ORGANICS BY 2020 - A PERSPECTIVE FROM URBAN DWELLERS

Pat Wright, Motueka

'Organics by 2020 ' can be a comfortable feeling... it is 20 years away!!

Looking back over the last 20 years, one wonders where the time went and realises that 20 years in a lifetime is not very long.

On page 3 of the March 1990 issue of Soil & Health I came across an article advertising Soil & Health's display at the coming Mystery Creek Field Day. The co-ordinator said "The display will be aimed primarily at practising organic farmers, also those who are interested in converting to organics but need information about standards, methods, profitability and certification procedures and benefits. A secondary aim is to reach consumers who want to buy organically grown food, and to publicise the Biogro label.'

I was not so sure about this statement - Which comes first, the chicken or the egg?

On a worldwide scale we know there are far more consumers wanting organic foods than there are farmers to produce it. What is happening here is that most of the produce grown in New Zealand for the larger companies is exported. At one time Watties did try frozen peas on the local market but decided that because of a small demand, it was not worth messing around with, when they already had an overseas market they couldn't meet and the local supply was dropped. In Motueka we are able to buy Talleys organic frozen peas from local health food shops and at an affordable price. Talleys do not have enough to supply through supermarkets but some of our smaller local organic outlets combine to put in an order and are able to have quite regular stocks... What we do hear loud and clear is that more retailers would stock organic food if they could be assured of continuity of supply. Retailers are keen to stock what their customers are asking for and this is a very positive trend of thought. If what you want is not on the shelves, find someone from management and ask 'why'.

We need more growers of good quality organic food but these growers need to know there are consumers out there to buy it.

Most of our outlets to householders in the Nelson and Motueka areas are through local flea markets, health food shops, or the popular boxes sold by Motueka Organic Community Gardens, an inspirational enterprise not only to those who go there for courses but also the many visitors who are always welcomed. It is very capably run by Jenny North who is with us here this weekend.

In Motueka both our supermarkets have a range of organic flours and grains, also rice, tea, coffee and sugar and recently I noticed one of them had a good supply of organic potatoes and onions. We also have an excellent organic shop in Arcadia Organics who seem to suss out all kinds of interesting foods with Biogro labels. As one travels into Motueka from Nelson, just at the beginning of our shopping centre, on the right covering the outside wall adjoining the New World Supermarket carpark, is a huge mural depicting a range of shellfish (one of our main industries) and in very large letters above it - Arcadia Organics. The shop is run by people who have a long link with organic growing. Rhonnie Seager who is the frontperson in the shop is an organic farmer, former National Councillor of S&H and a committee member of our local branch. Another of the partners, Barry James is an established organic orchardist, current National Councillor and committee member of the local branch. I am not doing a commercial for Arcadia, but merely endeavouring to point out that this place is run by people whose lifestyles are based on organic principals and who are more than happy to take time to share their knowledge and experience or to guide people in the right direction to have their problems solved. This is a service not readily available in larger supermarket type shops.

However, we do need to acknowledge that many shoppers conditioned to one-stop shopping do not look beyond the supermarkets for their food. People who are true advocates of organic foods will shop around until they find what they are looking for.

We have a generation of young people who have grown up not experiencing the benefits of a home vegetable garden. I heard of one little girl who was bursting at news time at school to tell the class that "My gran gets her peas in little green boxes".

This seems such a sad indictment on society and on the health of our children. I remember coming home from school and munching on a raw carrot from the garden or better still, a snowball turnip in season. Most of our grandchildren also enjoy raw vegetables straight from the garden, but I cringe when I see people buying carrots or fruit from the supermarket, then taking one from the bag and handing it unwashed to a toddler in the trolley seat to munch on.

I spent some years doing budget advisory work and was appalled at the number of young people who sat at home with their children being thoroughly bored and not a sod in the garden turned over. Whilst I appreciate the despondency which takes away initiative, I could not help but compare to those who gardened. Their children, by and large, played more outdoors and often enjoyed a patch of garden of their own. Food parcels went hand-in-hand with budget work and I was always pleased when recipients expressed a delight at being offered fresh vegetables. The majority of young people seemed to prefer canned or instant stuff. It isn't their fault, but the fault of society who over the years has been swept up with TV advertising and general attitudes carefully instilled at great expense by multinationals into the minds even of little children to accept the use of a quick fix and the suggestion that healthy breakfast food comes in a box labelled with a certain brand and well decorated with pretty pictures and a heart tick!

