Hungry for Change: Borderlands Food & Water in - Southwest ...

seen that knowledge and practices acquired in the organic
sector often spillover into the conventional pool,
inspiring mixed producers to implement better practices
in their production methods, as well.
Despite the fiscal success of operations like Patagonia
Orchards, Ostrom insists that the organic market is
much riskier than the conventional market in important
ways: Because organics represent such a small market
share, the spikes in supply and demand are much more
radical for organics. While conventional brokers can rely
on their neighbors to help complete produce counts or
find a buyer for a sudden surplus in production, Ostrom
says that organic growers and brokers often have no one
to turn to during stints of bad weather or other unforeseen
events. An organic item can get over- or under-produced
much faster than in the conventional market.
However, organic brokers have an advantage: they can
flip their products and sell them as conventional when
the organic market becomes saturated or if conventional
prices shoot up.
Just as organic growers are
forced to implement natural
pest control in their fields, organic
shippers can’t rely on
chemical solutions to control
pests or perishability during
transport. While conventional
citrus shippers can meet U.S.
pest-free importation standards
by simply fumigating
their shipments with methyl
bromide, organic shippers
must prove their imports are
naturally pest-free before they
cross the Mexico-U.S. border.
Because organic crops foster a
wider variety of insect life, organic
shipments are more likely
to be stopped and forced to
wait while samples of the
creepy-crawlies are shipped and analyzed by a USDAapproved
entomological lab. These tests can take days,
during which time the load of organic produce—valued
at some $25,000—must remain at the border awaiting
clearance. If clearance is denied, the company must either
fumigate the entire load and sell it on the conventional
market, or sell it “for almost nothing” in the
open-air markets of Mexican cities near the border,
like Hermosillo.
Talking to Philip, I realized that the international organic
industry, much like the conventional sector, is more
complex than we consumers imagine. To be competitive
in the international organics market, warehouses must
While conventional citrus shippers can meet U.S. pest-free importation standards by simply
fumigating their shipments with methyl bromide, organic shippers must prove their imports
are naturally pest-free before they cross the Mexico-U.S. border.
undertake additional risks requiring an infrastructure
that is often overseen by large companies.
Nevertheless, the operations at Patagonia Orchards demonstrate
that success can be attained on a smaller scale.
For every large organic producer cutting corners and rigging
prices to maximize their market share, there is someone
like Philip using their profit margins and personal
Garlic heads get shorn: Hand-harvesting ajo for export | Photo Gary Paul Nabhan
They don’t call them Cuties down here: Citrus headed north | Photo Laurel Bellante
time to ensure growers receive a fair price, assist in crop
planning and, where possible, offer their services to
finance small growers on both sides of the border or
facilitate the installation of new wells, solar panels or
drip irrigation.
Philip understands what labels can conceal: “We do a lot
to try to not hide behind the label. We aim to build transparent
relationships between the consumer and the
grower.” Ironically, it is often the retailers themselves
that inhibit consumers’ abilities to discern between
products. Although one of the goals of Patagonia
Orchards is to promote crops that are Arizona grown,
most retailers consider it “too much work” to advertise
which products are local. Big box retailers like Target or
Wal-Mart further confuse the marketplace by stamping
the same organic label on all of their produce—“whether
it’s a carrot grown in Fullerton or a lime from Veracruz.”
So just as the label is telling you something (organic!), in
the end it might tell you very little.
In this age of global trade, food will always be polemical.
Every new label is met with new attempts to capture the
market and corrupt the standards created in its wake,
playing on consumer imaginaries and glossing over ambiguities.
Even as new information is released to raise
consumer skepticism about the organic industry’s environmental
sustainability and social justice practices,
there are also players like Philip Ostrom who strive for
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more accountability and better practices in the organic
sector. Far from being a panacea, the global organic sector
continues to rely on significant infrastructure and
natural resources that should invite reflection each time
we sip down our morning coffee or bite into an organic
banana imported from Ecuador. It is also reason to get
acquainted with the differences in scale and practice
between organic labels. I, for one, now search for that
colorful little Patagonia Orchards label and take comfort
that it decorates something worth taking home to eat.