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Organic strawberries may not be
Freshly picked strawberries are seen at a farm.
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KAI RYSSDAL: I went to the farmers market this past weekend. Shelled out $8 for a three-pack of organic strawberries. It's not entirely clear that I got what I thought I was getting.
Marketplace's Adriene Hill has the story.
ADRIENE HILL: To grow a strawberry, you need a strawberry plant. So you might think that to grow an organic strawberry, you'd need an organic strawberry plant.
You'd be wrong. If a farmer can make a case that they can't get the type, or quality or quantity of organic plants they need -- they can buy conventional and then grow them organically.
JAMES RICKERTS: The organic farmers take the conventional plants, put them in the ground, and the first berry that pops out, that's called organic.
California nurseryman James Rickerts used to grow organic strawberry plants, but he says many California farmers would use the loophole to buy non-organic starters. So, he stopped growing.
RICKERTS: Sustainable agriculture isn't sustainable when you're not making any money at it.
Now organic farmer Jim Cochran -- who used to buy from Rickerts -- doesn't have a choice. This year he had to plant conventional strawberry starters.
JIM COCHRAN: That's the heart of the problem. Because right now there are no growers of organic transplants.
The farmers have asked the USDA to change its guidance on organic seeds and seedlings to help encourage a market for them.
It's a move Paul Towers from the Pesticide Action Network thinks could bring the industry in line with what organics consumers think they're buying.
PAUL TOWERS: When we call something organic, it should be organic from seed to fruit.
USDA spokesperson Soo Kim says the agency is reviewing the criteria that farmers use to get waivers from using organic plants.
But points out there's a lot that goes into that organic label -- including everything that happens and doesn't happen to a plant once it's in the ground.
I'm Adriene Hill for Marketplace.
Many farmers want to grow organic products but they are not getting organic seeds that forces them to buy conventional plants. To increase organic farming it is essential to provide farmers good quality organic seeds at affordable price. Once they start organic farming they can have their own seeds and can transfer it to others.
http://gsplantfoods7.blogspot.in/2013/04/why-should-we-use-organic-ferti...
I doubt that conventionally grown strawberry plants are going to carry any pesticide residue to the fruit. Stressing out, I mean Pesticide-Action_Network-level stressing out over a plant's lineage is more dangerous than the perceived threat of eating berries from peasant lineage as opposed to the Royal-organic plants. I worry more over the air pollution and increase traffic hazards caused by people who insist on driving clear across town or the county just to buy "organic". Beside, our government agencies are protecting us from dangerous pesticide residues, right? And besides, all of our farmers always use pesticides legally and responsibly, right?
I'm sorry, but this story was such a small small piece of a really big pie. Yes, we can buy non-organic seed & plants but you have to justify those purchases to your certifier. And you can loose your organic certification if it is determined that you bought conventional stuff when organic seeds or plants were available. And as Jersey Josh, states, this is so much more about how you grow it.
Most importantly to a story on Marketplace, cost is not an accepted reason for buying non-organic seeds or plants. And believe me, organic stuff is extremely expensive because it is in short supply and organic growers are required to buy it.
This story was so short and so slapdash, it really makes me question the stories on Marketplace that I don't know anything about.
PS. 3pack of strawberries, was that pints or quarts or individual berries? this was a lazy organic is extremely expensive lead-in.
