Organic Gardening Interviews Michael Pollan About Organic Gardening
The other day I talked a little about Michael Pollan’s Botany of Desire premiering on PBS. Today I have information about a new interview Michael did with Organic Gardening about the dangers of organic factory farms, the future of organics, and what he thinks of Michelle Obama.
The interview appears in the the November/December/January 2009-2010 issue of Organic Gardening magazine, which hits newsstands today. I got to take a sneak peak at the article (even though my own issue of Organic Gardening hasn’t arrived in the mail quite yet.
I enjoyed reading the interview, and learning more about Michael Pollan and his philosophy on gardening and food. My favorite part of the interview is when he talks about affording organic produce, he says ““People say, ‘Oh, I can’t afford organic produce.’ If you have space for a garden, you can afford it.”
I think that statement is so true! In just a small space, and the cost of some seeds, you can grow an amazing amount of your own produce. Enough to provide your family through the summer, and even to preserve some for the winter months. All organic, and all wonderfully delicious.
When Pollan was asked about his thoughts on organic versus local his opinion was, both, but definitely local:
“No, I don’t. I support local, because in my experience here in California, local is organic…But if I were a supermarket shopper I would, because you can’t meet farmers face to face and you don’t really know what they’re doing, so to the extent people depend on the supermarket and are not interested in the farmers’ market, we need organic. If people are willing to put in more time and like the farmers’ market experience—because it is more than food that’s on offer there—[then] local, definitely.”
Michael also shared his thoughts on the large factory organic farms that are springing up.
“Organic is in danger of being co-opted. I’ve been on organic factory farms, and if most organic consumers went to those places, they would feel they were getting ripped off. I think organic risks a real crisis of perception if the values that they’re selling don’t accurately reflect the practices they’re engaging in. They’re organic by the letter, not organic in spirit.”
Micheal’s solution? Getting away from processed foods as much as possible.
“The future is [people] really making the connections between food and energy and climate change, and food and health care. Watch what Michelle Obama is doing. That’s really important stuff: her emphasis on fresh food. She talks about organic, but she [also] talks about fresh. Basically, getting away from processed food is key. And if you’re eating produce, and it’s not organic, it’s a big step up from eating processed food. All these partial steps are very important.”
You can check out the whole interview yourself at your local news stand if you don’t subscribe to Organic Gardening, or here’s a link to the interview if you want to check it out at Organic Gardening. It was definitely an interesting read.
Image: Rodale Press