Encourage Organics
In California’s fertile San Joaquin Valley and elsewhere, the promise of organic farming still collides with the harsh economic realities of commercial agriculture. But while organics were once dismissed as the province of “health nuts,” pesticide-free produce is now gaining adherents among farmers as well as consumers. The shift has been small so far but, with more help from state agencies, the trend could ripen into a cash crop for California.
More than a niche but still not a big-ticket item, sales of fruits and vegetables grown without synthetic pesticides are up by 20% or more annually in recent years, according to trade industry figures. Once found only in natural food co-ops or farmers markets, organic produce is now on the shelves of many large grocery chains. This kind of growth has been fueled by health-conscious consumers who will pay a premium to avoid potentially harmful chemicals, as well as shoppers willing to pay more for a tomato that tastes like a tomato or a peach with flavor and juice.
At the same time, however, state statistics document a troubling parallel pattern: While many tree-fruit growers and producers of a few other crops have cut their reliance on carcinogenic and other harmful chemicals over the past five years, other growers have sprayed and dusted dramatically more. In 1998 alone, more than 50 million pounds of fungicides, herbicides, insecticides and soil fumigants were applied to California farm fields--3 million pounds more than in 1994. Strawberries grown along the central and southern coast used an astounding 150 pounds per acre of fumigants, fungicides and insecticides in 1998; use of the fungicide captan tripled over five years.
The report, released last month by the watchdog consumer group Pesticide Action Network using the state’s own data, reveals stark disparities in chemical use between crops. For example, fungicide and pesticide use on garlic fields rose by almost 300% statewide between 1995 and 1998. Yet during the same period, broccoli growers cut their use of chemicals by almost half. State officials point to unusually wet winters in 1997 and 1998 and increased acreage in cultivation to explain some of the sharp rise on certain crops.
The total acreage devoted to organic crops remains tiny, an estimated one-fifth of one percent nationally, but California has been a pioneer. And test field results from places like the Rodale Institute’s 300-acre research farm in Pennsylvania indicate that boosting soil quality through organic methods--including rotation with nutrient-rich cover crops--will yield bigger harvests during drought years.
Organic farming deserves more serious study and assistance than it currently gets. State and federal agencies, notably the Departments of Pesticide Regulation and U.S. Department of Agriculture, already award millions of dollars in grants to help farmers and trade industry groups. Much of this money is spent on research and demonstration programs aimed at cutting pesticide use, improving weather monitoring and introducing natural pest enemies to combat crop diseases. The troubling findings in the Pesticide Action Network’s report should prompt them to do more.
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A Pesticide Divide
California crops using the most pesticides:
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Crop Pounds of Pesticide Per Acre 1. Strawberries 148 2. Sweet Potatoes 127 3. Carrots 68 4. Brussels Sprouts 53 5. Potatoes 35 6. Watermelons 28 7. Oriental eggplant 27 8. Peppers 25
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Source: Pesticide Action Network
