Organic Consumer's AssociationThe Problem:
* 1% of U.S. corporations produce 80% of private sector food product output.
* Today in the U.S., only 8% of farms account for 72% of sales.
* 80% of U.S. agricultural subsidies go to the top 30% of farms.
* Nearly 75% of U.S. farmworkers earn less than $10,000 per year and 60% of farmworker families have incomes below the poverty level.
* The average adult in the U.S. watches 21,000 television ads annually, 75% of them paid for by the 100 largest corporations.
* Nearly half the typical 30,000 items found in an average supermarket are brought to us by just 10 corporations.
* An estimated one of every 10 dollars U.S. consumers spend on food is going to just one corporation -- Altria (the former Phillip Morris).
* Genetically Modified Organisms now grow on 96 million acres in the U.S., nearly 9 million acres in Canada, and millions more in 14 other countries, yet only a handful of companies benefit. Five -- Dow, DuPont, Syngenta, Aventis (Bayer) and Monsanto.
* The top four U.S. beef packers made up 81 percent of the market, the top four pork processors and producers 59 percent, and the top broilers 50 percent.
* Worldwide, the top ten seed firms now control 30% of the $24.4 billion seed market (the top three are DuPont, Monsanto and Syngenta).
* The top ten agrochemical corporations control 84% of the $30 billion agrochemical market (the top three are Syngenta, Monsanto and Bayer).
The Good News:
* America has 13 million households and 30 million consumers currently buying organic products.
* Consumers bought $13 billion worth of organic foods in the U.S last year.
* While conventional food sales are virtually flat, the overall annual growth rate for organic food is around 20 percent.
* According to the Food Marketing Institute, 66% of consumers have purchased organic foods.
* In the past decade, farmers' markets have increased by 79 percent in the U.S. with 15% of consumers buying various amounts of local produce at farmers' markets each year.
* Community Supported Agriculture has grown from an idea in 1985 to more than 1,000 across North America today.
* According to Time Magazine, "Organic farming used to be about saving the planet; now it's about saving the family farm."
* One organization that has been successful in the marketplace, yet is owned by almost 600 family-farmers who produce dairy, eggs, meat and vegetables for the co-op, is Organic Valley. Calling themselves a Family of Farms this cooperative distributes their products in all 50 states and enjoys the goodwill of some of the fiercest supporters of organic agriculture.
much, much more at the site above. also, you can go to
http://newdream.org/consumer/farmers.html"> Local Harvest and follow the prompts to find co-ops or farmer's markets or even better, CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) in your area.
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