Isn't it a pity that the messages of where we stand, our place in the universe and our affinity with the soil could not be embedded as successfully into the minds of viewers. We don't have the money for expensive TV ads. But unfortunately that is the most efficient way to get into the heads of the majority. One positive example is the slightly organic influence, which comes across in Maggies Garden show.

When I lift the covers off a compost heap I never cease to be amazed at the miraculous changes which have taken place since a mixture of spent vegetation, prunings, kitchen scraps etc was layered with animal manures, seaweed, lots of comfrey, maybe the odd sprinkling of blood and bone, rock dust, or whatever happens to be on hand, covered down to keep in heat and keep out the rain, then left to the insect life.

The first surprise is always the scurrying of a range of little creatures which have been responsible for blending this heap into a beautiful black loam, then the reality of the miracle of the soil and our dependence on it.

Nature grows in abundance and profusion. It does not grow in rows and clumps but by and large, we are conditioned to tidiness and especially in urban areas, feel a need for control. Our rural friends are more likely to have rough areas in the vicinity of their home garden to harbour predators of unwanted insects in the garden.

In an urban small time garden all we have to offer insects of all kinds is what we grow. If we don't practice companion planting, we are likely to be in big trouble. Every creature on earth has a job to do and each of us is dependent on other living beings. Without soil we would not survive. All that we eat comes directly or indirectly from the soil, so for our health's sake it is imperative to keep the soil in a healthy condition. It pays well to remind ourselves of the Soil Assn. Motto - Healthy soil, healthy food. Healthy people.

Those who have not lost sight of these things have a responsibility to share their knowledge with others. I do not mean we should stand on street corners and preach or to bore everyone who comes within earshot, but a lot can be handed on by example or by answering questions without getting too carried away. We could begin by sharing our surpluses, by offering to lend a hand to anyone keen to garden but not being sure how to go about it. There is a risk here also of being too over zealous. All people need is a guideline and then left to do things their way, safe in the knowledge that there is someone there if needed. One big pitfall new gardeners often make is to get carried away in spring and put half the section into garden. Alas then comes the time when it needs constant attention and is often likely to finish up a glorious weed patch. Always encourage newcomers to the gardening scene to begin small, grow what the family will eat or to experiment with something different. Next year there could be a bigger plot and perhaps some fruit trees.

From as far back as the days when Allopathic doctors formed medical associations to exclude herbalists from the fraternity, there has been suspicion of natural cures. In this day and age young doctors seem to be coming into practices accepting that alternatives to chemicals can often help and without side-kicks. A little tolerance seems to be creeping in. Of course we do have medical people who are very tolerant of natural cures and many whose practices embrace mostly nature's cures.

However, we do still have suspicions and often intolerance from some quarters. For some years we ran a small health food shop in North Canterbury. When we first moved in the local Health Inspector paid a social visit and found everything to his satisfaction. He later paid another visit and said we had weevil. Horror of horrors for any retailer, but in a Health Food shop! I asked for evidence and he pointed to something, which had been on a shelf near the grains. I said I thought it was a husk of grain and he said "O no that is a dead moth". Fortunately it was Tuesday, the day Ian Henderson called to deliver our order. I showed him the offending article and said, "What would you say that is?" He looked long and hard and said "I don't know whether it is barley or rye". The health inspector never came back to check up on that particular issue, so we conceded it was just bureaucratic nit picking. These are some of the prejudices that crop up from time to time. The same health inspector was most intolerant when people rang to complain about an orchardist spraying on the outskirts of the town in a howling nor'wester - even though one of the complainants was a local doctor. These are barriers of mistrust, which have to be broken down. It is usually lack of knowledge on the part of opponents, coupled with a threat to their authority, so has to be handled with great diplomacy.

Interpretation of the word 'Organic' is varied.

In 1992 I wrote an article for the Autumn Soil & Health on Tony and Lynette Mallard's organic market gardens in Christchurch. Theirs is a busy enterprise and is well known for quality vegetables competitively priced. Tony sets his prices at the beginning of the season and finds he stays competitive. He likes to sell direct to the public and feels that from the public's view point, knowing the produce is fresh gives credibility especially when they can see where it is grown and talk to the people who grow it. When they first started over 25 years ago, the shop was open 7 days per week, then 6¸ and gradually whittled down to the current 2 hectic days per week. Tony said he felt people like the buzz - to be part of the crowd and it gives Tony and Lynette the rest of the week to concentrate on production. Their business is open from October until mid-winter and when I asked why the customers keep coming back, whether they were organically minded, or whether they subscribed to Soil & Health, Tony said these were questions they would like answers to but did not have the time to ask.

This prompted me to do a survey with some interesting results.

