Buying Organic

You’re right – shouldn’t be surprised, but I guess I am taken back by the scope of companies in my cupboard that are represented. Other than local producers – who is not represented?

These guys obviously know where the market is at!! I wonder if many of these brands started as small companies and then got bought out by the big ones? In any case, this is a GOOD reminder to buy LOCAL ORGANIC’s whenever possible.

Remind me again why I should not buy products that are organic just because they are produced by a big company?

If Heinz can give me a low cost, high quality organic tomato I will buy it every time!

It’s not the corporations at fault. It is the political backing of illegal activities of some corporations that is to blame. Without the seal of approval from government “officials” and the enforcement of unethical business practices by the police and military there would be far fewer “evil multi-national corporations.”

Blame socialism and the mixed economy not the free marktet.

Why is it better to be a non-profit than a for-profit? Why is it better to be a local company than a large company? At what point does a company that is successful become too successful and immediately “evil.” I have known lots of small companies that were terrible to their employees, didn’t have enough profit to provide any kinds of benefits or insurance, and whose products were less than great. As for non-profits, I worked for the Girl Scouts of America- which was the worst job I ever had. All of my supervisors were incredibly rude to me, since at that time I had not yet completed my college degree, and the pay was so low that I had to work two jobs. I was literally working seven days a week with no breaks. That is what convinced me to go back to school so I could educate myself and one day work for a successful for-profit company that was producing something of excellence. The services provided to the girls at the Girl Scouts of America were far from excellent, and we had to hound those girls into selling cookies like crazy because that literally comprised 90% of our budget.

My concern is when major corporations have had such a significant effect on defining what is and is not organic.

I hear all of you…especially the person who said “If Heinz can give me a low cost, high quality organic tomato I will buy it every time!”
The issues with many of these big companies is that they often have one goal – PROFIT and it doesn’t matter how they get it.  They send jobs overseas (causing higher US unemployment rates), they purchase prodcuts from countries that make kids (some as young as 6 yrs) spend 12+ hours a day doing hard, repetitive, manual labor in the blazing sun (because its VERY cheap to pay a 6 yr old to do this work), they use their money to lobby politicians to vote the way that best helps them…no matter what it does to other small American companies (and the small guy doesn’t stand a chance up agaisnt these companies).
There are many more reasons why the big companies are so “evil” – these are just a couple of the big ones that I could think of quickly. 

What do you recommend I DO eat?  On a reasonably modest budget?

Remember, some of these companies probably started out as small businesses owned by committed people.  But when they reach a certain size, they get bought out.  Happens over and over.

Yeah…going local is the only way out of big corporation consumerism. Many of the “organic” companies can hardly be considered organic due to the way they ship stuff. Also, all of the companies on the chart obviously don’t really care about organic food, because only some of their brands are. They market it for the consumers, but really all they are doing is changing inputs to get the same product in the long run.

Buy local is right.  How many of these companys believe we will buy their products with “organic” high fructose corn syrup?Let the “real food” movement begin, no added sugar period.  Cant we figure out how much sugar to add to our lemonade?  How many products in the above list train us to expect food to be sweet all the time?

First off, just because many of these companies are now owned by a larger industry name does not always mean the core business is changed. Some of these acquisitions occur on the base level of adding to the parent company’s net income. Other times the original company is gutted and is little more than a name. I’m not ready to decry these brands without knowing more. Regardless, it is better to be armed with this knowledge of the general hierarchy than none at all.