In my previous post I talked about organic seeds. Now I’m going to say some things about the term organic in general. In North America and most of the rest of the world organic is now a legally regulated term. In most cases it can only be used as part of a certification program. This certification program is very expensive, involves a lot of unnecessary paperwork and is designed to discourage farmers from saving and regrowing their own seeds. It’s time we as consumers learn to stop putting so much value into this term, and in fact we should really be a bit suspicious when it is used. The concept of organic is one we should embrace, but we should start getting used to other words being used to describe the concept.
Mike of Tiny Farm Blog recently posted about a new certification he is taking on, ‘Certified Natural’. In Europe the term ‘biological’ has the same meaning as organic, and is often used. Mike is considering giving up his organic certification.
The term Organic is increasingly becoming synonymous with factory farm and mass marketed products. While it does mean most pesticides and chemical fertilizers were not used, there are few guarantees anymore and it’s clear the system of certification hurts rather than helps small farmers. Certified organic products are certainly something to consider avoiding when not directly associated with a small farmer or if non-certified alternatives that were also produced without chemicals are also available.
I hear you on this one. I also read Mike’s post and I really dig (as always) the way he does things. Capitalism can be a bitch. The moment something seems cool and revolutionary and catches hold amongst the masses, big business has to commodify the hell out of it. The term “organic” has become so watered down and redistributed that it’s completely lost its meaning.
I agree with you. More and more, we’re relying on phrases such as “chemical and pesticide-free” and such, rather than the organic label. I just wish there were enforced and mandatory labeling of anything containing GM DNA…
I often avoid the word ‘organic’on my blog for just the reasons you mention here, Patrick. Sometimes it is hard to find another word but ‘natural’ is one I like and the whole small-grower thing is what it should be all about. I think ideally (ha, what a silly thing to say!) natural should be the norm and everything else should be labelled ‘unnatural’ or ‘mass produced’ or ‘environmentally destructive’ etc etc .
That would soon change the emphasis!
Whoever convinced the world that ‘conventional’ should refer to ‘unnatural’ and that ‘natural’ was somehow freaky!??
I love Kate’s idea–and not just because she has a great name, though that’s a plus.
I have another problem with “organic,” which is that in chemical terms it means “containing carbon,” so a number of “organic” fertilizers and amendments–anything made of rock, such as lime–are, in chemical terms, not organic, while oil and its derivatives, which are rich in carbon, ARE. I’m getting into some soil chemistry these days, so this conflation bugs me more and more, and as you can see, the slightest thing will set me off.
–Kate
Steph and I often have pet names for things, and since we have contact with a couple of languages on a day-to-day basis we are frequently choosing random words from different places when we talk with each other anyway. We are very inclined to play with words and language when we can.
Anyway, to make a long story short, our pet name for ‘non-organic’ foods is ‘inorganic’ for exactly the reasons the two Kates just mentioned. We have two local food markets, the organic one and the inorganic one.
It’s like our whole world has been taken over by marketing buzz words, and words with double meanings.
Most Dutch people when speaking English just won’t use the word organic, probably for this reason too. In Dutch there is a word for organic (as in chemistry) and they just know that it can’t be used to describe food, so they just can’t bring themselves to use it in English for fear of being wrong. They almost always refer to organic food as biological, which isn’t quite proper English these days and often not understood.
I agree the term organic has become almost meaningless if not insulting.
In France the term is biologique which makes me just think of weapons but most people I know would use the term Bio, which somehow feels ok, but still naming the stuff that is not natural is the way to go.
Bio – from Gk. bio-, comb. form of bios “life, course or way of living”
Hi Laura,
In Dutch it’s biologisch, and the Dutch too often say just bio. It must be the same in almost every European language. Growing up the the US, I remember coming across food marked ‘biological’, and I think it was mostly imported from Europe. Biological food was often sold along side biological-dynamical food.
I often wondered what the difference was between biological and organic food, and I later concluded it must have been the difference between UK and American English.
Didn’t they used to say biological in the UK years ago, before adapting the American English term organic?
