Here's a great x-post related to this topic from Eliott Coleman (of course, maybe I've been scammed!) - Allan
Status: U Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2002 19:43:55 -0500 Subject: [market-farming] "Authentic" food To: "Market Farming" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> From: "eliot coleman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: "Market Farming" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Fascinating discussion. I'm glad so many people have opinions on this. Some background. I'm not entirely happy with "authentic" either but it was the best I could do after thinking about this for ten years. I did not want an invented word like "bio-pure" or similiar. The distances came from our experience. We are rural but can sell everything within 25 miles so we doubled it. The 300 miles for grains etc. is the distance from one end of Maine to the other. Maybe each state or region could set their own distances.You may have noticed that all the standards were positive statements. I'm more interested in hearing what farmers do than what they don't do. It is the way i began as an "organic" farmer 35 years ago. Not what I didn't use (those were the products of a misguided science) but rather what practices I believed grew healthier more nutritious food. Also when i began there was no "organic" bureaucracy. If you thought the concepts made sense and wanted to farm that way you became an organic farmer. No one was trying to cheat back then because we all believed in what we were doing. I see "authentic" the same way. No bureaucracy. If the consumers don't care enough to know their farmer or check up on him/her, maybe they deserve to be bamboozled. I also think local pressure would nail the cheats in a locally based system. I received a wise letter from a grower who suggested that if we are local and know our customers and vice versa then no word is necessary. A good point but I still want a word to compete with the "organish pap" (great phrase someone used) which is benefiting from all the work of conscientious organic farmers over the years. The only way to compete is to go them one better. Beyond organic, that's us. Can the feds stop this? Not unless they repeal the first ammendment. Get the list FAQ at: http://www.marketfarming.net/mflistfaq.htm
