Make It Make Sense: Why Are We Punishing the Farmers Doing the Right Thing?

Make It Make Sense: Why Are We Punishing the Farmers Doing the Right Thing?
Workers tend an organic farm in Bolinas, Calif., in a file photo. AP Photo/Eric Risberg
Mollie Engelhart
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Commentary

Why is it that the organic apple must wear a label, pay a certification fee, and carry a price premium—while the conventional apple, grown with chemical fertilizers and synthetic pesticides, is simply called an apple? What if we flipped that? What if the organic apple was just an apple—and the one grown with chemical inputs had to be labeled chemically grown? Why does the burden fall on the farmer doing the right thing, while the one using harmful practices skates by without warning, cost, or consequence?

Mollie Engelhart
Mollie Engelhart
Author
Mollie Engelhart, regenerative farmer and rancher is committed to food sovereignty, soil regeneration and educating on homesteading and self sufficiency.