Page 8 - Fall2010
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Letters








                 instead of chips for his salt cravings  on Dr.Price’s central message.  Northborne, in his 1940 book Look to
                 and  real  fruit  for  his  sugar  craving     This all starts with the soil and its  the Land, who actually coined the term
                 (after noon). The following summer we  inherent or enhanced fertility, especially  “organic” in relation to agriculture and
                 took him off Adderall and added the  as it pertains to the raising of food crops  not Jerome (J.I.) Rodale in the 1942 first
                 chiropractor-nutritionist team of doctors  and livestock. As someone who has  publication of “Organic Farming and
                 Pete and Lolin Hiltgartner of Leesburg,  been supplying products and informa-  Gardening” magazine, as I supposed
                 Virginia to his regimen.           tion for organic growers and studying  and as Rodale, no doubt, would have
                    Erik is now doing great in school  organiculture for nearly forty years, I  liked us to believe.
                 and barely needs his IEP. He even joined  was hopeful that I might be permitted     In the same spring issue of Wise
                 Cub Scouts and stayed two years (he  to join the discussion. It is mainly by  Traditions (pages 12 and 13) is a letter
                 had previously never done anything  means of healthy debate that we can  by Allan Balliett, a biodynamic CSA
                 organized for more than a few days).  achieve a synthesis and consensus on  farmer, providing another dimension
                    My wife and I both feel the drugs  a subject badly encumbered by confus-  in a very cogent and pertinent refer-
                 given  to  Erik  merely  masked                                              ence to the aspects of freshness,
                 his symptoms and did nothing                                                 phytonutrients  and  nutrient-
                 to correct what was ailing him.                                              density of produce. In his letter,
                 We cringe to think what would                                                Balliett notes that the USDA
                 have happened if we had become                                               organic program contains zero
                 complacent about his medication                                              nutritional goals. Accordingly,
                 and had not followed the recom-                                              a given sample of certified or-
                 mendations of the good people                                                ganic produce could be totally
                 we were fortunate enough to have                                             free of synthetic chemicals and
                 met on this journey.                                                         contaminants, yet offer nothing
                     Randy and Nancy Femrites                                                 in the way of nutrition, and still
                            Leesburg, Virginia                                                be  fully  in  compliance  with
                                                                                              USDA regulations.
                 WHAT IS ORGANIC                                                                      Given  the  situation,
                 AGRICULTURE?                       ing terminology and concepts leading  one has to ask, what is the value of safety
                    I read with considerable interest  to the misunderstanding exemplified  if the food is of no value nutritionally?
                 Dr. Joseph Heckman’s letter and the  in the writings of Dr. Cowan, to which  What  is  the  value  of  the  persuasive
                 exchange among WAPF intelligentsia  Dr. Heckman takes strong exception.  advice of authors of cookbooks and so
                 (Dr. Heckman, Dr. Thomas Cowan, and  Such confusion and miscommunica-  many nutritionists to always use organic
                 Sally Fallon Morell) over what (and what  tion abounds with respect to organic  produce? It needs to be recognized that
                 is not) organic agriculture (Spring 2010).  agriculture with serious consequences  there is a historical reason that the ir-
                 This is a highly important conversation  for everyone’s health.       relevance of nutrition needs to be laid
                 that needs to take place and a debate     There already has existed much  at the feet of conventional organiculture.
                 that needs amplifying, clarifying and,  needless argument over the word “or-     Balliett speaks of bonafide CSAs
                 one hopes, settling. As with so many  ganic” in terms of its use in chemistry.  as offering an assured supply of fresh,
                 debates, misunderstandings arise from  In some respects, the choice of the term  local, high-mineral, high phytonutri-
                 lack of definition of terms. Even so, I  in relation to a system of agriculture was  ent produce and refers to small, local,
                 submit all three parties are missing the  a poor choice. Dr. Heckman revealed  ecologically managed farms employing
                 essential point, one that bears heavily  an interesting point, that it was Walter  “no toxic inputs plus ensuring soil nu-
                 8                                          Wise Traditions                                   FALL 2010
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