First, It Was Organic v. Local

Now it's Organic v. Fair Trade. William G. Moseley points out in the San Francisco Chronicle that tensions are growing acute between these two movements, spurred out by the demand for local food. (Via Lainie's awesome Organic Confidential blog).

If local is the new organic, and demand for imported organic food drops off, then African farmers who depend on organic export markets will have no alternative but to produce conventionally grown food for export. Local activists respond that these farmers should focus on local markets in Africa, but Moseley says they've already done that.

Many farmers in the poorest of African nations - where I do my research - already supply local markets with their grains and produce. While not formally recognized as such, these markets are virtually organic because most poor African farmers restrict pesticide use to traditional export crops such as cotton, cacao and coffee, while local foodstuffs are grown with few or no chemical inputs.

If the local food movements in Europe and North America reduce their demand for organic and fair trade products from afar, the most likely consequence is that African farmers who have entered these niche markets will return to producing their export crops in the conventional, pesticide-intensive manner. While local food markets can provide some income for these farmers, they still are reliant on export opportunities for the bulk of their cash income.

Food miles gives a one-dimensional view of socially responsible food production, though the reality is more complicated. The Soil Association tried to tackle this issue by seeking a fair trade designation for any air shipments of organic food -- a noble step, but one which might still limit these markets.

The question I had after reading Moseley's piece was whether some, all or most exports actually create cash for farmers, or whether these markets follow the plantation model and siphon cash out of the local economy. Again, I would think the answer is not simple.
 

Comments

[Sam Fromartz]

This is a comment from Bill Moseley via email:

While conventional ag exports from many developing countries often follow the plantation model (although this varies considerably by crop and location), this is less the case for organic products and even rarer for fair trade goods. Obviously, organic and fair trade are not synonymous - so you could have organic crops from a developing country that are produced plantation style - although organic would still be better for the local environment and workers' health. As fair trade emphasizes fair working conditions - an exploitative situation would be rare - and many of these are small scale (often family) producers. My concern - as articulated in the op-ed - is that if we limit organic and fair trade imports - then we will reinforce the conventional system that tends to be dominated by more problematic (socially and ecologically) production methods.

[kat]

What about our local farmers? I'd rather support my relatives and fellow citizens than people on an entirely different continent. After all, if everything breaks, it's the people in my foodshed who will make sure I stay alive.

I'm aware that because of globalization, there have been egregious human rights violations and economic hardships imposed on other countries by multinationals supported by US governmental policies. However, a focus on the damages wrought overseas blinds us to the damages being wrought by US policies in our own country. It's also OUR country that's being devastated by commodity agriculture for export, not just nations in Africa or Latin America. It's OUR country that's lost most of its family farms, that's paved over the world's richest, most fertile soils, that has more prisoners than farmers.

The problem facing all local economies, world-wide, is global competition and the extraction of profits with concentration of those profits into the hands of a small oligarchy, based on the principles of the "free" market (which isn't). Failure to retain and restore local economies, particularly those surrounding agriculture and food production, endangers everyone's freedom.

Support local organic growers, particularly those who are fighting back against commodity, monoculture agriculture. It's our ability to survive in our own country that locavores are fighting for, because it's our ability to survive in our own country that's being outsourced.

I refuse to carry guilt for the decisions another person MIGHT make. If an African farmer returns to non-organic monoculture, even after seeing how damaging it is to his/her life and culture, that is THEIR decision. There are alternatives, even in the most pressing economic conditions.

Long-distance organic still extracts profits from local economies. It still leverages subsidies (paid by taxpayers) and the short-sighted, detrimental economies of scale to generate income for a few wealthy middle-men. It still contributes to world-wide environmental problems and conflicts over natural resources. Whatever benefits it may provide to farmers are out-weighed by the costs it drives onto the shoulders of the rest of us.