Customer Reviews

Organic, Inc.: Natural Foods and How They Grew

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After reading this book, I bought copies for everyone in my family. If you eat, you should read it. ORGANIC, INC., is a fascinating account of the rise of the organic food movement. Fromartz, a Washington D.C. based journalist, apparently loves good food almost as much as a good story. His experience as a consumer shopping at Whole Foods and at local farmer's markets made him question why he was seeking out and buying organic produce, even when it cost him more. Was it just the chemical free aspect or was he also buying into an alternative culture of health and "moral hedonism"? Who were the organic farmers who fed him and his family? What was in store for them as the growth of a small farm ideal clashed with the forces of the food industry? Fromartz hit the road to find answers. Criss-crossing the country to visit organic farmers and producers, he managed to tap into a rich vein of American culture and to meet some truly amazing people. Chapters on technical and legal issues, and the historical background of the organic movement, are mixed with chapters that vividly portray the farmers and their experiences. Fromartz is a veteran business writer and the book is thoroughly researched and well written. Reading the somewhat demanding technical chapters, I kept mumbling "unbelievable!" to myself. Who knew that conventional strawberries were grown by fumigating the soil with a neurotoxin-- methyl bromide gas--with field workers wearing full chemical warfare body suits? For my money, however, it's Fromartz's personal asides and his evocative rendering of the farmers lives as they go about their work that make this book come alive. These stories put all the information in the book in a context of human struggle in pursuit of an ideal against overwhelming odds, which makes them unavoidably dramatic and often moving. Fromartz is too good a journalist to come off as an advocate. This is a fair assessment of the many issues and conflicts within the organic movement. But having read this book, I have renewed respect for the people who grow the organic food I choose to eat. I will say a small prayer of thanks before I bite into that next pesticide free strawberry. It's come at a considerable price, one not paid by me.

"Organic Inc" by Samuel Fromartz offers a good introduction to the natural food movement. Written primarily for a popular audience, the book combines research with short histories, case studies and profiles of prominent personalities and companies that have shaped the industry. Although the author's frequent interjections about his own personal experiences and infatuations with organics becomes somewhat annoying, overall the book succeeds in granting insight into the organic movement, its foundational ideals and the possibilities for the future.

Mr. Fromartz provides a brief history of organic farming as an alternative to a deeply flawed agro-industrial production system. We learn that organic methods were developed for ideologically diverse reasons but tends to produce nutritionally superior foods when compared with conventional farming practices. Although yields are usually smaller, the author discusses how organic strawberry farms in California are an example of how organics can outperform when allowing for decreases in energy and fertilizer input.

Mr. Fromartz profiles some of the small organic farmers whose deference to health, environment and community were shaped by the 1960s counterculture. A small but vital network of farmers, distributors and retailers supported a fledgling movement that defined itself by remaining outside the conventional food system. The author describes how such farmers often devised creative marketing strategies by catering to specialty restaurants or selling their produce directly to the public at farmer's markets. As health and safety concerns about pesticides and rBGH growth hormones caught the public's attention, organic farming has become more widespread, emerging as an increasingly important survival strategy for more and more beleagured family farmers.

Mr. Fromartz traces the rise in popularity of pre-packaged salads and refrigerated soy milk to discuss how mass market success has created divisions within the organic community. The development of large-scale organic enterprises has intensified competition and shut down smaller, less efficient producers. Regulation has become a contentious issue, with small farmers seeking to hold large farmers accountable to maintaining high standards. As supermarkets such as Safeway and Wal-Mart have begun to add organic sections to their stores, issues of local production, fair wages and sustainability are heightened. Yet, the author is upbeat in his assessment that small farmers can continue to find their niche by satisfying the needs of the more sophisticated organic consumer.

I recommend this highly readable and informative book to everyone.

