The Lunatic Farmer

View Original

MOST ORGANIC GRAIN IN U.S. NOT GROWN HERE

Cornucopia continues its investigative work uncovering fake organics dominating the organic industry.  On our farm, we've never used non-U.S. grain and don't intend to start, organic or otherwise.

The math is quite interesting.  In 2014, for example, Turkey sent 14,000 metric tons of organic soybeans to the U.S.  In 2016, it jumped to 165,000 metric tons.  Corn was an even greater mathematical impossibility:  15,000 metric tons in 2014 and 399,000 metric tons in 2016.  Folks, this is more organic corn than the entire country produced.  How can you export more than you produce?  By a factor of 3 times as much?   Really?

According to USDA statistics uncovered by Cornucopia, half of all organic corn fed in the U.S. is imported and 80-90 percent of soybeans is imported from Russia, Turkey, Romania, Moldovia and Kazakhstan.  I don't know about you, but I certainly believe these are the most trustworthy countries in the world.

All this escalation occurred, completely coincidentally, when the European Union cracked down on fraudulent imports.  The only reasonable inference from all this is that the U.S. has become a dumping ground for chemically-grown, orthodox grains carrying paperwork as organic.  Who is feeding it?  The companies that sell organic to Wal-Mart, Amazon (Whole Foods) and the rest of the big outfits.  Some of us actually know our sources and get it nearby.

Question:  If 0 represents no trust and 10 represents complete trust, where does that organic Wal-Mart chicken fall on that scale in your estimation?