Listening to [organic food advocates], you get the idea that if you aren't eating fruits and vegetables that were organically grown, you might as well be mainlining Agent Orange or handing your money straight to some giant industrial agricultural corporation. You're certainly not going to be getting anything with any flavor, they'd argue.

[...]

The real world isn't black and white at all. Between pure organics and the reckless use of chemicals, there is a huge gray area, and this is where most farming is done. Ignoring this means that not only are you being misinformed, but you're also taking your eye off the real mission of supporting small farmers who grow wonderful food.

- Russ Parsons, editor of the LA Times food section, explaining why organic zealotry often misses the point. Parsons' essay is a good reminder that the USDA organic label isn't necessarily a good indicator of a food's flavor, and it shouldn't be the only gauge for the quality of the food or the farmer.

It's important to have an organic label that's overseen by government to ensure that certain minimum standards are upheld, but the USDA organic program still has its flaws, granting certification to some farmers that don't deserve it and refusing it to some farmers that do. Parsons also notes that the sustainable food movement isn't limited to certified-organic farms: "as one of its central tenets the much vaguer requirement of "environmental responsibility" and stating plainly that that doesn't necessarily require growing strictly organically."

-Mark