Can big agribusiness and local organic farming co-exist and thrive? Samuel Fromartz' new book, Organic, Inc., is a fascinating journey through American agricultural movements, starting around the turn of the century, when farming was still a small-town venture and tracing its development into agribusinesses whose products are now found on most American tables - and the movement into locally grown, organic foods, which represents not so much a return to the past as a return to wholeness and healthy living.

The problem seems to be that the organic movement itself is being challenged by the very agribusinesses it once eschewed. There are really few ways to farm sustainably (which will in most cases mean organically and without genetically modified foods or chemicals) AND use the systems that have come to mean "factory farms" - livestock confined for their entire lifetimes in areas so small they cannot turn around or lie down (chickens, for instance, and pigs), never mind see the sunshine or walk around and enjoy fresh air, eating what they would eat if humans were not around.

Agrisystems, as they exist today, are basically unhealthy - and unsustainable. But they are profitable, and make it easy for "food" (if you want to call it that) to arrive at your table packaged neatly and processed to death. Rare are the children being raised today who knows what "food" looks like in its natural state. Do they know what a carrot or beet looks like, while it's growing in the ground? Do they know that the hamburger they eat comes from a being that has a face and makes sounds, and may (depending on your viewpoint) be sentient?

Being removed from the source and sight and smells and knowledge of how your food comes to you - how it was grown, and what has happened to it all along the way - makes for some dangerous possibilities. We cannot know (or control very well, despite so-called legal safeguards meant to protect us) where our food has been, before it reaches our table, unless we have grown it ourselves (which is not easy or possible for most people) or have bought it from someone in our community whose farming practices we know - and could actually go there and see.

Fromartz comes from a reporting background, and knows how to dig out factoids that will leave you breathless for the sheer scope of what has happened to our food and our food production systems. It should leave you with both concern and hope, at the end.

Organic, Inc. Is not exactly the "story of food" but it truly is the tale of two different visions for how food is produced and made available to consumers. One (local biodynamic farming) is sustainable; the other (multinational, corporate agribusiness) is not.

Fromartz carefully traces how we got where we are, without suggesting where we will go in the future. However, his bias for a sustainable natural foods future is clear - and it's one I share. If you care about what you eat, how it got here, and whether you will be able to find more like it tomorrow, you should read this book, think about what it means, and DO something about what you believe is the best course of action for a world where what we eat determines how healthy we and our future generations will be.

Yours for extraordinary dining -- for everyone,

Nancy Boyd
www.find-great-organic-gourmet-foods.com

When you think of organic foods, do you mentally picture aging hippies in co-ops, small roadside stands, and stores with counter-cultural values? That image was probably valid until the 1980's, but has rapidly been displaced since.

Organic foods sales grew at 20 percent per year during the 1990s, attracting the attention of the food business. In the process, organic went mainstream and became an accepted niche market at grocery chains and even big-box retailers such as WalMart and Target. The author's real question is whether this represents "progress" or "problem" for fans of simpler lifestyles and all things organic.

The documented answer is some of both. Fromartz is a highly accomplished business journalist who takes a (mostly) unsentimental look at the business of marketing organic foods. Interviewing small and large merchants plus the `man on the street,' Fromartz discovers that organic is profitable and growing, yet at the same time poses a risk to traditional fans who are unlikely to shop at big boxes for the food they know and love. While the mainstream consumer `discovers' organic, the core organic customer may be wondering if she can trust anyone, anywhere, any more. This dilemma, the author notes, resembles putting up "a neon sign for an organic Twinkie."

After an entertaining and excellent investigative look at the business of organic, Fromartz holds out hope that both kinds of organic - mass market and small market - may find ways to thrive. For the core customer, related values like humane treatment of animals, fair market pricing, and sustainable agriculture may become more relevant indicators of value than the simple phrase `organic.' These savvy shoppers may continue to trust the small, unique brands and identities of traditional organic suppliers.

Meanwhile a certain amount of industrialization, mass-market methods and persuasive advertising messages can be expected to boost sales of anything termed `organic' in the aisles of a mega-retailer near you, where the organic business is currently booming.

