Organic Food Research

The organic food industry has been undergoing major shifts in power in the past decade. As America's largest food retailers have discovered the profitability of the "organic" label, they have been acquiring smaller organic food producers in an attempt to corner the organic market.

Once these markets are taken over by these global corporations, the local organic choices for the consumer become limited. The "organic" designation will become meaningless as large food retailers force smaller independent farms out of the market, either by choosing the cheap products created through factory farming, or charging retail shelf fees so high the local sustainable farm operations won't be able to afford to buy shelf space for their products.

The "cheapening of organic" seems to be inevitable when mega retailers like Wal-Mart get involved. The Wal-Mart business model of selling products below market prices is in direct conflict with the higher costs associated with organic farming methods. How can Wal-Mart sell organic products below market prices without taking a profit hit? The answer is that WalMart's definition of what is organic doesn't always match the national organic standards.

In the Spring of 2006, Wal-Mart announced it would dramatically increase its organic product offerings. While the hope was that the product volume driven by Wal-Mart's size would help grow sustainable farming, Wal-Mart has instead taken the low, cheap road. Instead of supporting the local small farmer, they have established partnerships with existing major agribusiness companies, most of which have no track record in the organic marketplace.

For instance, look at Wal-Mart's organic milk offerings. Wal-Mart has a relationship with Dean Foods, the nation's largest dairy processor, as an outlet for Dean's "Horizon brand" of organic milk. Dean/Horizon has been under intense scrutiny for sourcing as much as half of its milk from large industrial-scale dairies which milk as many as 10,000 cows in...