93% of those interviewed shopped regularly with 18.5% on a twice-weekly basis, 59% weekly, 11% fortnightly and the rest casually.

Asked why they come here particularly - 66% said "for organic produce", 30.6% made comments such as - freshness, service, superior quality, nice people. The remainder was personal friends or came with friends.

Mallards do not advertise - asked, "How did you first hear about this place?" 48% by word of mouth, 51.8% gate sign, the remainder came with friends etc.

Asked, "What does the word organic convey to you?" 74% - no chemicals, 26% fresh, natural, good quality, clean.

"Do you look for other organic food?" 81.5% - Yes., 18.5% No

Are you concerned about additives in food? 96.3% - Yes 3.7% - No

"Do you read Soil & Health?" 63% No 37% Yes and of those 14.8% casually and 22.2% regularly.

"Do you subscribe to Soil & Health?" 11% Yes, 89% No.

It was interesting that no-one described organic growing as being in harmony with nature. The most popular conception is simply 'not spraying'.

Whilst this was not a question on the survey, conversation intimated that most of the people shopping there are unable for various reasons to grow all their own vegetables, some none at all, so would be less likely to subscribe to Soil & Health. Perhaps this explained the small percentage of readers.

Although this was 8 years ago, from observation I would expect similar results today. Many people want to eat healthy food without the responsibility of producing it.

The protests from consumers this year over the quality of tomatoes offered for sale in supermarkets has been interesting. A grower for the supermarket trade told us the criteria are for appearance, colour and shape. He is able to fulfil this, but does not eat them himself. Ten years ago Bert Hill, an organic grower from Timaru gave Trevor two Dr. Walters tomatoes from his glasshouse. We took them home and were so impressed with the texture and flavour, that Trevor saved the seed. He grew them the following season both in the glasshouse and outdoors. The outdoor ones were a bit shocked - we then lived in North Canterbury. He has continued to save seed each year and has gradually produced a strong breed, which is quite happy outside. The indoor ones of course continue to flourish in profusion. Three years ago he had a visit from an elderly gentleman who said he had been looking for a tomato that tasted like tomatoes used to taste. He had planted 18 different varieties of tomatoes and hadn't been able to find one that measured up. A local organic market gardener had sent him to Trevor who gave him some plants at the start of the next season. He came back later in raptures - his taste buds had not been deceiving him. He has grown this particular line ever since.

Another swing in more recent years has been the number of people who have moved to inner city apartments. Many of these residents are professional people who want to escape the problems of transportation and parking in large cities not only to and from their places of business but also to social activities. They tend to frequent the gyms and are conscious of the need to care for their bodies. They are potentially healthy eaters.

In new housing developments, even in smaller areas such as ours, sections tend to be smaller and houses larger, with little scope for gardens.

This brings us to again stress the need for more growers. Here again, shopkeepers need to be sure that the food they are selling as organic really is. There are many unscrupulous growers who would brand their produce as organic just to gain the premium organic food would bring. So retailers do need the security of certification.

Here is another dilemma, which I am sure Biological Producers are aware of and are working on. We know many truly organic growers who sell their produce to hotels and restaurants and who would like to sell through retail outlets but they are not profitable enough to afford certification. Many sell at the gate as 'unsprayed'.

Small growers are the lifeblood of the domestic market, but we need lots of them.

I think that today the infiltration of genetic engineering of food has brought a realisation to many people that the market cannot be trusted to think beyond profit. More people are asking more questions.

This brings me to a long-standing hobbyhorse of mine and that is the farce of our food labelling system. It was pressure in the first place which brought this about but committees which were set up to introduce the system comprised mostly members of multinational firms who were also producers. A list of codes on a can is mostly mumbo-jumbo to the average shopper. My contention is that if manufacturers have to display numbered codes to list ingredients, retailers should have code-breakers available for their shoppers to consult. I do not refer to the ones put out by our health department which simply list names of additives, but one, which also lists possible side effects.

Over the years we in Soil & Health have maybe been guilty of being a select club. I remember when our Rangiora branch ran seminars for local growers in conjunction with Watties, there were people in our organisation who said "Watties are in it for the wrong reasons" Sure it was business with them, but what the heck. Even small growers have to make it pay. They were growing through local farmers, to Biogro standards and producing quantities of organic food. They in turn were spreading the word among the farming communities and offering an opportunity beyond our capabilities.

We have a lot of bridges to build, so must all continue to play our part in promoting the concepts of organics, to extend hands of friendship, as we move towards an organic 2020.

ntpw@xtra.co.nz