As Mike and I wrap up our time with the family in California, we find that we have spent a good bit of time going to the grocery store to get milk and eggs. The closest store to Coury and Cassie carries lots of organic food including Once Again Nut Butter products. The grandsons love their peanut butter.
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| photo: https://laura-jabri.wixsite.com/ |
Most poor farmers farm organically because they cannot afford the cost of chemical pesticides and fertilizers. Even though subsistence farmers in poor nations do farm organically, they cannot get the added price for their organic crops that large organic farmers get, due to the fact that the process to become organically certified is expensive.
Certified organic food products cost more in stores. Certified organic farm products in turn bring in more capital for the growers.
It is a Catch 22:
- Only large farmers can afford the certification costs and yet, small farmers mostly grow organically.
- Customers want certification to prove that the crops are organic and yet, large agri-businesses have - of course - figured out how to scam the system.
The farmers who are part of the organic agriculture cooperative, COPROEXNIC, depend on buyers with a conscience, who in turn depend on customers with a conscience who are willing to research businesses and then support those who genuinely buy organic.
And, because organics cost more, the poor are only able to afford food products that are not organic… as always, the poor are left between a rock and a hard place.
-Kathleen
*COPROEXNIC is such a cooperative of small farmers, who banded together more than 20 years ago to obtain organic certification for sesame, peanuts, and coffee. They live and work with the daily challenges of economics and weather. You can help.
