Gold Oak Press

Ah, Spring is in the air! Our Northern California hills are green. Wildflowers carpet the ground. And it’s time for me to do my own type of Spring-cleaning– responding to post requests!

Several months ago, I received a request to explain the whole organic labeling process. How do you know the food you buy is truly organic? And what does ‘organic’ on the label really mean? 

Most people, when asked, can list a few characteristics of organic food: no synthetic pesticides, antibiotics, or growth hormones. Only natural fertilizers (no petrochemical-based fertilizers). Avoidance of genetically-modified organisms. 

Yes, all true, but organic agriculture production is more than that. Organic agriculture is as much a philosophy as a production technique. Organic growers view their role as being part of a greater ecosystem rather than just producers of a specific crop. As a consequence, there is an emphasis on promoting ecological balance by using renewable resources rather than artificial, one-time use inputs like petrochemical-based fertilizers. Organic farmers use techniques such as crop rotation or naturally-occuring fertilizers to keep soil fertile. They promote natural pest management strategies like the placement of owl houses in fields to control gopher populations or the release of beneficial insects to counteract harmful insects. Basically, true organic farmers view crop production as one part of a natural, environmental whole rather than with the narrow focus of isolated crop production.

That being said, the ‘organic’ label has enormous marketing cachet because people are willing to pay more for synthetic pesticide-free, environmentally-friendly food. To counteract fraud in the market place, the US Department of Agriculture now requires food that is labelled organic to meet certain criteria. Those products labelled ‘100% Organic’ must be made entirely with certified organic ingredients and methods. ‘Organic’ on the label means that the product contains at least 95% organic ingredients. Both of these types of products can carry the USDA Organic Seal.

This Seal Guarantees Minimum 95% Organic Ingredients

There is one other category of organic labeling. Those products containing at least 70% organic ingredients can carry the claim, ‘Made With Organic Ingredients.’ Certification is by government-approved certifiers such as the CCOF or other state, non-profit, or private agencies.

The best way to ensure you get what you pay for, whether in the supermarket or the farmers market, is to look for the words certified organic or the USDA Organic seal. That way you’ll know the products for which you’re paying extra have gone through the rigorous requirements of organic certification, which you know now, is as much about production philosophy as being pesticide-free.

My family are hardcore skiers. Not in the sense that we swoop down the slopes like experts, but rather in that we ski nearly every weekend. If you’ve ever travelled on Interstate 80 during ski season, you know that requires extreme dedication. The traffic is horrendous!

To break up the monotony of what can be an endless drive we look for new places to stop along the way, and I wanted to share one with you: Pedrick Produce. It’s not a fancy place, but if you’re like me and like farm fresh produce, this is the place for you.

Pedrick Produce's Original Metal Quonset Hut (courtesy of daviswiki.org)

Located in a metal barn set alongside I-80 in Dixon, what immediately strikes you is that Pedrick’s parking lot is full. And so is the store inside. Four cashiers ring up produce purchases for patient customers. The store’s interior is crammed with bags of fruits and vegetables, as well as flavored and plain nuts of all varieties (a nut fan’s heaven!).  The prices aren’t bad either. Asparagus for a dollar a pound. Apples for 49 cents a pound. Off-season tomatoes for $1.19 a pound. A whole lot cheaper than Safeway and without the spit-shine production that makes Safeway’s produce seem a little too slick.

As I walked around this flourishing produce stand, I was struck by the similarities to another produce stand institution along I-80–Ikeda’s in Auburn. If you’ve ever stopped at Ikeda’s for a burger, you know the produce stand there has expanded beyond fruits, vegetables, and nuts to included baked goods, wine, and seafood. Give Pedrick’s a few years, and I’m sure they’ll head the same way, opening a restaurant and bakery. Which is fine by me. I’m always on the look out for a new place to eat…

Note to Locavores: Not all of Pedrick’s produce is local. Some comes from other parts of California, Washington state, and even Mexico. If local production is important to you, stick to farmers markets. However, Pedrick’s is still worth a visit, if only to check out the vast selection of nut snacks!

Sorry I haven’t posted recently. As with all of us, life sometimes just gets busy! But I did want to share a photo and some thoughts about the World Ag Expo 2010, which just ended yesterday. For the uninitiated, the World Ag Expo is an enormous three-day agriculture show that takes place in Tulare, California. If you’re curious about tractors, ploughs, high-tech irrigation systems, or dairy management software, this is the place for you. More than 100,000 visitors, many of them from overseas, converge on the expo to see the newest and slickest stuff in ag.

I went down with my mother and father to check out “Big Ag” and found myself a little overwhelmed. The scale of the expo, the scale of the tractors, the scale of the farms in the San Joaquin Valley just dwarfs Northern California. As my father said, “Compared to these guys, we’re just gardeners.” But nonetheless, all that scale is pretty impressive.

I signed up for a Citrus Tour, in which a citrus grower took a bus-full of us on a tour of a packing plant, juice facility, and orchard. And I have to say, it was pretty enlightening.  I’ve said before that we live in a food “black box” society. Most Americans have no idea how their food is produced; they just buy it at the store and eat it. So checking out the packing and juice plants to find out how that navel orange in the orchard is converted into the the slick shiny thing you buy or into the premium juice that takes up a huge refrigerated space at Safeway opened up the black box for me a little.

Yes, your navel oranges are washed, dipped in fungicide, and waxed before they head to the grocery store. They may be gassed with ethylene gas, although only if there is green still left in the peel. They are routinely subjected to pesticide while still in the orchard to protect against pests that attack the peel (but not the fruit underneath). All this is done to make the fruit look good, because as one farmer said, “People like pretty fruit.”

While in the orchard, I sampled one of the oranges off the tree, and it was delicious. But it was a dull sort of orange with a tiny bit of green in the peel.  No gas and no wax yet. Definitely not as pretty as those on display in the grocery store.  The farmer assured me it was safe to eat, because the last application of pesticide was a month earlier. I listened to him chat about ”nitrogen” he added to the irrigation water to fertilize the trees.

It wasn’t an organic tour; that’s for sure. But the manipulations were pretty small if you compare it with juice production. It takes millions and millions of dollars to buy all the technology to make orange juice. I’ll save that for a later post, though…