Pollan, M

=<div> <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/organic-agriculture-is-going-mainstream-2562961777.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/organic-agriculture-is-going-mainstream-2562961777.html</a><h1 class="widgetheadline h1" style="margin: 10px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; cursor: pointer; word-wrap: break-word; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a class="widgetheadline-text custom-post-headline" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/organic-agriculture-is-going-mainstream-2562961777.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; word-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; line-height: 31px;">Organic Agriculture Is Going Mainstream, But Not the Way You Think It Is</a></h1><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body js-update-url expanded" data-elid="2562961777" data-authors="The Conversation" data-headline="Organic Agriculture Is Going Mainstream, But Not the Way You Think It Is" style="margin: 10px; line-height: 24px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="body-description"><div class="widget__brief">By Jeremy L. CaradonnaOne of the biggest knocks against the organics movement is that it has begun to ape conventional agriculture, adopting the latter's monocultures, reliance on purchased inputs and industrial processes.</div><div class="js-appear-on-expand" style="transition: all 350ms; height: auto; overflow: hidden; opacity: 1;">"Big Organics" is often derided by advocates of sustainable agriculture. The American food authors <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/michael-pollan-american-capitalism-2528600739.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">Michael Pollan</a> and UCSC Julie Guthman, for example, argue that as organic agriculture has scaled up and gone mainstream <a href="https://michaelpollan.com/books/the-omnivores-dilemma/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">it has lost its commitment to building an alternative system for providing food</a>, instead "<a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520277465" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">replicating what it set out to oppose</a>."New research, however, suggests that the relationship between organic and conventional farming is more complex. The flow of influence is starting to reverse course.Practitioners of conventional agriculture are now borrowing "organic" techniques to reduce the use of pesticides, artificial fertilizers and excessive tillage, and to increase on-farm biodiversity, beneficial insects and soil conservation.All of a sudden, many conventional vegetable farms are starting to look organic.Organic Goes MainstreamNext to nothing has been written on this subject. A rare exception is a 2016 article in the New York Times that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/07/business/cover-crops-a-farming-revolution-with-deep-roots-in-the-past.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">profiled conventional farmers</a> in Indiana who had started to use "cover crops."These non-commercial crops build organic matter into the soil, fix atmospheric nitrogen and add biodiversity to an agroecosystem, while allowing farmers to reduce artificial fertilizer inputs.As organic agriculture has scaled up, it has gained credibility in the marketplace as well as on the farm. Organic farming has roots in market gardens and smaller farms, but there is nothing that prohibits organic production at larger scales.That often means bigger farms, hundreds—or thousands—of acres in size.This move toward the mainstream has caught the eye of many conventional farmers, who have either transitioned to certified organic production or begun to integrate organic practices on conventional plots.Market Share Not the Whole StoryEven <a href="https://ota.com/sites/default/files/By%20the%20Numbers%202016%20-%20March%202018%20.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">with the upscaling</a>, the market position of organic agriculture remains limited.In Canada, organic sales grow by nearly 10 percent per year, and the total value of the organic market is around $5.4 billion. Yet the reality is that the industry is still dwarfed by conventional agriculture.There are <a href="https://www.ota.com/canada-ota/what-cota-does/research-market-analysis" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">more than 4,000 certified organic farms in Canada</a>, totalling 2.43 million acres. But this accounts for only 1.5 percent of the country's total agricultural land.Also, aside from the two organic heavyweights—coffee (imported) and mixed greens (mostly imported)—<a href="http://www.certifiedorganic.bc.ca/docs/BC%20Organic%20Market%20Report%202013.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">the market share of organic groceries is pretty small, at around three percent</a>.Yet the influence of organics is felt well beyond its own limited market.Testing the Market...</div></div></div><div>=</div><div><a href="http://www.alternet.org/food/neil-degrasse-tyson-owes-fans-more-honest-conversation-about-gmos-food-evolution">http://www.alternet.org/food/neil-degrasse-tyson-owes-fans-more-honest-conversation-about-gmos-food-evolution</a></div><div>
</div><div></div><div>Although Byrne <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Immoral_Maize:Extract_from_Don't_Worry,It's_Safe_to_Eat_by_Andrew_Rowell" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: large; line-height: 22.1px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">appeared to be the campaign's chief architect,</a> its principal conduit was the lobby group AgBioWorld, overseen by the GM scientist CS Prakash.  The <a href="http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/dr-seralini-please-release-data/" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: large; line-height: 22.1px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">"ipetition" </a>on Seralini contains no information as to who sponsored it, but its first signatory is CS Prakash. Prakash also seems to have set up <a href="http://www.change.org/petitions/global-scientific-community-urge-dr-seralini-to-release-data-from-studies-on-biotech-corn-with-rats" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: large; line-height: 22.1px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">an earlier more primitive version of the petition</a>, which clearly identifies him as its sponsor.  Some time after GMWatch <a href="http://www.gmwatch.org/latest-listing/51-2012/14235" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: large; line-height: 22.1px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">flagged up </a>the likely role of Prakash and AgBioWorld in the ipetition, the organisation acknowledged its authorship <a href="http://presswire.einnews.com/247pr/309289" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: large; line-height: 22.1px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">in a press release </a>which asserted that "the petitioning scientists are calling on the publishing journal editors to retract the Seralini study" if he failed to give in to their demand that he hand over all his data.  The AgBioWorld press release contained a quote by Bruce Chassy, who was also <a href="http://www.change.org/petitions/global-scientific-community-urge-dr-seralini-to-release-data-from-studies-on-biotech-corn-with-rats" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: large; line-height: 22.1px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">the first signatory of the earlier Seralini petition</a>. Chassy was also<a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/henrymiller/2012/09/25/scientists-smell-a-rat-in-fraudulent-genetic-engineering-study/" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: large; line-height: 22.1px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"> the co-author of the Forbes piece</a>accusing Seralini of fraud.  The article's other author was Henry Miller, a darling of the rightwing press who operates out of the Hoover Institution, among <a href="http://www.gmwatch.org/latest-listing/51-2012/14255" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: large; line-height: 22.1px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">other industry backed lobby groups</a>. Miller, like Chassy, has long been associated with Prakash's AgBioWorld. Miller recently co-authored <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/henrymiller/2012/10/22/the-roots-of-the-anti-genetic-engineering-movement-follow-the-money/" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: large; line-height: 22.1px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">another vitriolic piece on GM for Forbes</a>, denouncing the "fear profiteers" of the anti-GM "protest industry". Miller's co-author on that occasion was none other than former Monsanto PR boss Jay Byrne of v-Fluence. Tellingly, Michael Pollan, the renowned New York Times food writer and professor of journalism at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, described the piece by Byrne and Miller as <a href="https://twitter.com/michaelpollan/status/260791206412423168" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: large; line-height: 22.1px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">a breathtaking example of "the Big Lie"</a>.</div><div>==</div></div>