Mischa Popoff, an IOIA Advanced Organic Inspector in a book "Is it Organic?" said that the main problem is related to the bodies that approve the logos, for organic or fair trade foods. Its an open secret that the industry is characterised by widespread bribery and shadowy business deals. Farmers and indigenous people are being lied to, promised the earth and stolen from.

This report in Down To earth confirms what we all know. The premium attached to organic food is not for the masses but for the small affluent pockets within the country and export economies who already have agriculture surpluses.

http://devconsultancygroup.blogspot.in/2012/05/organic-agriculture-suffe...

The sustainable agriculture story must be written about constantly like this piece in DTE. These "good" stories are essential so all of us realise that we can make a change as consumers and producers. However, while cities and towns are seeing a spurt in restaurants and organic shops the livelihood story of small and marginal farmers is still bleak. From personal experience working with small and marginal farmers to promote agroecological practices in farming, it is evident that (i) there is no market incentive for small farmers located far away from cities and towns to move towards sustainable farming (ii) even those who are located proximal to towns and cities are not able to access supply channels to the organic stores (iii) small farmers, unless they are organised into collectives by NGOs, do not have the resources to leave their farms and convey their produce to markets. If the "organic revolution" or rather the "sustainable farming" revolution is to really make a difference to the livelihood of the small producer and therefore the land and water resources, significant State support in the form of support for inputs (seed, labour, microirrigation, storage areas etc.) and of course well organised market links must be provided. Otherwise, I am afraid it will remain yet another example of environmental elitism which is increasingly emerging as the the new "caste system".

Good article.

In this context I would like to put some hard facts -- In my view point the two greatest criminals of India, Shri. C. Subramayam the then Central Agriculture Minister and Dr. M. S. Swaminathan the then chief of agriculture were responsible for the present day Indian farmers’ miseries.

They looked at short term increase in food production with hidden agenda of long term grains to Western MNCs as this technology was tailored to highly subsidize chemical inputs. Like a coin which has tail and head, any technology has both positive and negative aspects. In the adaptation of green revolution technology to India these two looked at positive side – increasing the food production to meet the immediate needs – but over looked at the long term consequences of this technology – negative side – on environment and humans.

This technology destroyed the environment and human health beyond restoration. This technology destroyed bio-diversity and thus traditional agriculture, which was environment friendly and provide good and healthy food. The green revolution technology is non-environment friendly and bad and unhealthy food. Fortunately, African’s kept this technology away while Asians who sub-serve the West adapted this.

The traditional agriculture technology was a soil and weather driven with animal husbandry forming a major component; while green revolution technology is irrigation and industry driven --chemical inputs & seed. The former benefits the farming community while the later benefits the business community. To improve the economy of farming community, we must reverse our agriculture system and adapt traditional agriculture system that in fact reduces drastically the wasteful expenditure running in to lakhs of crores each year by governments in terms of subsidy and loans that can be better utilized in the building up of rural infrastructure in terms of storage facilities, education, health care, roads/transport, food processing, etc.

Dr. S. Jeevananda Reddy

Your cover story "Organic Boom" has surpassed my expectations with such wonderful articles. Your wonderful reportage does two things in one go: encourages us ...and helps us grow, organically.
I would like to bring in some more examples of people who are working for organic. They are Sachin Desai, who is promoting organic agriculture and PGS with Nai Talim through his organization, Syamantak- School Without Walls. www.syamantak.org; Ms. Smita Shirodkar, a management professional whose father owns and runs the Murphy electronics producing company. She is promoting organics among the urban Mumbai dwellers.There are plenty of others doing their work happily and silently, like Dr. Sultan Ismail at New College, Chennai; Jayant Barve in Vita-Sangli; Dr. Bharatendu Prakash in Chhatarpur, Bundelkhand [M.P./U.P border], Vikram Rawat in Himachal Pradesh, Anita & Kalyan Paul in Ranikhet; Joy Daniel in Bidkin-Aurangabad; Mary & Bablu Ganguli in Anantpur, Andhra Pradesh; Dr PV Satheesh in Medak, Andhra Pradesh; Mathew John in Kotagiri-Nilgiris; Rony Joseph in Kottayam-Kerala; Dr N Devakumar at the University of Agricultural Science, Bengaluru and plenty of others.

I would like to clarify that I am still a part of OFAI and member of the PGS Organic Council through the Botanical Society of Goa. However, I left the position of "Additional Director" at OFAI Central Secretariat and resigned as Secretary of PGS Organic Concil for the sake of the organizations. Thank you and may your tribe increase and populate the Earth, naturally.

