foodsources
“organic”, “all-natural”, “free-run” or “free-range”. As
organics’ popularity has skyrocketed, these certifications
and pseudo-certifications (beware poultry boasting
“enhanced housing”, which Stefan says merely means a
perch has been added to the chickens’ small cages) have
become hard to parse.
Wary shoppers should look not just for “grass-fed” beef
but “grass-finished”, which indicates the cows have not been
moved to a feedlot, and eggs from “free-range” or “pastured”
chickens (“free-run” chickens are not caged, but are housed
inside a barn). Ultimately, the best way to learn where food
comes from is to talk to the person who produced it.
Stefan says he used to feel guilty about not being able
to satisfy customers looking for celery in the spring or a
red tomato in the dead of winter. But he’s come to realize
the necessity of a shift in consumer behaviour. Eating
seasonally may be the most important factor in how
people should eat, he says.
Caring for the stability of our environment is also key.
The unpredictability caused by climate change—late
frosts, early winters, floods and storms—can all have
extremely adverse effects on farming, and farmers are
already grappling with managing the changes.
“But the future could be bright if we get the people that
are going to make the hard choices to say [...] we do need
Stefan Regnier
to control what we’re putting in the environment, so there
is a future moving forward for everybody.”
Farming organically means getting in tune with a
system that is “simple but highly complicated,” says
Stefan. “But when you get the balance and everything
starts working really well, it’s beautiful.”
It does seem to require devotion. Just think of the
response to the last question you asked a producer at a
farmers’ market—the passion in their voice, the details of
growing times and temperatures, and the variance of this
year’s crop versus last. Try getting that at a supermarket.
ciao! / oct/nov / two thousand nineteen
31