ROBERT VENTE
GOING GREEN
Hellberg would like to see Marin become the first all-organic county in America.
Between heaven and Hellberg The Marin Organic director holds the keys to natural-food nirvana by Annie Spie ge lman
I
n 2004, Helge Hellberg became executive director of Marin Organic, an innovative association of organic producers dedicated to creating the first all-organic county in the nation. Currently, there are 52 certified organic farms in Marin County. Marin Organic addresses today’s environmental, economic, social and cultural challenges in new and creative ways and—possibly just as important—gets kids eating fruits and vegetables with lunch! The organization has created a connection of local farms to local schools. Each week Marin Organic delivers a combination of purchased and “gleaned” (aesthetically imperfect crops) organic food to more than 12,000 students. Over 130,000 pounds of local organic products have been gleaned and delivered so far. Throughout the year, schoolchildren visit Marin Organic’s farms and help farmers harvest crops and plant seeds and seedlings. The goal: teaching the next generation where “real” food comes from and how to respect the land—and, of course, to get them off the couch, away from screens and outdoors into nature. It’s estimated that 27 percent of American 17- to 24-year-olds are now “too fat to serve” (in the military). Can this food movement save us from becoming America: home of the blobs? I asked Helge Hellberg to shed some light on the issues of sustainability and human health. ●
●
●
●
14 PACIFIC SUN JUNE 11 - JUNE 17, 2010
Is a society full of fatty- sugarysalty-food-eating globular pod-people so wrong? Well, yes, the United States is the third most obese country in the world, with 67 percent of all adult Americans being overweight. Sadly, in child obesity, we are already number one. And beyond the U.S., the problems of an industrialized food system are not much different: About 800 million people on this planet live in hunger, and 1.6 billion people are overweight, which means that twice as many people deal with the consequences of too much food—and the wrong kind—than people with not enough food. Yet there was a time during the 20th century when an ag system of low-cost, high-volume food would be the answer to so many of the world’s problems. I think it is fair to say that our current food system, as abundant and cheap as it may appear, is not working. While people have the right to have any body type they’d like, it is important to note that obesity costs our society about $150 billion in associated health expenses annually. But the story goes even further than this. We are what we eat, not just as individuals, but as a society. Beyond all food-related diseases, this so-called “cheap food” is polluting our soil, air and water resources, is destroying local communities, and is relying heavily on oil and gas for shipping, synthetic fertilizers and pesticide
production. The environmental cleanup costs are enormous; the way it’s produced, the way it is making us sick and the way the ingredients are grown and raised is completely unsustainable.
Going Glean Marin Organic offers Farm Days and the Marin Organic Glean Team—two program for kids and adults to come out, be in the field, learn where your food comes from and be part of the solution. Participants can harvest gleaned food, which would otherwise be left in the fields. Since the program started four years ago, more than 130,000 pounds of local certified organic products have been gleaned and delivered to participating schools, camps and underserved communities throughout Marin. Anyone can join the Glean Team (every Monday afternoon), or schedule a Farm Day with Program Manager Scott Davidson. Call Marin Organic at 415/663-9667, or visit www.marinor-
Can these trends be reversed? Yet it’s clear that we are waking up. We are in the middle of one of the largest environmental movements since the 1970s. The local- and organicfood movement here in Marin, as well as throughout the country, and actually all around the world, is rebuilding the connection that we have lost, the connection to what is real—real food, real flavors, the whole story of where your food comes from and how it was produced, in consideration of the eater, the environment we live in and the environment we create for future generations. Where does Marin’s involvement fit in? The New York Times calls Marin County the “epicenter of the organic movement,” and what we have built here is truly outstanding. It’s a collaborative effort of amazing farmers and ranchers, governmental agencies, the Board of Supervisors, nonprofit organizations such as Marin Agricultural Land Trust, Agricultural Institute of Marin, the Farm Bureau and Marin Organic, supporting businesses such as restaurants and committed retailers, and of course a growing number of ecoliterate residents that understand the value and critical importance of local agriculture for the well-being of the entire county. It’s the most rewarding work I can think of, because we are healing the land, and with it, all beings that rely on it. Most Americans now spend a smaller percentage of their income on food than any other people in history—slightly less than 10 percent. Cheap, fake, packaged food that’s flown in by jet and lightly seasoned with pesticides, animal parts, hormones and antibiotics is so trendy! Is buying our dinner at the Dollar Store, right near the plastic pink pony and comb set, next? I am sure this movement will not be able to turn around everything that has gone wrong in agriculture over the last 50 years in just a few years. On the other hand, the growth of awareness around the issues of food production is astonishing. We now have an organic garden at the White House, and even the USDA, a federal agency with over 100,000 staff, ripped up the concrete in front of their
building in Washington, D.C., and now features an organic vegetable patch.
But isn’t it also a matter of wealthy versus poor? Many people choose the cheaper food for economic reasons. There is nothing “cheap” about cheap food. Cheap is an illusion—there is no cheap food, or no cheap anything, for that matter. There is only the real cost of production—what it would take to produce the product in a way that is healthful, environmentally sound, socially just and culturally appropriate. If we buy it for less than the real cost of production, someone will pay the difference in price—either our health, or the environment or the child laborer somewhere halfway around the globe. Someone or something will pay the difference for what we perceive as “cheap,” always. But prices for organics are noticably higher—what about the people who can’t afford to eat organic? I’d say that as a nation we cannot afford not to eat local and organic. Many people live in food insecurity, even here in Marin County, one of the wealthiest counties in the country. So how would more expensive real food solve this issue? The answer is easy: A local food system benefits everyone. For example, only because we have local farms here in Marin County is Marin Organic able to “glean” produce left in the field after the harvest and deliver it to schools and resource centers in underserved communities. Up to 20 percent of everything that is grown throughout the country is not quite fit for market and usually plowed under. We are making great use of this food by delivering it to people that need it the most, and making it economically viable to give access to local and organic foods to 10,000 children, every week. This would not happen if the next farm was 200 miles away. You recently had author Temra Costa on your radio show,‘An Organic Conversation,’ talking about her new book, ‘Farmer Jane.’ How do you view the feminine power in the present-day food movement? That’s what it’s all about—this movement is based on a reverence for life, which includes soil as the life-giving force that gives us food, clothing and feed for animals. Organic farmers grow soil. Without healthy soil, a society