Whether you like your organic "all natural" or with "always low prices," you'll be likely to find it readily available. Which type you choose will say a lot about your personal values and expectations.

Armchair Interviews say: The good news, from the author's point of view, is that at least you'll get to choose! In a free market, our choices define our future opportunities.

Sam Fromartz has written a very good, easily read book about what is wrong with the food supply in today's world. If you have been on the fence about whether it matters if you spend a little more for Organic groceries, this book is for you. Read and understand what goes on behind the scenes in the factory suppliers of vegetables. Do you think it's alarming the asthma and allergy instances among children are skyrocketing? Read and inform yourself before the next trip to the grocery.

I have been very ambivalent about the organic culture and wanted to understand more about the origins of the organic movement, its significance, and the trends I observe it to be following.

Samuel Fromartz's account of the organic industry (as I have come to see it) was a solid introduction that I will have to probably reread to fully take in. Peppered with facts, figures, vignettes, anecdotes, and opinions, it is clearly the writing of the converted, rather than a deliberately skeptical examination. Nonetheless there is room for reflection and critical analysis - I flagged dozens of pages that gave me points to ponder and further examine. The book touches on related topics like local agriculture without straying too far from the topic at hand.

My one criticism, after moving on to other books about food agriculture, is that this book, when it was dealing with facts and figures, seemed get weighed down, but at the same time, seemed to leave identifiable voids of information. How a book could be both occasionally tedious, and occasionally too light, I'm not entirely sure.

Organic food has grown at a rate of 20 percent yearly in a sluggish food industry, yet many still can't define what makes food organic, why it's better, and how it fits into the food industry. Here to answer these and more questions is ORGANIC INC: NATURAL FOODS AND HOW THEY GREW. Samuel Fromartz is a business journalist: his reporting delves into the heart of the organic food industry and concept, tracing changing consumer choices, educational processes, organic food's anti-industrial roots over a century ago, and those who fostered new approaches on food production. A fine business exploration of the entire industry; not just one company.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

"Organic Inc" is an in-depth exploration of the organic food industry, from The Whole Foods Market Cookbook: A Guide to Natural Foods with 350 Recipes to Food to Live By: The Earthbound Farm Organic Cookbook (Earthbound Farm Organic Cookbk), as well as Silk soy milk and now Wal-Mart. Fromartz shows how an unassuming organic grocery store, Whole Foods, in Austin, Texas, became the massive corporation it is now, and explores Earthbound Farm in the Salinas Valley. He delves into his subject as a journalist, going to the sources, going to the farms.

What is now called organic farming started with the biodynamic farming of Rudolf Steiner (Agriculture Course: The Birth of the Biodynamic Method),when industry had become part of the food business. Steiner invented a method of farming that involved the commonsense (manure, insects) as well as the more esoteric (following celestial cycles)

Now there is also the debate of local food vs. organic food. Which one is better for the planet and for one's health? Fromartz brings life to this complex and meaty subject.

I enjoyed some of the history in this book, but I had trouble following the events. The author jumps back and forth with different draft regulations, statements and lawsuits in no particular order... and I was left scratching my head wondering what the final outcome was.

I'm not new to organic agriculture. But I picked up this book to learn the history of the movement. It left me with more questions than answers, but maybe that's ok.

I'm not much of an organic food purchaser, but I've always wondered why people bought it and whether it really made any difference. From his descriptions about organic farming techniques, the origins of the organic food movement and the schisms that continue to threaten to pull the movement apart, Samuel Fromartz's book certainly helped answer those questions and more.

I am always a fan of books written by journalists, who often know better than others the importance of interviewing real people and capturing all sides to a story. I thought, however, that Fromartz's writing style could have used more of an edge. The book read like a 275-page newspaper article, was dry at times as a result, and failed to create the urge to "read one more page."

That said, I would recommend Fromartz's book to anyone who is interesting in the past and present issues about the organic food industry.