Pollan's Take on Organic Food at Wal-Mart
Yesterday's New York Times published an article by Michael Pollan (The Ominivore's Dilemma) on Wal-Mart's plan to carry organic foods (as designated by the USDA) at only 10 percent more than the regular price.
Pollan intelligently and eloquently explores the global costs and benefits of this move. He's my current person-to-look-up-to-and-admire; I can't say enough wonderful things about his work. Pollan's take has really aided my re-examination of my place in the food chain, and how food choices affect the environment.
If you haven't already, please read his article Mass Natural. (If you're not registered at NYT.com, Bug me not suggests "hahaguy" as the username and "secret" as the password.)
2 comments:
I recognize that organic foods will not add up to a higher percentage than "conventional" foods in my kitchen because of cost. With that said, I would rather spend the money for an organic food that has been grown or raised responsibly as opposed to where Walmart is going to be buying their "organic" foods from. What a crock of shit. Unless I read that wrong, Walmart is not going to carry organic foods for the better of their customers but instead so they can edge out the competition, therefore, edging out the farmers who are not cutting costs to supply their organic goods. Tell me I read that wrong.
Sadly, I don't believe your take on this is incorrect.
I can not help but hate WalMart. We have one in our town, and the next town over, and in the town 20 miles down the road. All three are hell-bent on becoming Super WalMarts, which we just don't need.
Not only will they drive out local businesses and put the squeeze on farmers but, once they've cornered the market, they have no reason to keep their prices low. So who, other than WalMart investors, does this benefit?
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