value of eating healthy and locally grown organic food. The organic gardens are located in the city’s food deserts. Students gain skills in areas besides gardening as well, say Green Youth Farm organizers. They learn about teamwork, communications and career options in green industries, and they have the chance to see the impact of their work on their communities.
An upswing in gardening in general is leading people to more deeply understand the connection between the soil and food. Michelle Obama has helped spread the organic message by establishing the first White House organic garden. Victory gardens are back, she says, “except make them organic.” Over the last few years, the organic sector of the lawn and garden (L&G) market has experienced significant growth, and major garden centers are expanding the shelf for natural and organic L&G products. Market research firm Packaged Facts in January 2009 estimated that the organic L&G sector reached $460 million in retail sales in 2008, a gain of 12 percent over 2007.
Young Farmers Lead Us Into an Organic Future
As local CSAs, farmers markets and community gardens have proliferated, a new trend also has emerged, one that is making organic farming more attractive to a younger generation.
While the trend is too new to quantify, USA Today reports that there is an emerging movement in which young people, “most of whom come from cities and suburbs,” are taking up organic farming on small-acre farms throughout the country as an “honorable, important career choice.” Today, the USDA estimates the average age of the American farmer is 57, with more than 25 percent over age 65, so a return of young farmers is a promising, and needed, trend. To make local and organic food more accessible, it’s time to revive the small and midsize farms, which have been disappearing at alarming rates from the landscape, says the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) in a recent newsletter post, and that is exactly what a new generation of young sustainable farmers is doing.
“I’m seeing an enthusiastic group of young people all across the country who want to get into farming,” Fred Kirschenmann, a longtime organic and biodynamic farmer and fellow at the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University, told USA Today.
Three factors have made these small organic farms possible: a rising consumer demand for organic and local produce, a huge increase in the number of farmers markets nationwide and the growing popularity of CSA programs, says USA Today. The National Young Farmers’ Coalition (www.youngfarmers.org) is a new organization created by and for young and beginning farmers in the United States. A soon-to-be-released documentary, The Greenhorns (www.the greenhorns.net), explores the lives of America’s young sustainable farming community. Also, an international volunteer organization, Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms (www.wwoof.org), since 1971 has been connecting young workers with organic farms all over the world, where they gain hands-on experience in sustainable farming.
Bringing the Dream to Life
In order to truly change the food system, we must reach a wider scale of people on all levels of the socioeconomic spectrum. Making organic more accessible will take a multipronged proactive approach. It means working to ensure that organic food is available to school-age kids and families of all incomes. It means encouraging those living in inner city neighborhoods to learn about organic gardening and creating opportunities for young people on organic farms. It means continuing to educate consumers and increase awareness of the organic benefit while also working to make organic food more affordable and maintaining the integrity that the organic industry was founded on.
If each organic company takes an active approach to reaching out to consumers on all levels, from the supermarket shelf to the community soil, we can turn “organic for everyone” from a dream into a reality.
Steven Hoffman is a managing partner of Boulder, CO-based Compass Natural LLC (www.compassnatural.com), former director of the Organic Center and co-founder of the LOHAS forum. Hoffman brings 30 years’ experience in product sales, marketing, public relations, communications, research, event planning and strategic industry guidance to businesses with interests in the market for natural, organic, sustainable and socially responsible products and services. You can reach him at steve@compassnaturalmarketing.com.
Kat Schuett is the editorial director of Organic Processing Magazine. You can reach her at kat@organicprocessing.com.
