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Much of what we see in, say, Whole Foods, is Big Organic. Unless you try to shop strictly local (or if your lucky enough to utilize your own backyard), Big Organic is what you get. While the industrialization makes me sad, the fact remains that organically grown/raised food is better for you, more nutrient rich (example: the soils are more nutrient rich when less chemicals are used).

I personally try my hardest to stick to local, but I will support Big Organic (like Cascadian Farms, or Kashi) before I will Kellogg.

@Em

Um, you do know that Kashi is owned by Kellogg, and Cascadian Farms is owned by General Mills, right?

Um, you know that Kellogg's owns Kashi, and General Mills owns Cascadian Farms...

Knowing that the big companies own the industrial organics doesn't necessarily change my thinking. this country runs on money - and perhaps rising demand for the organics makes organic available more widely. More people have access to organic.
I try to buy local - but I live in Houston, and it's hard! I have a small child, so organic milk and meat is pretty important to us. I try to be responsible in my choices, but my footprint is bigger than it should be.

While Big Organic isn't perfect, it's definitely way better than buying Big Conventional IMHO. An insane amount of oil goes into making agrichemicals like pesticides and fertilizer; using less oil is always a good thing, not matter how you cut it. Sure, they often have to be trucked in from far away (higher food miles), but need less chemical input so you're still coming out ahead.

it's definitely a step in the right direction. expecting the majority of americans to make the jump from mexican strawberries to ones grown by a farmer 20 miles away is just plain unrealistic. once organic becomes more commonplace than conventional, we can start really pushing local. less pesticide use is an achievement, certainly. i wish big organic included non-GMO though. sigh.

yeah, i definitely agree that if there's going to be a big, it may as well be organic, and a recognizable brand name makes it an easier transition for the people who might be weirded out by all that "hippie nonsense" at first.

Thank you for engaging in the online dialogue about organic.

A common misconception is that large organic manufacturers are held to a different standard than those that operate on a smaller scale. In fact, organic processors and handlers of all sizes are held to the exact same set of standards. Set forth by the National Organic Program, these standards outline different categories of organic products (see below). Regardless of the size of operation, products bearing labels referencing these categories must comply with the government-regulated definitions of them. For more information on this and other issues related to organic, please visit www.ota.com.

Here are the four categories of organic products:

1. 100 Percent Organic - may carry USDA Organic Seal
2. Organic - at least 95% of content is organic by weight (excluding water and salt) and may carry the USDA Organic Seal.
3. Made with Organic - at least 70% of content is organic and the front product panel may display the phrase "Made with Organic" followed by up to three specific ingredients. (May not display new USDA Organic seal)
4. Less than 70 % of content is organic and may list only those ingredients that are organic on the ingredient panel with no mention of organic on the main panel. (May not display new USDA Organic seal)

How is more people buying and producing organic a bad thing? I thought this was the direction we wanted to be going.