Clouds on the organic horizon

In light of the recent uproar over General Mills buying out Annie's Organic, I think it's a good moment to redistribute this article I wrote on the corporate takeover of organic back in 2004. Michael Pollan and I were talking about this trend ten years ago.

Clouds on the Organic Horizon

Is organic farming becoming the victim of its own success?
by Carmelo Ruiz-Marrero, Special to CorpWatch
November 25th, 2004

Until a decade ago, organic foods were available only through tiny farmers markets, health and natural food stores, but today their growing popularity means that more organic food is now sold by chain stores like Whole Foods. Often, the food itself is produced by companies ranging from General Mills to Nestle to Coca Cola , and grown on corporate-owned farms no longer synonymous with small farms, rural communities, social justice and humane treatment of animals.