Re: SMALLFARM-MG> Organic Produce

Douglas Hinds (dmhinds@acnet.net)
Sun, 21 Sep 1997 20:44:12 -0600

Any word can and will be co-opted by vested interest INCLUDING
incongruent, opportunistic alternative lifestylers themselves once
established, just as the insiders dominating the use of established
words will attempt to suppress competition. We're talking about the
creation of markets, and buyer consciousness is relatively low and
therefore label oriented. All that can be done is be aware of the
issues, educate others and apply political pressure where possible.

Jeff Gold & Roslyn Levin-Gold wrote:
>
> As long as we live in a mass society, with huge concentrations of people in
> crowded urban areas, a depopulated and economically oppressed countryside,
> coupled with global corporations, mass merchandising, marketing and
> education, we will live in a highly regulated environment. This type of
> bureaucratic overcontrol has been around since Roman times, if not earlier,
> and will certainly persist into the far distant future. In many ways this
> type of societal self-regulation is analogous to the metacontrol exerted by
> the common mind of the hive over its individual members: the common good of
> the whole overrides the welfare of the part.
>
> For those who wish to avoid the consequences of participating in hive-type
> living with the rest of the teeming multitudes, there do exist plenty of
> nooks and crannies, microniches that will support an "alternative" lifestyle
> and approach to doing business. Organic agriculture has provided many such
> niches for generations. Choosing to live outside the mainstream requires
> innovative thinking, perceptive analysis and a willingness to almost
> completely disregard common sense in a search for universal meanings and
> values. You must also know what the opposition is up to.
> As organic agriculture wins more acceptance in the marketplace, it will be
> transformed from its current artisanal level of agronomic craftsmanship into
> just another branch of multinational megabusiness. But I believe that
> will still be an improvement over current agribusiness practices, which are
> poisoning the whole planet, and it will also leave lots of room for farmers
> to develop personal relationships with their customers that will lie outside
> of the reach of the bureaucrats. Perhaps all we really need is a new,
> unowned, word to describe what it is that we do!
>
> Jeff Gold

-- 


Douglas M. Hinds, Director General
Centro para el Desarrollo Comunitario y Rural A.C. (CeDeCoR)
(Center for Community and Rural Development) - (non profit)
Petronilo Lopez No. 73 (Street Address)
Apdo. Postal No. 61 (Mailing Address)
Cd. Guzman, Jalisco 49000 MEXICO
U.S. Voice Mailbox:  1 630 300 0550 (e-mail linked)
U.S. Fax Mailbox:  1 630 300 0555 (e-mail linked)
Tel. & Fax:  011 523 413 5222 (not functioning properly)
Tel. & Fax:  011 523 412 6308 (direct)
e-mail: cedecor@ipnet.com.mx, dmhinds@acnet.net, dhinds@.ucol.mx