Organic Boom is an introspection on how Organic Agriculture works in India. India's premier institute ICAR has not done any research for promoting organic agriculture and its attitude too seems to be disgusting. The incident described in the story on how ICAR snubs organic is an irony as agriculture is not about technology only.
The authors Latha and Jyotika have done a good job. It would be now more intresting to read on various Organic systems prevalent in different areas of the country which still have to tab market potential. Eg: in my state Meghalaya, largely agriculture is organic but the produce is sold normally in the market.
I would request the authors to do bringin North East India also in picture as the region is still unexplored.

There's no choice but for Organic to grow... we can't just sit around an complain when we read another report on how many chemicals there are in our food or how adulterated our milk is. As consumers we need to raise the alarm and raise the demand for healthy and safe food.
www.esvasa.com works in that direction ... making our readers aware about the what why and wherefore of organic food. Let's hope the organic community supports eachother to increase awareness and health!

Excellent article on Organic Universe in general and Food in particular.
A 2011 survey by the Organic Trade Association found that more than threequarters—78 percent—of U.S. families are buying organic food, up from 73 percent in 2009. Forty percent of families say they are buying more organic food now than they were a year ago.
In 2010, the U.S. organic food and beverage industry grew at a rate of 7.7 percent, posting total sales of $26.7 billion. In comparison, growth in total U.S. food sales stagnated at 0.6 percent. Organic food accounted for four percent of the $673 billion food industry in 2010.
Since 2000, the U.S. organic food industry has grown exponentially. In 2000, organic food sales totaled $6.1 billion and represented a mere 1.2 percent of total food sales. From 2000 to 2010, the organic food industry grew at an average rate of 16.5 percent per year, compared to 3.25 percent average annual growth in the overall food industry.Organic food sales in the U.S. comprise nearly half of global organic food sales.
The global organic market reached $54.9 billion in 2009, more than triple the $18 billion recorded in 2000.In Turkey also interest on Organic Foods is on the increase:
“After scandalous news articles about food, people now have more faith in organic products,” said Demirci, while Sümerli -- who is also the chairman of the Istanbul-based Organic Product Producers and Industrialists Association -- maintained that the consumer identifies organic foods more and more with health. He quotes the consumers: “Yes, organic foods are a little expensive, but we think we do the right thing by spending on food some of the money which we would spend on health in later years.” What Uygun Aksoy, professor at Ege University ‘s faculty of agriculture, told Sunday’s Zaman in connection to this is quite revealing. “Should people have major concerns regarding food safety, then organic foods are perceived primarily as healthy foods,” she said, confirming that it’s food safety that is at the top of the agenda in Turkey. But in countries such as Norway, Sweden and Denmark, where food safety is already of a high standard, most people buy organic products to help protect the environment. In big cities, the number of people shopping at organic markets, which are open once a week and where the prices of most vegetables and fruits are only about 20 percent higher than that of the conventional foods, has also increased. Leyla Ünlübay, project coordinator for ecological marketplaces at the İstanbul-based Buğday Association, told Sunday’s Zaman that the number of visitors has increased by 10 to 15 percent in recent months. Like many other people from the organic sector, she also believes this is an indicator of people’s increasing awareness about the food they consume.
People’s preference for organic foods is not without merit. In terms of nutrition, apart from being free of chemicals, organic foods have a clear edge over conventional products. Milk contains both omega-3 and omega 6 fatty acids; however, while omega 3 is known to protect blood vessels, omega 6 has a blocking role. “In the milk of livestock which feed on grass out in the fields, omega 3 is the dominant element in the fatty acid balance, whereas the opposite is true for livestock kept in industrial farms. So, the fat you get from industrially produced milk has a negative quality to it,” Mustafa Kaymakçı, another professor at Ege University’s faculty of agriculture, told Sunday’s Zaman.”(Interest in organic products considerably increases after scandalous food stories, Today’s Zaman, 13 May 2012 / AYDIN ALBAYRAK, ANKARA).
Here is interesting facts on Organic Vs normal foods:
Answer 1: Nope. A meta study published three years ago in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (July 29, 2009) and discussed in a previous Science 2.0 article arrived at the same conclusion

Question 2: Which type of food is free of organic pesticide residue? Which has levels below permissible levels?

Answer 2: According to the same Stanford group which examined 223 studies involving either pesticides or nutrients, 62% of conventionally grown food and 93% of organically grown fruits and vegetables had no pesticide residues. In almost all cases the levels of pesticides were below permissible levels.

