Introducing McOrganic…put a smile on!

I write this piece with mixed emotions. One part of me is disappointed – the other (to a lesser degree) shamefully smug that my recent ranting is proved justified. The current Organic Certification racket has finally confirmed its true colours.

OK. Scratch disappointed. I’m gutted.

For sometime now I have been writing on my fears for the development of Organic Agriculture under its current frameworks. I have questioned the direction of the movement’s leadership. And I have suggested events in the near future would lead me to claim I told you so!

Well, I told you so. Approved by the Soil(ed!) Association, McDonald’s (UK restaur…sorry, outlets) no longer sell conventional milk – only organic (semi skimmed as their customers are the health conscious type).

The organic milk that is supplied to the whole of the UK’s 1,230 McDonalds outlets comes from a single dairy in Leicestershire; the Ashby De La Zouch dairy. This dairy is operated by the ex-Northern Foods subsidiary Express Dairies, and is supplied with Soil Association certified milk by member farmers of OMSCo (Organic Milk Suppliers co-op). The Soil Association accredits the dairy with meeting their standards and McDonalds (UK) coincidently already uses the dairy as one of its “quality” suppliers. The milk is sold in 250ml plastic bottles for sterling £0.41 (takeaway) and sterling£0.49 (eat in) – these prices being the same as the replaced conventional milk product. This means a litre of organic milk costs at least sterling £1.64 at McDonalds. The farmers that produced this milk will be paid approximately sterling £0.295/litre 1. There is at present excess supply of British organic milk to the current available markets.

This, I think, marks the crossroads that organic agriculture was always going to meet. Ironically its fairly symbolic that it comes with the synergism of interests between one of the pioneering Organic associations with an organisation that epitomises all that’s wrong with globalisation – and arguably the cause of the plight of rural landscapes, ecosystems and communities the World over. What happens now is dependant on how widely people question the contradiction that is McOrganic.

Clearly this contradiction does not alarm The Soil Association, though in time I think it will. What they may say is that such a move by McDonalds is out of their hands. That anyone is free to source and sell organic certified produce. That maybe the McDonalds move is somehow a step in the right direction – a break through for the organic movement as a whole – proving that the goliaths of junk food can be changed from the inside out. These arguments will not suffice for those of us who believed that organic agriculture worked alternatively to the ethos of industrial conventional agriculture – where the substance of its markets is as important as the substance of its produce. And that alternative thinking with regard to market development and recognition would go hand in hand with the promotion of the alternative agriculture that organic agriculture once was.

Anyone is free to source and sell certified organic produce. For this The Soil Association is quite (legally speaking) right. But it is the manipulation of this fact, this opinion, this approach, that sorts the certification bodies from the those who believe organic agriculture was more than a quality standard – a marketing opportunity or a sales pitch. It was this mentality – where indiscriminate market growth and sales maximisation at all costs was/is the only imperative for viability – that set agriculture down the road of industrialisation, that destroyed rural communities, that decimated environments, that gave birth to the fast food cultures, that detached people from the land, that threatened our health, that allowed corporations to control the limitations of our choices – that spurred people to think of alternatives and develop the philosophy that was organic agriculture in the first place.

This malaise of thought plays directly into the hands of those opposed to alternative and organic agriculture. I’m tired of the daily undermining of organic agriculture by the likes of AgBioView who continually highlight the contradictions inherent in the direction and current frameworks of organic agriculture – with the mandate to cast doubt on the practice and garner support for biotechnology by giving a voice to their over academic “not enough fresh air” laboratory philosophers. The question must be asked – why are we competing with them in the first place? Do the majority of alternative/organic producers want the malbouffe (read: crap food) markets anyway?

For McDonalds the move was only natural – and clearly derived from a commitment to quality and general eco-friendliness (umm…).

“The move by McDonald’s reinforces their ongoing commitment to sustainable farming practices. Keith Kenny, McDonald’s UK Head of Supply Chain, commented: “The move is a natural progression, as we already offer free range eggs across our breakfast menu. We’re keen to continue our support of British farmers by adding organic milk to our range of high quality products.”

-“McDonald’s To Sell Organic Milk” OMSCo – The Organic Milk Suppliers co-operative January 17th 2003

Obviously this is the same commitment to quality and sustainable farming practices as that employed by the corporation in the US in its purchasing of spent dairy cattle for meat supplies:

“McDonald’s relies heavily on dairy cattle for its hamburger supplies, since the animals are relatively inexpensive, yield low-fat meat, and enable the chain to boast that all its beef is raised in the United States” this notwithstanding that “…worn out dairy cattle – are the animals most likely to be diseased and riddled with antibiotic residues”

-Eric Schlosser “Fast Food Nation” page 204, The Penguin Press

And so to The Soil Association: Are you part of the cure, or part of the disease?

Malbouffe.

AC

1OMSCo contracted price 22nd April 2003