First published in Chatelaine's April 2001 issue. When we think of organic food, most of us share some foggy idea of pesticide-free at premium prices grown by hippies brandishing hoes. But that one cheeky Loblaw tomato set me on a quest to see whether or not it could make good on its alleged claims of superiority. To dig deeper into the matter, I visited organic farmers, discussed the pros and cons with government food-industry reps, agricultural academics, Canadian chefs and consumers. And what I found along my journey surprised me.
Organic food is no fringe fad but a veritable phenomenon that's growing steadily every year.
And it's sweeping Canadian grocery chains such as Loblaw and Dominion and American food giants such as General Mills and Gerber along with it. Yet, why go organic when the Canadian government and lobbyists such as Laurence Nason, CEO of the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture, assure us that our conventional food supply is among the safest and cheapest in the world, I wondered. And I came to this conclusion for a host of reasons other than a compulsion to don the love beads and get back to the garden. Antibiotics are prohibited except in cases of extreme illness, up to two treatments a year for dairy cows. No other livestock product can be sold as organic if it is treated.