Question 3: Which meats, organic or conventional, are less likely to be contaminated by harmfulE. coli bacteria?

Answer: Neither. The common culprits, regardless of farming methods, were chicken and pork.

Question 4: For organic meat, is there less a possibility that it will be contaminated by at least 3 bacteria types that are resistant to antibiotics?

Answer 4: Yes, 33% less likely, but there are probably no clinical consequences to this, according to the authors.

Question 5: Did the authors find any long term studies of the health benefits of eating organic versus conventionally grown food?

Answer 5: Nope! In the last fourteen years, organic food in the United States has grown from a $3.7 billion to a $24.4 billion business. But the growth has been based on a combination of misinformation (with regard to nutritional content) and a mixture of fear and possibly over cautionary principles (organic food, overall, does have less pesticide residue, but we don't know if the small amounts are actually harmful.),[ Another Meta Study on Organic Foods By Enrico Uva | September 3rd 2012,Science2.0 Join the Revolution].
In India Organic Farming has long history. Here are some Examples:
ORAGANIC AGRICULTURE, please visit this website.http://www.savesanghavi.com/ There are Two persons Mr. Save and Mr. Sanghavi are actively in same business for last 20-25 years, and from Gujarat (Umbergaon –near navsari). They have made almost 7-8 farms after success in 1 farm. You can visit the site and find out more how they did that, they have mentioned everything. They have written one book also in gujarati and English for our farmers based on their experiences and techniques, I request you all to buy that and give it to your village relatives who are active in agriculture business.
*I would like to quote one instance from the book………They give the weed (Nindaman) from their farm to one dairyman who has some 20-25 cows & buffalos, this continue to almost 4-5 years and one day they changed their mind and refuse the dairyman to give weed from farm. Surprisingly that dairyman asked them to pay any buck for that weed as his cows and buffalos after eating that weeds for years never got ill and become 2-3 times more productive

There are some known myths about organic farming,which are unfounded:1) Myth: Production will be less in organic farming:
Actual: It is totally depend on which techniques you have used, and if production is less in first phase any reason, it will be definitely increased in next lot. We need to also change accordingly and implement the same with experienced person. Here one have to also look at the point that we are getting high quality, at less price; so don’t hope for bumper production in first phase, later on it will be there for sure.
2) Myth: Organic products are very costly in market
Actual: Actually in organic farming the production cost is very much low compared to current ones, but some business minded people in the name of quality make it higher price. We can sell our products at much lower rates ( I have plans to do the same in future).
3) Myth: It uses worms, I don’t like that.
Actual: There are many more optional methods available in organic farming, like cow dung, cow urine, cow ghee, need etc OR you can use save-sanghavi method.
4) I don’t know much about organic farming:
Actual: You can contact near Krishi Kendra or best thing is to visit any of four available Krishi Universities in Gujarat. They will give you all the details. You can also search on internet, there are so many groups, websites, articles which will clear your doubts.
5) There is no big market for Organic Products:
Actual: There is much big market of organic products nationally and internationally, we need to explore little bit more. You can not only focus on organic farming but also on organic horticulture, organic herbal products, you can also use some by products. Main thing is that there is already market available and if it is not there we can create the market, people will surely come for organic as it not use any pesticide and chemical fertilizer.
Now you will definitely ask, if it is so much useful, high yields, high returns…………….why it is not much popular? So to answer this question let us first make some points clear.
Organic farming is our ancient method, there is no question of something totally new, we just forget the same. It is because of some vested interest of some MNC companies, chemical fertiliser companies and bureaucrats they don’t want this thing to happen or known by everyone. There are number of examples where people got really benefited from organic farming.
There is so much information available on internet regarding how organic farming alone can solve India’s food problem, also some technical docs which shows how to make panchjanyamrut which may replace pesticides and fertiliser. You won’t believe there is cow dung, cow urine trading going on the net.( Organic Agriculture in Detail-The right and ancient way of Agriculture , Himanshu Acharya,DEshGujarat, 7 December, 2009).
In India traditionally natural pesticides were used by our Farmers in the past like neem oil,Tobacco,Tinospora Cardifoila Creeper. Also Annona Squamosa(Custard Apple) seed oil is toxic.
There is the need to revive Organic Farming to reduce pollution and to retain natural fertility of the soil.
Dr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore(AP),India
E-mail: Anumakonda.jagadeesh@gmail.com