by Buck Denton
Are organic foods better or worse than those produced via the mechanization process, which use petroleum based fertilizers? There are two issues I would like to discuss. First, in terms of sustainability small organic farms as a single unit provide a much more sustainable product to the organic market than larger corporate entities because small organic farmers are typically more intimately connected to the soil they work by methods such as composting and even aesthetic design. In addition small organic markets are typically local but very seasonal. However small organic markets represent a more sustainable source of produce than larger corporate entities.
The second reason why large-scale organic farming remains unsustainable is due to the large amounts of organic material needed to replace what petroleum based fertilizers provide. One form of a replacement is taken unsustainably from oceans via pair trawling (fishing vessels with large nets that run on diesel or gasoline). Pair trawlers target various small and large pelagic fish. Smaller pelagics such as herrings and mackerel can be made into fishmeal thus fertilizer. Therefore, there exists a readily supply of organic fertilizer for organic farms.
Industrialized fishing in the form of pair trawling can result in the harvest of herrings and mackerels in the hundreds of thousands of pounds in a single tow. These small schooling fish play a key role. Socio-economically, they provide food and bait for coastal communities and recreational fishers. Ecologically, these fish form a critical link between plankton and the animals that prey on herring.
Most importantly, uncontrolled harvesting can result in collapsed fisheries, thus creating conflicts between different fisheries. For example, some argue that the decline of high quality sushi grade giant bluefin tuna that are targeted in the Gulf of Maine results from a decreasing availability of prey species, which are arguably being overfished, disturbed thus displaced. Therefore, the theory goes tuna a very active species (they can regulate their body temperature) are chasing fewer large schools but more further in between smaller schools of their preferred oily prey. The preferred diet of mackerel and herring results in a high-energy yield thus fat content. To counter act anthropogenic activities, bluefin tuna may be relying more on “junk-food” in the form of less desirable prey species such as haddock or sand lance. As a result, it has been found by analyzing the logbooks of commercial tuna graders that tuna are becoming leaner. Fat makes tuna tasty and it is an important indicator of health. Although commercial fishing vessels do not typically target a species to supply the organic market, the organic market certainly receives byproducts from commercial fishing practices. Certainly, any future strict organic labeling must consider how sustainable the agriculture product really is thus considering how the crops or livestock are fed.
Fishmeal is also used to supplement livestock feed. The fish are not necessarily targeted specifically for agricultural means but are more commonly targeted for bait or to make products such as omega-3 fatty acid dietary supplements. Therefore, the carcasses as a byproduct from making another product are made into fishmeal for agricultural purposes. Waste not? Sure. Sustainable? No. Because there exists the link between organic farming, a practice that is perceived as sustainable to an unsustainable practice, which can have far reaching consequences in ecological processes such as the food web.
I believe the best organic foods are always locally produced under small scale farming conditions. Small-scale organic farming communities found throughout the United States as a single unit can supply a more sustainable product to the consumer. Anything else is hogwash. The most important principle to take away is because food was organically produced that does not mean it was sustainably produced. For further reading see Slate Magazine’s “Is Whole Foods Wholesome? The dark secrets of the organic-food movement” and COSMOS magazine’s article entitled “Organic food exposed.”
