According to recent reports, some 7 million American families have started home gardens in an effort to grow at least some of their own food. The intended goal of an increasing number of gardeners and other growers is to provide safe and more nutritious foods for themselves, their family and perhaps a number of friends and neighbors.
Even in “big business” the organic sector of the food industry has become a new and expanding avenue for providing more opportunities to increase revenues. Consequently, the scope of organic growing has widened and so have the rules governing what is and is not considered an organic product. This has resulted in cases where many who have spent their lives growing crops organically now say the rules have so encumbered them with red tape, and the requirements have been so diluted to accommodate large operators, that they no longer embrace the term “organic” because of the watered down rules and what growing ‘organically’ now allows.
Consumers in the United States have some of the lowest budgets in the world allocated for the purchase of basic foodstuffs. But how and why has this come to be? Initially, a pre-determined plan was set in motion by the Council of Economic Advisers whose job it was to help establish governmental food policy back in the 1950’s. Food for citizens in the U.S. was to be produced at the lowest possible cost. Today, if you look at the amount of household income the average American family spends on “food”, that goal has been accomplished.
This may sound good at the outset, but there is another principle that must still be considered. If you want true quality, you will only get it at a proper price, or it will soon disappear. When you pay the lowest price, something gets sacrificed. Whether that sacrifice proves beneficial or detrimental depends on the choices made by those who acquire the products to prepare the food that is to be eaten. Ultimately, for those growing organically what carries the most weight is the price customers are willing to pay for the time and effort required to produce it.