The forces behind Eat My View, which collected more than 100,000 signatures, and other similar campaigns must have been rubbing their eyes at the sight of Michelle Obama armed with a shovel on the White House lawn.

She had come to turn the sill on an organic garden; their dream was becoming a reality.

The White House is giving over a sizeable chunk – 1100 square feet in fact – to plant 55 different vegetables, fruit, berries and herbs year round (in keeping with the seasons, of course).

Most of its produce will cater for the White House and visiting dignitaries but some will also be donated to a soup kitchen down the road.

Launching the project, Mrs Obama said she wanted her daughters to eat healthy food and be reminded of where food comes from.

It’s a message the supporters of Eat My View, including prominent activists Michael Pollan and Alice Waters, have been pushing for years. Everyone needs to look at the source of their food and eat as locally as possible. And who better to lead from the front than the new president and his family?

Organic Places To Stay – UK & Ireland
by Linda Moss 

Travellers plan their itinerary around golf courses, national parks and landmarks, so why not purveyors of organic fare?

The author set about putting an organic accommodation guide together after finding that no such beast existed in the UK. What began as an online exercise has now spawned the third edition of a book packed with almost 500 options, including at least 170 new ones.

A long-term “organic vegetable box coordinator”,  Linda clearly has a passion for all things organic. She has scoured the length and breadth of the land for small hotels and B&Bs that offer some or all organic fare. 

The listings also include self-catering accommodation – colour-coded brown to differentiate from the “green” hotels and B&Bs – from which guests can access organic fare nearby.

Like many guides, it is divided into regions and includes a brief description of the type of accommodation, as well as short-cut symbols to the services on offer, such as whether or not it is suitable for children or dogs. 

Unlike most guides, however, half of the symbols refer to organic categories, such as “meals containing organic produce available on site”; “meals containing organic produce available within five miles” and “organic produce available on site”; and “organic produce available within five mlles”.

So if you prefer a self-catered holiday to keep down costs, you could opt for the Coach House at Bashall Eaves, set on “an organic and conservation-minded hill farm in the idyllic and relaxing environment of the Forest of Bowland”. There you can enjoy a Lancashire breakfast hamper of organic and local produce, as well as home-produced organic beef and “pick your own” organic vegetables. Sounds heavenly.

To the manor born: Nash Manor is just one of hundreds of holiday options with an organic bent.

On the other hand, if you’d rather be waited on hand and foot – and let’s face it, we all want that some time – you might prefer to head to Steyning in Sussex where Nash Manor offers beautiful rooms on eight acres, and promises to deliver at least 75 percent organic fare. You will also be served fresh herbs and vegies from their own gardens and eggs from their chickens. This family-run business says they are “committed to protecting the environment in whatever way we can and have achieved the Gold Award with the Green Tourism Business Scheme”. Sound tempting?

Regardless of your holiday preference – and camping is also amply covered for those who like to “rough it” (count me out) – there is a veritable feast inside in this book. Who would have thought there would be so many options? Start planning your organic getaway now…

Easy to Make: Haloumi kebabs are just one of the delights you can learn to make at Recipease.

Jamie Oliver must get very little sleep. Either that or the ingenious chef has an army of worker bees constantly turning over ideas for his consideration.

His latest venture, Recipease, is about to launch in the UK. Like so many of his ideas (the school canteen overhaul and Pass it On recipe movement, for example), the concept is brilliant, yet oh, so simple you wonder why it hasn’t been done before. (Or maybe it has, and they just don’t have the profile of this knockabout lad.) 

This one-stop food shop-cum-cooking-school takes away many of the barriers to eating freshly-prepared, good quality meals, providing, of course, you happen to be lucky enough to live nearby. The emporium becomes your kitchen, complete with personal shoppers and assistants. All you need to do is book ahead.

Don’t know what to cook tonight? Choose from hundreds of delicious Jamie offerings on the website. Don’t have time to shop for the ingredients? Jamie’s staff will have it all chopped and prepared for you when you arrive in store. Not sure if you’re doing the right thing? His staff are on hand to assist. Don’t have time to cook it? With all the preparation done for you, it should only take about 10 minutes to cook the dish up in Jamie’s kitchen and the staff will pack it for you to take home. Jamie calls it Easy To Make.

