[SustainableTompkins] Wal-Mart Declares War on Organic Farmers

[Tony Del Plato]

Wal-Mart Declares War on Organic Farmers; Partners with Agribusiness for
Corporate Takeover

9/28/2006

To: National Desk, Environment and Business Reporters

Contact: Mark Kastel of The Cornucopia Institute, 608-625-2042

CORNUCOPIA, Wis., Sept. 28 /U.S. Newswire/ -- A report by The Cornucopia
Institute, the nation's most aggressive organic farming watchdog, accuses
Wal-Mart of cheapening the value of the organic label by sourcing products
from giant factory-farms and Third World countries, such as China.

"We have received scores of inquiries over the past few months asking if
Wal-Mart's organic expansion was 'good news or bad news,'" stated Mark
Kastel, senior farm policy analyst for the Wisconsin-based Farm Policy
Research Group. "My stock answer has been: If Wal-Mart lends their
logistical prowess to organic food both farmers and consumers will be big
winners by virtue of a more competitive marketplace. However, if Wal-Mart
applies their standard business model, and in essence Wal-Marts organics,
then everyone loses."

The Institute's white paper, "Wal-Mart Rolls Out Organic Products - Market
Expansion or Market Delusion?," concludes that Wal-Mart is poised to drive
down the price of organic food by inventing a "new" organic - food from
corporate agribusiness, factory farms, and cheap imports of questionable
quality.

"Organic family farmers in this country could see their livelihoods
disintegrate the same way so many industrial workers saw their
family-supporting wages evaporate as Wal-Mart and other big-box retailers
put the screws to manufacturers - forcing a production shift to China and
other low-wage countries," Kastel added.

Wal-Mart, already the nation's largest organic milk retailer and partnered
with the giant milk processor Dean Foods (Horizon Organic), recently
introduced their own private-label organic milk packaged by Aurora Organic
Dairy. Large percentages of milk from Horizon and Aurora come from factory
farms, milking as many as 10,000 cows in confinement conditions. The two
companies are the subject of current USDA investigations into their organic
practices.

"If there was any previous doubt as to their intentions, partnering with
Dean/Horizon and Aurora should leave no question in anyone's mind as to how
Wal-Mart is approaching its organic initiative," proclaimed Steve Sprinkel,
long-time industry observer and columnist for the nation's leading
sustainable agricultural journal, Acres USA.

The study also highlighted Wal-Mart's decision to lower per unit organic
product costs by collaborating with China.

"Will consumers choose cheap industrial food, be it from factory farms or
questionable Third World imports, or will they continue to support ethical
processors and family farmers?" asked Ronnie Cummins, director of the
800,000-member Organic Consumers Association.

For full specifics, visit www.cornucopia.org
<http://releases.usnewswire.com/redir.asp?ReleaseID=73357&Link=http://www.co
rnucopia.org>

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"Certainly, humanity's record for using technology wisely, sensitive to
its potential effects on society, on people, on environment is, at best,
mixed and hardly encouraging." - Robert Shapiro, when Chief Executive of
Monsanto Corporation
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Northwest Resistance Against Genetic Engineering
PO Box 15289  Portland, OR. 97293
Ph. 503.239.6841 info at nwrage.org http://www.nwrage.org/


-- 
"In times of universal deceit, telling the truth is a
revolutionary act."
George Orwell