Organic

Yes, it's a snowy day in Vermont. And maybe that gives a farmer in April too much time to think. But it's also that time of year when we still have time to think, so:

Over the past two or three weeks I've been confronted with the National Organic Standards, from both the production side and the selling side. On both ends I've seen fraudulence occur (not from people, but situations). On the production end the standards have Farmers using products they would feel better not using (for the environmental costs) in order to maintain either just the idea of standards in general or this particular one. And then we have the marketing side, wherein the fraud isn't so complicated. Let's just say it's compromising. I feel like the government has effectively done its job, really ripping apart any capabilities the movement, agricultural philosophy, social power, had.

I feel like I'm watching F is for Fake. We see that symbol above levels of trust are automatically there. I guess what's been disturbing is to see that trust abused (though I'm not sure any farm could live up to what the general public has been told is organic).

That said, I was hoping to gather comments, hopefully some of them positive, about why they think the standards work. So comment.