Plenty, it turns out… and not generally things we want. This week, Naturalpath takes a look at the many additives that enter our food supply. For instance,

Most of the crops in the United States are grown with the aid of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides and fungicides, and some of these are potentially harmful to the environment and people. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 30% of insecticides, 60% of herbicides, and 90% of fungicides are carcinogenic. Evidence suggest that that these agrochemicals are present in our food supply, and even very low levels of these chemicals may be causing problems for humans, especially children.

Now, there are some answers you probably didn’t expect to the question "What’s for dinner?" Take a look at the article, and find our what else is added to your food as it moves through the supply chain…

On Thursday, we pointed to a BusinessWeek article (via Gristmill) that claimed "A number of organic farmers across the country say that Wal-Mart has backed off of aggressive plans to offer more organic foods." Writer Pallavai Gogoi quoted two organic farmers who said that orders from the giant retailer have dried up; the executive director of the Florida Certified Organic Growers & Consumers group further suggested the Wal-Mart's move into organic foods appeared to misinterpret demand for these items at its stores.

In response to these claims, Karen Burk, a member of Wal-Mart's corporate communications team, assured Gogoi that the company remained committed to selling a wide variety of organic foods, and that its original goals had been miscommunicated; furthermore, the company had met or exceeded the goals for organic foods.

Today, Burk submitted a letter to BusinessWeek's editor claiming that the article created "an erroneous and inaccurate representation of Wal-Mart’s commitment to providing our customers with affordable access to organic products." A representative of the company passed the letter along to Green Options, and we've published it in full below. Wal-Mart's efforts to "green" its products and operations will have an enormous effect on the supply of and demand for more sustainable options in the marketplace, so we believe this conversation about the company's commitments needs to happen through a broad range of media channels.

Karen Burk's letter

April 13, 2007

Dear Editor,

Pallavi Gogoi’s article, posted April 12, 2007, on Businessweek.com, is an erroneous and inaccurate representation of Wal-Mart’s commitment to providing our customers with affordable access to organic products.

We have been selling organic products in our Supercenters and Neighborhood Markets for many years and, due to customer demand, announced plans to double the organic food offerings in those locations in March of 2006. We quickly met that goal and even exceeded it in communities where there is an exceptionally high demand for organic offerings. We continue to see steady customer interest in buying quality organics at great prices.

We realize that the customer base in each of our communities is unique, so we tailor the assortment in each of our stores to meet our customers’ needs. This is part of our long-standing “store of the community” philosophy of matching the mix of merchandise with the customer base and demand in each specific community. At a Bear Stearns investors conference on March 8, 2006, Wal-Mart executive Stephen Quinn announced, “We’re soon going to have over 400 SKUs (stock keeping units) of both fresh and brand name superior organic foods available at the Wal-Mart price.” Today we’re proud to offer significantly more than that company-wide, which is completely in line with our plans. This enables specific locations to customize their assortment of organics to fit the consumers in their community. This simply makes good business sense. We’ve used this same philosophy of tailoring our merchandise mix for each store for various categories for more than 10 years.

As a company that’s always working to provide our customers with the best products at the best value, we determine what we’ll buy based on ongoing assessments of quality, price, customer feedback and other factors. Organic apples are one of the top selling organic produce items at Wal-Mart, along with carrots, citrus, lettuce and packaged salads. Far from “backing off,” sales for Wal-Mart’s organic produce for 2006 were at a growth rate well above the industry average of 13.7 percent, based on data from the Organic Trade Association.

Bottom line, Wal-Mart’s growth in the organics category will continue to be reflective of the demand and we will continue providing our customers with the organic products they desire at low prices.

Sincerely,

Karen Burk
Wal-Mart Corporate Communications

We're interested to hear what you think about the claims made both in the BusinessWeek article, and in Ms. Burk's response.

In his excellent book Plan B 2.0, agricultural economist and environmental visionary Lester Brown notes one potential downside to recent pushes for increased production of ethanol: the emergence of a battle in the marketplace between those who buy grain for food, and those who buy it for fuel. The winner of this battle isn't nearly so important as the losers: consumers who will end up paying higher prices for food. In the developed world, the blow won't be felt so hard; in the developing world, this could lead to starvation and political instability.

Brown addresses these concerns in an essay at Environmental News Network (ENN), and notes that the figures publicized by the US Department of Agriculture likely lowball the problem:

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) projects that distilleries will require only 60 million tons of corn from the 2008 harvest. But here at the Earth Policy Institute (EPI), we estimate that distilleries will need 139 million tons—more than twice as much. If the EPI estimate is at all close to the mark, the emerging competition between cars and people for grain will likely drive world grain prices to levels never seen before. The key questions are: How high will grain prices rise? When will the crunch come? And what will be the worldwide effect of rising food prices? …

The competition for grain between the world’s 800 million motorists who want to maintain their mobility and its 2 billion poorest people who are simply trying to survive is emerging as an epic issue. Soaring food prices could lead to urban food riots in scores of lower-income countries that rely on grain imports, such as Indonesia, Egypt, Algeria, Nigeria, and Mexico. The resulting political instability could in turn disrupt global economic progress, directly affecting all countries. It is not only food prices that are at stake, but trends in the Nikkei Index and the Dow Jones Industrials as well.

Brown believes the answer to this conundrum lies in 1) focusing on development of hybrid-electric automobiles, and 2) accelerating the process of producing cellulosic-based ethanol from agricultural residues and plants such as switchgrass. Politicians love ethanol, especially since it benefits politically powerful farm states. Brown's observations demonstrate the complexity of the move to greater ethanol use, and the dangers of looking too hard for a "silver bullet" to energy issues.

ENN: "World May Be Facing Highest Grain Prices in History"