"Organic food remained marginal until the late 1980’s. In 1989 American researchers announced that Alar, a ripening agent commonly used on apples, caused tumours in laboratory animals and was a potentially carcinogen for humans. The US Environmental Protection Agency banned the chemical and that began what’s been called a panic for organic. Organic sales took off and demand for organic food has been growing ever since.

The growing demand for organic food had radical effects on the organic landscape — especially in California — where most of North America's fruits and vegetables come from. The biggest winner in California’s new organic landscape was Earthbound Farms.

Today, Earthbound is the largest organic produce company in the world specializing in baby salad greens, fruits and vegetables. Earthbound’s founders are Drew and Myra Goodman. They were fresh out of college in 1984 when they began organic farming. They didn’t have the same ideological commitment to developing an alternative food system that the earlier pioneers had. Nor did they have the anti-business bias that characterized the counter-culture. Their mission was to bring the benefits of organic food to as many people as possible and serve as a catalyst for positive change. And that meant going big and mainstream.

Earthbound now farms 26,000 certified organic acres in California, Arizona and Mexico and processes 22 million salad servings every week. The company sells to most major supermarkets in North America from Whole Foods to Loblaws to Wal-Mart.

Earthbound’s success has bumped up against the ideals of the organic movement in a number of ways. As well as their marketing strategies, what’s irked their critics is their sheer size and all that that entails.

The mainstreaming of organics has split the organic sector into two streams — the industrial and the local. One’s large-scale and feeds the big supermarket chains, while the other’s small-scale and sells direct to consumers, restaurants and independent stores. There’s little room for mid-sized farms in this new organic landscape. Consumers benefit from the two streams. The industrial stream is bringing the price of organics down, while the local stream is supplying high quality fresh seasonal produce. But this bifurcation isn’t leading to the kind of agriculture veterans of the organic movement had in mind.

1990 was a watershed year in the history of organics. After decades of ignoring and even discouraging organic farming, the US government decided it was time to get involved. That year, it passed the Organic Food Production Act. The purpose of the act was to regulate organics and develop consistent national standards for organic farming and food processing. The end result would be a label — USDA Organics — that consumers could trust. (Canada has gone through a similar process and will be coming up with it’s own label, Canada Organic within the next year.)

Although organics has gone mainstream, the original strands of the organic movement haven’t disappeared. In fact, small-scale organic farms selling to local markets have been growing in numbers in recent years, bucking the general trend of declining farms in North America. It’s here that some of the most interesting innovations in sustainable agriculture have been taking place.

Industrial organic or small-scale, certified or not, the reason most consumers buy organic food is because they think it’s healthier. The obvious question is, is it?"

- Jill Eisen