Go down to Whole Food and plunk down $13 for chicory. See that's the real problem. It's not a fad, it's a lifestyle. And when it becomes too pricey people abandon it.

organic food is nice, tastes better, but you would starve if you tried to live on organic food with a poor person's budget. this is why one reason why processed fast food is so common for poor people. it is cheap and makes you feel full.

I gave up organic 2 years ago and haven't looked back.

By the year 2050, the number of people on Earth is expected to increase from the current 6.7 billion to 9.2 billion.

Any effective approach to feeding the world in an ecologically sustainable manner will require a combination of best practices and technologies.

Genetic engineering, combined with organic farming, may well be the best way to resolve the need for increased food production with the desire to minimize its impact.

In our new new book “Tomorrow’s Table: Organic Farming, Genetics, and the Future of Food,” Raoul (an organic farmer) and I (a geneticist) proposed that genetically engineered, organically grown crops offer a one-two punch for boosting food production in an environmentally conscious way. The process of genetic engineering can contribute to the development of improved seeds that organic farmers can use.

Genetic engineering enables the introduction of critically important traits into crop plants—traits such as resistance to disease and insects or tolerance for environmental stresses like flood, droughts, cold, heat and salty water and soils. It has been very difficult to develop these traits in crops through conventional breeding.

While it is important that we carefully evaluate each new genetically engineered crop on a case by case basis to assess nutritional, ecological or social consequences – it is equally important that we not ignore the potential that this technology offers for reducing fertilizers and pesticides in the environment.

Unnecessarily pitting GE and organic farming against each other only prevents the transformative changes needed on our farms. Without the use of genetically engineered seed, the impact of ecologically oriented farming practices will likely remain small. Despite tremendous growth in the last 15 years, organic farming is still less than 3 percent of all U.S. agriculture.



You're right, it's more than a fad but that doesn't make it immune to pricing. I wonder if the farmers who sell their products locally are switching to non-organic or is those who have to ship it all over creation to be in a Whole Foods or wherever.

I like to buy local produce because it's fresher, tastes better and supports the local economy. Organic isn't even the first priority for me. But there's only so much more I'm able to pay. My pockets are not endless deep. So sometimes I buy at the Farmer's Market or the food co-op but sometimes I don't.

I'm almost priced out of my local Farmer's Market. To be honest, I don't quite understand why the price of kale (and chard) has doubled in the last three years, from $1/bunch to $2/bunch. Other prices have gone up as well. I know fuel costs are higher, but it seems a little extreme.

When I buy at my local market, which has a whole section devoted for organic and local, prices are lower than the Farmer's Market. Something is out of wack.

My conclusion? Farmers at the Market are raising their prices to what the market will bear, and I don't have the income to compete.

Am I right, or are the costs really that much higher for those who sell at Farmer's Markets than those who sell bulk to grocery stores?

Based on the sheer number of people who suddenly embraced the enviro-look, I do believe that the bulk of organic foods purchasers were mere trend followers. It became another avenue of conspicuous consumption. Somehow, discussing a healthful diet morphed into bragging about how much you could afford to spend on food.

I think the end of the trend was walmart selling organic food. Suddenly the symbolism lost half its power.

As far as trends go, this one wasn't so bad. It didn't top up the land fills as much as the trend of swapping functional but unpopular stuff for earth toned stuff with green labels.

If you look, you might notice farmers markets cropping up like starbucks used to. I know a fair number of people who now talk about prowling farmer's markets whereas last year they proudly swung around whole foods reusable bags.

Your local market is probably just price matching.

In my area, prices are still low in the barrio. The scenesters don't go there.

That's what I suspected, but I suppose I had hoped my local market was immune. It's too bad, because I liked the mix of folks at that market. I've also noticed that the average age of the shoppers has increased, from student to mid-life professional.

In my quest to buy local, I will likely have to start shopping markets farther afield, with less organic fare.

Corn producers in the U.S. have massive subsidies - $28 an acre, while organic food producers have none. So organic food is more expensive because the government, dominated by agribusiness, doesn't want it to get help.

Time for ag subsidies to organic farmers. I myself have not stopped buying organice food, and I won't. I am also a member of a CSA - Community Supported agriculture, which produces exclusively organice food from a local farm in Wisconsin.

More collateral damage from an uncontrolled capitalist economy.

Some of us read the Guardian here too and already read this article.

What do the numbers for the US suggest ? Is there a similar drop ?

While I know myself, this isn't so much a lifestyle as a conscious choice - I'm not as sure about the rest of the Whole Foods shoppers.

Wait until energy prices start rising again. The petroleum-based fertilizers and pesticides required for standard industrial agriculture will get too expensive again and we'll see organic make a comeback, not because it's gotten cheaper, but because the real costs of industrial food will finally start to surface.