My mother-in-law, Rachel Benfey, was a zealous advocate of the organic food movement. Her kitchen was filled with products from pioneering organic providers such as Walnut Acres and Erewhon. There wasn’t a grain of refined sugar in the house. Whenever she visited our family when our kids were little, she would exclaim things like, “What? You’re not giving them organic apple juice?” She would run out to Bread&Circus (now Whole Foods Market) and present me with bottles of cloudy, organic apple juice. The kids didn’t seem to notice the difference when organic juice was involved, but they turned up their noses at organic catsup and breakfast cereal. “These Cheerios don’t taste like anything!” said 5-year-old Tommy.
As much as I loved Rachel, her dogmatic approach to diet and nutrition put me off organics. It seemed more like a religion than a scientifically based practice. In recent years, I’ve made an effort to buy more organic, locally sourced food. I do this because food always tastes better when it hasn’t sat in a crate traveling halfway around the world before it reaches my plate.
I also believe in supporting the hard-working local farmers who have committed their lives to sustainable agricultural practices. I hadn’t paid much attention to the organic aspect of their work; I saw organic food as just the end product rather than the process.
I recently read “The Wizard and the Prophet” by Charles C. Mann, who happens to live here in Amherst. The book has given me a whole new perspective on the concept and practice of organic farming.
Mann’s wonderful book explores two alternate approaches to the future of humankind on planet Earth by tracing the lives of two little-known but tremendously influential 20th-century figures: William Vogt and Norman Borlaug. Vogt and his disciples — prophets, as Mann calls them — believe that humans must learn to live within the natural limits of the planet in terms of population, food, water and energy resources.
The Borlaugians — whom Mann calls wizards — on the other hand, believe that modern science will continue to allow humans to expand in population beyond the bounds of what the prophets perceive as the limits of the Earth. Through technological advances such as genetic modification, water desalination and fracking, the wizards believe our future is ever brighter.
Mann points out that although we tend to see these two views as recent developments, people have been thinking about them for 200 years or more.
Mann steers a middle course between wizards and prophets, refusing to vilify either camp. He describes with reverence the people who first developed the concept of ecology. He also explores the miraculous break-throughs in agriculture and food production that science has brought us. He makes clear that the choice between the two routes is not always self-evident.
In researching the book, Mann has spent a lot of time with relatively small-scale organic farmers whose aim is to create healthy food through sustainable practices. When I asked him about the aim of organic farming, he said, “It’s all about building the soil.” Organic farmers rely on a host of non-chemical approaches. They increase the productivity of the soil by composting. They plant many varieties of crops, including nitrogen-fixing legumes that decrease the need for nitrogen fertilizer. They till the soil carefully to avoid compacting it to the point where it is incapable of supporting life.
Among the many environmentally harmful effects of agrobusiness, Mann emphasized the disastrous effects of using large amounts of nitrogen fertilizer. It runs off into the groundwater, streams, estuaries and ultimately the ocean, where it promotes unhealthy amounts of algae — green slime — that chokes oxygen out of the water, harming aquatic life and contributing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
Reading Mann’s book, I began to understand the value of organic farming not just in terms of the healthiness of the food itself, but the healthiness of the planet that produces it.
Unfortunately, said Mann, not all organic food is created equal. Supermarkets are increasingly offering organic foods, but many of these are produced by agrobusiness.
Even when chemicals aren’t used to grow the food, it is often the case that enormous cultivation and harvesting machinery compacts the soil, creating large dead zones. In some places, the machines are programmed to run only on those dead zones, which are, in effect, paved highways through the vast acres of farm fields.
Local, organically produced food can have downsides, too, according to Mann. It’s more labor-intensive, and thus more expensive to the consumer. And the chances of contamination are greater because small-scale operations don’t generally have access to the high-tech sanitization processes that agrobusiness uses. (Wherever your produce comes from, wash it carefully before consuming it!)
In my view, “The Wizard and the Prophet” should be required reading for everyone. It reads like a good novel, and it will change the way you see the world and humankind’s place in it. I know I’ve expressed this many times in this column, but it bears repeating: we are extremely fortunate to live in a part of the world where sustainable agriculture is taken seriously, giving us access to locally produced food.
This time of year, farmers markets and produce stands are full of healthy and delicious produce grown in real dirt and tended by human hands. Enjoy!
Old Lands, New Gardens is the theme of this year’s Amherst garden tour, for the benefit of the Amherst Historical Society. The tour will take place June 30, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
This self-guided tour of six extraordinary Amherst-area private gardens features flat lands, hills, woodlands and open spaces that have been transformed by vision, luck with Mother Nature and hard work. The gardens are all the work of the current owners and were inspired by the natural scenic landscapes, heritage, and childhood memories.
At the Simeon Strong House, home of the Historical Society, tour-goers can enjoy the 18th-century garden and the work of ecological designers, TK Design Lab. The tour gives an opportunity to reflect on the idea of home gardens as unique plant communities and how these communities will change as homeowners and designers respond to the effects of climate change.
Tickets and tour maps are available online at amhersthistory.org and in person at A.J. Hastings, Andrews Greenhouse and Hadley Garden Center. Tickets are also available the day of the tour at the Simeon Strong House. Historical Society members: $20/non-members: $25. Day-of purchases: $25 and $30.
Strawberry picking is a wonderful activity for families with young children, or for anyone who enjoys eating perfect berries.
Growing strawberries is a tricky business; too much rain can be disastrous. This season’s crop has enjoyed clement weather, so the fields are full of ripe berries. Picking is easy, satisfying work. And when you’re done, you have baskets full of strawberries for a fraction of the price of store-bought.
The Pioneer Valley has lots of pick-your-own strawberry fields, Uppingill Farm in Gill, Simple Gifts Farm in Amherst, to name just two. Check for days and hours; many places are open weekends only.
Mickey Rathbun can be reached at mickey.rathbun@gmail.com.