If you want to take it a bit further, there are cooking classes, Easy To Learn.  Choose from Get Learning, one hour sessions covering useful skills such as how to chop,slice and dice to making a basic tomato base; Get Cooking, one and a half hours of learning to make a Jamie recipe from scratch; or Get Creative, a two-hour session that helps you take your skills in the kitchen to a whole new level.

Like the man says, “If you’re going to eat three times a day for the rest of your life, you might as well learn to cook properly and enjoy it.”

In keeping with Jamie’s community spirit, Recipease is also promoting Easy to Know, which basically means the shop wants to be a source of inspiration for ideas and recipes as well as sharing what’s going on in the local area and with food in general.

For those of you too busy to spare even in a few minutes in the kitchen, or simply grabbing some food at the last minute on the way home, there is a range of freshly prepared meals in-store to take away. This is, of course, called Easy To Go.

And, Jamie promises, that all food at Recipease will be sourced with the utmost responsibility. “For us, an ingredient doesn’t just have to taste amazing, it has to be have been grown or raised, then delivered to our shops, in a way that we can all feel good about.”  In other words, with the chef favouring organic, locally grown, fresh and in-season produce you can forget processed foods chock full of additives and preservatives.

Yes, as I’ve written before, he has his critics, but you have to admire a chef so passionate about getting people to spend a little time thinking about something so central to our lives – and our livelihoods – and making it as accessible as possible. Just wish he’d open a Recipease around the corner from me.

The first shop, in London’s Clapham Junction, opens on February 26. Stay tuned for more to follow – it will go gangbusters. See Jamie Oliver’s official website for more details on Recipease.

Fresh is best: "Deep green" consumers will stand by the organic food sector. Picture: ILoveButter

First the bad news. As previously reported, growth in the organic food sector has slowed considerably as a result of the economic downturn. This is particularly true in countries regarded as the heavy hitters in the industry – the United States, France, the United Kingdom and Germany.

In the US, for example, sales were up 5.6 percent on the previous year last December, compared with 25.6 percent growth a year earlier. In Germany, growth has slowed from 14 percent in late 2007 to 10 percent late last year. In Britain, the mood was even more sombre, with a drop from 16 percent to a mere 2 percent last November.

But here’s the good news. While the industry has clearly taken a big hit worldwide, it is growing, which is more than can be said of much of the economy. And, apart from Britain, where some pundits predict sales will go into the red, the outlook is for continued growth.

Tom Pirovano, director of industry insights at market research firm The Nielsen Co, told Reuters news agency that he believed most organic consumers were committed to the sector.

“I’m not convinced that we are going to see big declines in organics any time soon,” he said.

Ronnie Cummins, national director of the Organic Consumers Association, agrees that core supporters are simply not prepared to return to a highly-processed diet.

“They are trying to stretch their money but they are not willing to stop buying organic,” he said. “We think in the long run the prognosis is good. The energy crisis and climate change can only really be addressed with organic production.”

Similarly, in Germany and France, the mood is one of optimism. Elisabeth Mercer, the head of Agence Bio, the country’s main organic food group, says demand is still rising.

“In Europe, apart maybe from the UK where the market seems more fragile, I do not believe there will be a drop in consumption this year although growth rates may be less spectacular,” she said.

Even in the UK, Patrick Holden, the director of the Soil Association, the country’s leading organic certifying body, remains upbeat, particularly about local organic produce.

Like Ronnie Cummins, he draws the distinction between “deep green”, or committed, consumers and “light green”, or swinging, consumers. He says the former constitute 80 percent of demand for organic produce and make their choices based on health and environmental reasons not cost. These, he believes, are in for the long haul.

Renowned American farmer and proponent of small-scale organic farming Eliot Coleman is the keynote speaker at the Canadian Organic Growers’ Eco Farm Day. The former executive director of IFOAM, who was also an advisor to the US Department of Agriculture, is the author of The New Organic Grower, regarded as a bible for organic farming. Other highlights of the two-day event include 19 workshops, some in French, and a trade show. Topics range from market gardening to field crops, livestock and business management. For more details see the Canadian Organic Growers’ official site.

