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Environmental Policy

Class 34: Food Organics and Ethanol CofC Fall 2010. Environmental Policy. Organics (Gary Hirshberg , Stonyfield ).

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Environmental Policy

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  1. Class 34: Food Organics and Ethanol CofC Fall 2010 Environmental Policy

  2. Organics (Gary Hirshberg, Stonyfield) • Organic is much more than food…”it’s a much more expansive way of thinking that embraces cyclical, nonlinear resource use, where waste from one activity becomes food for another. It honors natural laws, and it abhors mindless dispersal of toxic chemicals.” • “Cheap substitutes don’t work. That’s why you can’t replace organic farming with chemical farming and expect anything but depleted soil, poor crops and unstable prices.” (p48)

  3. Chemicals/toxics • Been on a “chemical binge diet” for 80 years • Effects: • Lost 1/3 of America’s original top soil • Buried toxic waste every where • Polluted and depleted water systems • Exacerbated climate change • Threat to health—cancer, diabetes and obesity

  4. Benefits of ‘organic’ • Philosophy of ‘wholeness’ • Promotes a science of integration • Contributes to ‘interdependent web of life’ • Pragmatic: real ‘antidotes to society’s assorted ills and errors’ • Sensible farm policy that protects family farmers and the health of Americans • Could bring down health care costs • Stabilize fuel prices and reduce foreign dependence on oil  helps nat’l security

  5. Stoneyfield’s mission stmt 1983 • Provide the highest quality, best tasting, all natural and certified organic products • Educate consumers and producers about the value of protecting the environment and supporting family farmers and sustainable farming methods • To serve as a model that environmentally and socially responsible businesses can also be profitable • To provide a healthful, productive, and enjoyable workplace for all employees, with ops to gain new skills and advance personal career goals • To recognize our responsibility to s/h and lenders by providing an excellent return on their investment

  6. “organic” • Only industry that SEEKS gov’t regulation • In 2002, USDA created a single nationwide stnd • 3 levels of organic labeling • “100% Organic”: Food and fibers that are produced organically at every step—from farm field to store shelf • “Organic”: 95% of ingredients must be organic, with remaining 5% strictly limited to USDA’s “National List of Allowable and Prohibited Materials” • “Made with Organic”: at least 70% ingredients are organic

  7. Pros/cons of ‘organic’ • Pros • Growing industry—big boys now in sandbox, driving prices down • Health and enviro benefits • Consumer education about health and food • Cons • Price continues to drive consumers, not cost (cost includes longer term consequences • “too many consumers are lulled into complacency by a lack of meaningful info.” (p56) • Local farmers concerned that they’ll lose the ability to charge a premium price, that will undermine local farming, but also eventually erode quality and standards • Gary “I welcome this trend…commoditization of the good stuff…there will be less bad stuff and less strain on our environment.” • Organic farming requires a firm commitment to core principles and business methods to work  will this continue with big corps? • Stoneyfield bought out by GroupeDanone (Dannon Group)

  8. The Ethanol Scam (Robert Bryce) • Congressional mandates on ethanol “may be the single most misguided agricultural program in modern American history” (p91) • Creating mandates and subsidies to a multibillion dollar network of distilleries that are burning food to make motor fuel at a time when there is a growing global shortage of food and no shortage of motor fuel (p92). • Harmful impacts: • Higher food prices • Increased air pollution (from burning it) • Increased water consumption • Increased water pollution • Higher GHGs (than from conventional gas)

  9. Why are they Still in place? • Lobby power in agriculture and farm states • Heavy subsidies in US ag, esp for corn • Difficult to halt because of fed support and mandated production levels • As a result, “corn ethanol is a case study in how political pressure, the power of giant ag business, and willful ignorance of basic science can be used to distort US farm policy, producing results that include not only economic damage to the nation but the potential for increasing hunger around the world, esp among the most vulnerable people on our planet.” (p92)

  10. Implications of Ethanol • IN 2005 and 2007, Congress mandated an increase in ethanol use • 200 corn distillers at cost of $15b • Uses up 1/3 of all corn grown in US, twice the amt from 2006, and 7 times the amt in 2000 • Grain req’d to fill a 25 gal SUV tank could feed one person for a yr (lester brown) • Food disaster? Increasing corn for ethanol when global grains reserves are shrinking, growing population, and global agriculture productivity is slowing (p94)  leading (in part) to higher food prices • World Bank: grain prices increased 140% between 2002 and 2008, because “of a confluence of factors but the most important was the large increase in biofuels production in the US and EU” (p96)

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