Page 8 - Fall2010

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