Start Date: 2009-02-27
End Date: 2009-02-28

Indeed, despite the historic change in the White House, some organic campaigners fear more of the same under President Barack Obama.

They point to the Monsanto advisers on his team as evidence he was less inclined to listen to the grass roots than his rhetoric might have led some to believe.

And they believe the charismatic 44th President showed his hand even further, when he announced former Iowa Governor, Tom Vilsack, as his choice for Secretary of Agriculture.

As rumours grew that Vilsack was the hot favourite for the job, a petition began circulating opposing his appointment.

Critics claim he is a friend to biotechnology (he was the industry’s governor of the year back in 2001) and is unlikely to promote a change in national food policy.

Rather, he has a record of supporting the likes of Monsanto in its bid to control seed production and push the development of GM crops.

Oddly enough, “Big Organic”, along with some NGOs and other activists started a counter campaign in support of Obama’s man.

Even those who don’t necessarily believe he is the worst choice Obama could have made, however, don’t see him as a force for change.

“Vilsack isn’t likely to lead U.S. food/agriculture policy in new, more sustainable and socially just directions, wrote commentator Tom Philpott on environmental site Gristmill in the midst of the debate. “At least not without a real push from below… he has been a fervent booster of the genetically modified seed and biofuel industries – both of which proffer what I think are dead-end “solutions” to environmental problems and offer little to any but the largest-scale and most commodity-oriented farmers.”

His appointment was officially confirmed just hours after Obama took the oath of office.

In the lead-up to Obama’s big day, there were many prominent voices calling on him to take food more seriously. Leading commentator Michael Pollan wrote an open letter to the incoming president, urging him to act as “Farmer in Chief”, while foodie Alice Waters led a campaign for a “Kitchen Cabinet”, asking the White House to lead the way on healthy, sustainable cooking.

Then there is the much publicised push to get the new president to set up an organic garden at the White House.

All dreams that few now believe will become a reality, despite reports the new First Lady favours organic produce.

Perhaps the election of an African-American to the highest office in the land was shock enough. Organic farming as the way of farming might be a step too far.

Los Angeles billionaire Ronald Burkle announced that he had bought a seven percent stake in Whole Foods over the past few months, news that saw the share price rise almost 23 percent to $12.27.

Burkle, who also bought a similar stake in Barnes & Noble book chain via his Yucaipa Co investment arm, believes shares in the United States’ leading organic retailer have been undervalued

Filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Burkle said “there are substantial opportunities for the company to improve operations and its pricing image while maintaining its high-quality product offering”.

Sometimes nicknamed Whole Paycheck for the perception that the chain is overpriced and therefore only for those with high disposable income, Whole Foods has certainly been feeling the pinch as the American recession bites deeper.

Shares dropped more than 75 percent in 2008 and net income fell $1.5 million to the quarter ended September 28, down from $34 million in the same period a year earlier.

The Austin-based company has also been embroiled in expensive legal battles with the Federal Trade Commission over its acquisition of rival Wild Oats.

The Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York hosts its 27th annual conference. With the motto “Meals without wheels – revitalising our local, organic foodshed”, NOFA-NY aims to bring consumers and farmers closer together through demonstrations and education. The organisation welcomes organic gardeners and farmers, farmers interested in converting to sustainable methods, and consumers interested in supporting the development of organic farming in the region. Organisers of the annual conference promise more than 80 workshops and more than 75 exhibitors. For more details visit NOFA-NY’s website.

The world organic fair turns 20 this year.  Organisers will defy the pervading economic gloom to showcase the best of an industry that topped $US40 billion in sales in 2007. Last year’s Biofach attracted more than 2700 exhibitors and more than 46,000 visitors, with high hopes to build on those numbers for an extra special birthday party. Among the big attractions will be the Wine Hall, hosting more than 340 organic winemakers from around the world; a special Fairtrade and certified organic cultivation section; and the Novelty Stand, which displays the latest in organic innovation. There will also be plenty of prestigious awards up for grabs, including BioFach’s International Wine Award and the second annual Olive Oil Award. Denmark will be the fair’s Country of the Year and with its population spending more per person on organic fare than any other European Union nation it’s a fair choice. For more details, visit the official Biofach website.