I’m glad the peas I gave you are doing well!
In scandinavia (Denmark, Norway and Sweden) we use the word ecologic, in the sense that it doesn’t disturb the ecologic systems of nature. Organic and bio would be anything alive we feel.
I agree with you about the term ‘organic’, it now has as little meaning as ‘fresh’ or ‘homemade’ as a label. I was especially disappointed when the Henry Doubleday Research Association rebranded themselves ‘Garden Organic’. That’s about as lame as it gets.
But in defense of the Organic Gardening Catalogue, they do carry a wide selection of organic seed (75%?) and label the F1 varieties.
Does it concern you that if we all save our own seed, little companies like Kokopelli will disappear altogether? I wonder how much of their business relies on sales to the home gardener.
Søren,
The Dutch say ekologish (English is ecologic or ecological) too. The common organic certification around here is the EKO mark, which is an abbreviation of ecological. I almost never hear people use this in common everyday speech.
Misshathorn,
The Organic Gardening Catalogue doesn’t label their F1 variety of sweet corn, ‘Sweetie’ as an F1!
Loss of revenue when people save their own seeds was the justification for seed patents in the US, and seed registration in Europe. It’s as relevant now as it was to companies back then, and of course it’s an issue to companies like Kokopelli.
I think in the short term it has the potential to help companies like Kokopelli, because as more people become interested in seed saving they also buy more from seeds from these companies to get started with. Real Seeds for example publishes seed saving information on their website and states that they encourage their customers to save their own seeds.
Even people who save their own seeds buy them as well. Sometimes you just want to try something else, and buying it is the easiest thing to do. Sometimes you have a crop failure and lose your stock of seeds, and need to get started again. Some seeds like corn or biennials are troublesome to save your own seeds, and it’s just easier to buy them.
I don’t think seed saving is going to put companies that specialize in selling OP varieties out of business anytime soon. It’s of course something to watch out for. Perhaps this kind of company should be eligible for farming subsidies!
Yes I’ve just looked at the Organic Gardening catalogue online and I take your point. I have the print version which is much more informative and lists ‘Sweetie’ as F1 (non-organic).
Misshathorn:
It’s really not just a matter of overreacting to what could be considered a typo in their website, with a plant like corn which most people don’t save their own seeds anyway. These kinds of ‘small’ mistakes happen a lot with commercial seed companies.
Seeds of Change is a US seed company that has a very good reputation, in spite of selling a few F1s. In fact they grow most of their own seeds themselves.
I was recently emailing with someone in the US who probably bought some seeds that were completely mispackaged, and they were a totally different variety of bean than expected. A year after the purchase the mistake became apparent, but the gardener had really fallen in love with the mislabelled beans and wanted to save the seeds anyway.
An email exchange ensued, with lots of apologies, but a promise that even though they were different from what the package said, they were in fact suitable for seed saving. After planting them the second year, it became clear they had originally been F1s.
One year I wanted to grow a variety of pepper called California Wonder and save the seeds. All I could find was a variety called Yolo Wonder, and since I used to live in California I knew this was the name of a county there, and so was likely just a variation of California Wonder. Since the packet was not labelled an F1, I bought it and found out 2 years later that is was in fact an F1.
These kind of small mistakes, typos, misprints together with intentionally misleading packaging all add up to a lot of wasted time and frustration for a lot of gardeners. It’s genuinely the reason a lot of people give up on seed saving early on. Really the only way to avoid these problems is to choose a company that doesn’t sell anything but OP varieties.
It’s a bit like a vegetarian going to McDonald’s and expecting to get something nice to eat. It can be done, but really they are in the wrong place. It’s not that you can’t get nice seeds for saving from a company like The Organic Gardening Catalogue, but it’s really the wrong place to be looking. Rather, it’s a good place to go if you want to grow a commercial variety.
We have an organic market in the neighborhood on Saturdays. There was a stand this week with a number of products from different EU countries, and I was looking at the words used for organic in the different languages. In Spanish they seem to use ‘ecological’ and in Italian ‘biological’.
In Greece we use the word biological or bio