The spirit of organic
From what I can gather, organic agriculture was originally about living in harmony with the environment, taking a holistic view of the biological system in which we live and get our food from, recognizing that our health is dependent on the health of the system. As such, we would naturally want our food production to be a positive part of this larger system we depend on, rather than a negative, destructive force.
As far as I can tell, there are three main reasons that people choose "organic".
- environmental / sustainability concerns
- health / nutrition concerns
- flavor / freshness concerns
Based on this, is it fair to assume that people assume "organic" means all three of these?
In the beginning, when buying "organic" veggies meant you were buying them from the farmer down the street, they were pretty much guaranteed to meet all three of these conditions. Because you knew the farmer, you presumably knew her philosophy and methods, you could be sure that she was not pouring on chemical fertilizers that would drain into the nearby river endangering the ecosystem. You could be sure that the veggies didn't contain pesticide residue, endangering your and your families health, and since you were buying it from the farmer down the street, you can get fresh-picked veggies which have been grown for their flavor instead of their shelf-life.
Now that the "certified organic" food on your super-market shelf might be shipped from around the world, the consumer has to decide which of these three reasons is most important. Say you are looking for potato chips. If you buy organic for environmental concerns, it may still be better to buy non-organic chips that have been grown, processed, and packaged locally. If you are most concerned about health and the dangers of the pesticides, you may still choose the imported organic chips. If your major concern is flavor, the processing of the organically grown, "fresh" potato probably did away with any noticable flavor difference, so you'll probably just buy Pringles.
If these three are what people look for when they buy organic, how capable can the certification guidelines be in protecting such a wide range of interests?