Global family: Reach out to the organic community.
Working the land is hard graft. Ask any farmer. Organic farming is even tougher. By its very nature, with the emphasis on the word nature, it is more labour intensive.
With the use of pesticides, herbicides and synthetic fertilisers out of the equation, farmers have to resort to traditional, sometimes backbreaking, methods to keep their soil fertile and their crops viable. These include crop rotation, covering soil with green manure and more hands-on work, such as hoeing and weeding.
It can be lonely, too. If you’re spending most of the daylight hours tending to a livelihood it doesn’t leave much time for networking or marketing, or all those other post-harvest steps that help keep a farm viable.
Similarly, although without the backache, if you’re a consumer trying to find local organic producers in your area it can be a bit daunting. Where do you start? Who can you trust? What does the label mean?
Producers and consumers both, however, have a powerful tool at their disposal, and you’re using it right now. There’s something prosaic about the fact that modern technology, via the information highway, is helping to bring together producers who have turned their backs on modern farming methods and consumers who are equally concerned about industrially farmed food.
There is a big wide world out there of people passionate about the organic movement, many of them who were involved way before it suddenly became de rigueur. Start simply by keying the words “organic foods” into Google and you’ll see what we mean – 3.6 million listings and growing. Of course not all of its relevant, or even positive – there is also a powerful anti-organic lobby with vested interests in GM production (but that’s a whole other story). But there is a wealth of valuable information, as well as great organisations to turn to for advice or support.
Find the organic certification bodies in your area. Get help with organic farming practices or marketing. Track down your nearest farmers’ market, if you’re lucky enough to live in an area with one. Source artisan organic produce – chocolate, olive oils and the like, as well as suggestions for dinner. There are all kinds of fabulous resources at your fingertips.
And, of course, TrustOrganicFood.com is here to help. Please tell us what you’d like to know more about and we’ll do out best to find out for you…
