Some of you will notice that I took the last two posts down. The short & skinny of it is that it didn't take long that some very good people and organizations were put in a position that they could have been negatively affected and have some major headaches because of me. That's not cool.
So I took the posts down. I stand by everything that was said in them though, and it's a testimony to the lack of transparency and need for reform in a certain system. Money is the ultimate end to some folks, and that's their baggage. Call me an idealist, but having spent 2004-2005 in Iraq, I've seen what corporate corruption 's capable of - but you definitely can't call me naive.
Here's a link that I agree with: http://www.cornucopia.org/2010/09/scrambled-eggs-report-spotlights-systemic-abuses-in-organic-egg-production/
New Year’s Day grits and greens
5 days ago
I have a very small egg business and was using the "organic" text on the label. When a customer asked me about the organic feed that I was giving my hens, I realized that it wasn't "organic certified" so I can't claim that my eggs are organic either, even though the birds meet every other requirement for being organic. I could have either gone out and found a more expensive source of feed or just removed the "organic" description. I think that most educated people are smart enough to know that "pastured, grass-fed hens" are more important than birds that are just fed organic feed. But when it comes to large production, the stakes are higher because buyers for large chains are willing to pay a premium for a product only if that "organic" label is on their products.
ReplyDeleteHave you found this to be the case? Are enough buyers educated enough to look beyond the organic feed label?
David,
ReplyDeleteFirst, you don't have to be certified to claim your products are organic if you sell less than $5,000 dollars. You still have to use organically produced feed.
My personal experience is that the best customers are more concerned with transparency and quality, even in small towns. Just focus on what you do right, and explain why you do it - don't assume that you're customers already know why & what you're doing. E can say that we sell eggs at a local organic food co-op, and they sell at a higher price and demand than the organic factory farm version.