Here's cheers: Shake off the blues and raise your glasses to an organic year. Picture: dotw

It was in retrospect, to paraphrase Mr Dickens, the best of times. Slowly awaking to the scale of society’s environmental and health problems, more of us were taking a closer look at the source of our daily bread.

Who made it? Where was it made? What was it made with? Should I be eating it?

Organic was no longer a “hippy” term, but had become hip. Speciality stores were popping up all over the place. Hell, even the local supermarket had organic ranges. Organic had gone mainstream. 

With double digit growth year on year, the organic food sector – a fiesty David in the land of Goliath – was the envy of the rest of the food market.

And then came the Crash. Or Recession. Or Downturn. Call it what you like, depending on where you live and your circumstances, but there is little doubt 2008 knocked the stuffing out of more than the world’s banks.

As one financial institution after another crumbled around us, citizens previously preoccupied with the size of their bottoms were suddenly more worried about the bottom line. Can I afford to spend the extra to eat better? What if I don’t have a job tomorrow? 

By the end of 2008, many pundits, particularly those with interests vested elsewhere, were tipping the demise of the organic sector. “Ha! We told you it was just a fad, an elitist food concept designed to make the rest of us feel guilty about what we eat.”

So as we embrace the New Year, is that outlook as bleak as some would have you believe?

There is little doubt the industry has been affected. Those who regard organic as a discretionary spend, a “nice” thing to do if you’ve got the extra cash, were quick to cut back. It was certainly scary to see so many resorting to cheap fast “food”, seeing the multinational chain’s profits soar as falls were felt in healthier spheres.

But the doomsayers ignore the fact that for an increasing number of people organic is not an optional extra. The food they feed their families has become a number one priority. They would rather stint on new clothes or replacing the old telly than sacrifice the quality of their food. These people are not fairweather friends.

“The core organic consumers are sticking with their values,” the Organic Trade Association’s Barbara Haumann said recently. “They will shop around, or find other things they can cut.”

With soaring energy costs, the gap between organic and non-organic food prices has closed, as organic methods typically use far less energy in production and packaging.

There are certain organic products that will do better than others. In Australia, for example, business analysts IBISWorld tip a big year for organic dairy and chocolate, and a trend toward “greener” meat choices, such as chicken and pork, and ethical eggs. 

In the US, the American National Restaurant Association has put organic produce, wine and cocktails in its top 20 trends, with locally grown produce at the top of the list.

Outside the all-important consumer, there has also been a groundswell of support for organic among some big international players. 

In April 2008, the results of a six-year global investigation involving heavyweights such as the World Bank, WHO and UNESCO, concluded that the way most of food is still produced is simply not sustainable.

The International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTAD), which involved some 400 scientists, government agencies and community groups, urged the world to abandon its reliance on petrochemical fuels and pesticides and embrace more sustainable farming systems. “Modern agricultural practices have exhausted land and water resources, squelched diversity and left poor people vulnerable to high food prices.” 

In October, the United Nations issued a report that showed, contrary to one of the common arguments put forward by organic opponents, organic farming can feed the world. In fact, Organic Agriculture and Food Security in Africa argued that it offered the best solution for food stability in that troubled continent. There were already signs of success – an analysis of 114 projects in 24 African countries found that yields had more than doubled in those that used organic or near-organic methods.

So while the best of times are behind us for the moment, we need not fear the worst. Double digit growth may be a thing of the past but the industry is still growing. This is simply another hurdle in what has already been a long and tortuous path for the organic movement.

Too many of us now know the importance of securing a better way for the future. We know what we eat today affects so much more than our bottom lines (and bottoms). Most importantly, more of us care enough not to abandon this particular food fight.

Here’s to a happy, prosperous – and sustainable – 2009.