What We Mean When We Say 'Organic'

By Ed Harwood / AeroFarms

"Don't most people want organic?"  It's a question agriculturalists and produce retailers get asked constantly.  As AeroFarm’s founder and CEO, I'm no exception. But when a potential customer posed the buzzword question, it sparked a question in my mind:  What do consumers really want? 

I had a suspicion that "organic" was a catchall phrase for a number of concerns and attributes consumers want in their food.  But I wanted to be certain.  So I started digging and sure enough, my findings confirmed my suspicions.

A 2008 Hartman Group Organics Report revealed: the most important thing consumers are looking for in their food is freshness - 76% say it's the top priority. Nearly half (48%) want pesticide free purchases and 35% want hormone-free food.  What was really surprising was that only 19% of those surveyed were looking for “organic” food. I also noticed that 23% wanted locally grown food, an indication that the “locavore” movement has taken off.

The Locavore Movement started in San Francisco in 2005 and it’s made up of people committed to eating only foods grown or harvested within a 100-mile radius of their homes.  It has gained in popularity and has fanned out throughout California, the United States and globally since kicking off five years ago. Today they’ve even got an entry in the Oxford American Dictionary.

Perhaps consumers are realizing that in this day and age, organic isn't what they thought it would be.  According to Michael Pollan, Author of The Omnivore's Dilemma, "Twenty percent of our fossil-fuel consumption goes to agriculture; the average item of food travels 1,500 miles before it gets to your plate. Our food economy depends on a cheap energy supply.” That number includes, by the way, the certified organic plantains you just bought at Whole Foods that were shipped from Chile to your local store.

Currently,  local doesn’t always conveniently fit into a one-size-fits-all category.  A few years back I attended a Manhattan food conference where a group of growers was discussing the food supply, buying local and what we can get from New York.  One guy from South Carolina said “I’ll be damned if you start growing peanuts up here.  I’m your local supplier.” Just because a consumer wants local, doesn’t mean suppliers and retailers agree.

But back to the question of what consumers want, a 2005 New York Times article on Organic food stated that it is a $12 billion dollar industry accounting for about 2.5% of the U.S. market with growth ahead.  As we’ve watched the industry mature since then, the organic brand promise has disappated and consumers, consumer advocates, critics, trade org. reps, industry firms, and non-industry firms are all failing to come up with a consensus of what organic actually is. Is certified organic produce shipped thousands of miles using fossil fuel, an ultimately healthy choice for consumers?

When I was working with agriculture and recently with aeroponics technology, my motto was:  If someone’s shopping for food, there are five basic motivators for the food consumer to go out and purchase goods:  1) It’s good for me, 2) it’s safe (no pesticides or pathogens), 3) I want to know I can keep getting it, 4) it tastes good and 5) it needs to last in terms of perishable shelf or fridge life.  Notice the term ‘organic’ isn’t included.  But for consumers, if these requirements are met and the product is organic AND they can afford it, they’ll buy it. 

We’re seeing the organic industry undergo change as it becomes more industrialized and industry giants have made strong pushes to acquire organic companies. As New York Times writer Melanie Warner put it:  “General Mills markets the Cascadian Farms and Muir Glen brands, Kraft owns Back to Nature and Boca Foods, which makes soy burgers. Dean Foods, the dairy giant, has acquired Horizon Organic and White Wave, maker of Silk organic soymilk and Groupe Danone, the French dairy company, owns Stonyfield Farm."

At the heart lies a brand promise that is rapidly dissipating in the wake of a maturing industry. There are a whole bunch of other things showing up in the marketplace, as well, that aren’t as organic as individuals may have had in their minds:  Like fair trade, sustainable, fair labor, etc.

Organic, in the strictest sense means 3^rd party, USDA certified.  It’s a proxy for something with a fairly rigid set of rules that people need to follow regarding pesticide-free cultivation and growing. This means I can go to the local organic grocery and get them to sell my stuff if I say it’s pesticide free.  As long as I am pesticide free, they can put it on the shelf in their stores and not feel I am compromising their vision.

But is that what the consumer is looking for?  Because it’s more about production practices and I’m not sure that fully captures the vision people had about sustainability or fair trade. 

Ultimately, the world has shifted a and food buying is much more complicated.  The organic industry has to figure out how to understand their consumers better.  Just because the package states that something is natural, triple washed and pesticide free is no longer a standalone selling point. Average consumers want fresh food that is organicly grown with a minimally adverse environmental effect. Creating more terms is not a solution, providing a consumer with these types of food is.

About AeroFarms

AeroFarms provides aeroponic growing systems that grow produce without soil and without sun, all year round and in any location.  AeroFarms modular, vertically stackable systems are designed for locating in old or vacant urban buildings, enabling local production of pesticide-free, fresh, clean greens.  AeroFarms systems transform food production into a more sustainable, efficient, and safe process by enabling profitable, commercial-scale vertical farming in urban centers.  Founded in 2004, AeroFarms is based in Ithaca, NY.  More information can be found at www.aerofarms.com.

Photos by maistora and waltjabsco