Sanet Post, Patricia Dines,
Re: Quality of Organic Food
December 11, 1996

Jonathon -

Thanks for your extremely thorough and documented contribution to this conversation. I especially appreciate the range of input you accept, including the notion of "vitality" in food and its connection to the Eastern notion of "chi"; the value of both quantifiable and experiential knowledge; as well as your discussion of the other variables that can effect nutritional quality.

One thing I'd add in there is this - although saying a certain piece of food is organic doesn't automatically meant it's more nutritious/nourishing than a particular other piece of food thats not, I think we can say that certain practices are more focussed on nourishment than others (nuturing the soil to make a strong plant, etc.).

Although any farmer _can_ use these techniques (and we hope that all would) - thus adding a variable into any assessment of comparing the nutrition of organic vs. chemically-produced food - I feel it's also important to remember that:

(1) organic farming considers nurturing the plant, the soil, and the ecosystem at the core of their practices/approach, not just one of the options they might choose to use;

(2) organic farmers nurture plants/soil with full-spectrum products, not just NPK, which shows up in the plant;

(3) because these farmers can't use synthetic pesticides to protect weak plants, they are _forced_ to focus on strengthening the plant to protect itself (within a healthy ecosystem that has healthy self-balancing mechanisms) rather than waiting until there's a problem before looking for a solution. The systems forces a higher level of attention and discipline on the nurturing approach.

So while there are many variables in the nutrition content of food (and soil), and while there are specific organic farmers that are more and less competent in using organic techniques, and while any farmer can use these techniques -
I think it's fair to say that the organic farming approach puts much more attention and much higher priority on nourishing the soil and thus the plant.

However, even more important to me that the debate about whether organic or chemically-produced ag has better nutrients is this: that we can return to center stage of all farmers the priority _of_ producing nutritious food - not just big, not just pretty, not just a lot of quantity - but healthy nourishing alive delicious food. I think this can reinspire farmers who are perhaps tired of work that's become like factory work ("It's May 1, time to put on the moon suit and spray toxics on my land") and reconnect them with one wonderful inspiration for farming - to create healthy nourishing food.* Then we can have a conversation about the different measures of nourishment and the different techniques for creating it - in the context not of defending their past practices but in continuing to refine them.

The thing is - I think if this nutrition question were really put in the center of the farming conversation (vs. production questions), I think many farmers who've been relying on chemicals would come to see how much richness and value of techniques and approaches has been developed by their organic brethren - would see the resource that those techniques are.

Which brings me back to the beginning. Organic farmers** don't have the corner on creating nourishing food. They've just been asking the types of questions and developing the kinds of methods that I think are more likely to lead to it.

P. Dines

* Note: Another joy in farming they might rediscover is that of having a nourishing relationship with the land, where they can walk and dig the soil any time and feel and smell rich aliveness, not dead soil and poisons. But that's another story....

** When I say organic farmers, I include by reference what I think of as "super-organic" farmers, such as biodynamic ones, who follow organic principles "and more". It is among all these farmers, who choose to work in a framework that's strict about working with nature, not in war against it, that we find those who can best bring forward nature's nourishing gifts at all levels - those measured in vitamins and in "chi" and those immeasurable in connected-to-nature joy and aliveness.