This is a photo of the signage by our lettuce, at one of the Whole Foods stores in Cambridge. We mainly do the CSA, but also have a few wholesale accounts like with WF.Here's the tricky thing: we're not certified organic, and WF only has, apparently, two categories for their food: conventional and organic. You can't legally use the organic label if you're not certified, but we're so far from conventional - we use no pesticides or herbicides, and no petroluem-based synthetic fertilizers. We use organic seed and potting soil, and we use, broadly around the whole farm, sustainable methods for growing: taking care of the soil and the land.
WHY does Whole Foods need to put us in the "conventional" category? They're certainly not paying conventional prices for our lettuce. The sign is great - it's beautiful, and the main thing it notes is that we're local, which is the most important thing anyway. But we still got a little "conventional" in the upper corner. Maybe there's some educating we can do with their otherwise-great marketing folks... Ideas??
Also, check out this post from Boston Localvores on the same subject.
2 comments:
as a separate tangent, they also don't let their workers unionize, which isn't real great.
Here's another good post on the topic (from Bifurcated Carrots: Replacing the Term Organic). Its not necessarily a great thing to be termed "organic" anymore.
I keep watching for your lettuce in WF! Even though my garden is way overproducing right now. Its great to see you are selling to a large market.
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