Organic farms scale up to meet growing consumer demand

SAN JUAN BAUTISTA, Calif. — Earthbound Farm's fields of organic baby spinach and romaine lettuce are a living symbol of the organic food movement's explosive growth in recent years.

What started two decades ago as a three-acre roadside farm in this valley 90 miles south of San Francisco has grown into the country's largest grower of organic produce, with more than 100 types of fruits and vegetables on 28,000 acres in the U.S. and abroad.

Earthbound's extraordinary growth is only the most visible example of how organic farming is changing. Small family farms created as an alternative to conventional agriculture are increasingly giving way to large-scale operations that harvest thousands of acres and market their produce nationwide.

And with Wal-Mart, Safeway, Albertson's and other big supermarket chains expanding their organic offerings, the transformation may only be in its early stages.

"I don't think (consumers) have any idea just how industrialized it's becoming," said Michael Pollan, a journalism professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and author of "The Omnivore's Dilemma." "There are some real downsides to organic farming scaling up to this extent."

Pollan and others worry that the expansion of "Big Organic" will lower food quality, weaken standards and hurt small family farms. As organic goes mainstream, critics say, the movement loses touch with its roots as an eco-friendly system that offers a direct connection between consumers and the land where their food is grown.

Byron Albano, who handles marketing for Cuyama Orchards, his parents' 210-acre organic apple orchard in Santa Barbara County, worries the entry of Wal-Mart and other supermarket chains will "lead to organic produce becoming a commodity with prices being dictated by those buyers."

Other experts say the trend simply gives more consumers access to high-quality food and keeps prices down. It's also good for the environment because fewer pesticides and fertilizers will pollute the air and water.

Despite its size, Earthbound Farm follows the same practices as smaller organic farms. It rotates crops to enrich the soil and avoid disease, doesn't use chemical fertilizers or herbicides, and brings in syrphid flies and other beneficial insects to control pests.

Earthbound's bagged salads and other organic products are now sold in more than 80 percent of U.S. supermarkets.

"Earthbound Farm's mission is to bring the benefits of organic to as many people as possible," said Myra Goodman, who founded the company with her husband, Drew.