加州的農藥管理局(California Department of Pesticide Regulation)在一份發表於2013年的調查報告說:百分之八十三在加州農夫市場販售的產品被驗出有殺蟲劑。
隔年,一篇發表在Modern Farmer,標題為Stamping Out Farmers Market Fraud(剷除農夫市場欺詐)的文章,有這麼一段話:
It should be no surprise that farmers markets are occasionally home to fraudulent or misleading behavior; small producers are notoriously strapped for cash, and farmers market profits can be the difference between making money and losing it.
應該是不令人吃驚的,農夫市場偶爾會有欺詐或誤導的行為;小農戶往往資金缺乏,而(他們在)農夫市場的獲利可以決定(他們整個營運的)成敗。
2015年5月,舊金山5號電視台的新聞主播Elizabeth Cook 發表一篇文章,標題為Beware Of Produce Cheats At Farmers’ Markets — They Don’t Grow What They Sell(謹防農夫市場的欺騙 – 他們賣的不是他們種的)。裡面有這麼一段話:
But how do you know you’re getting freshly picked produce from a local farm, and not from Central America?
但你怎麼知道你買的是從本地農場採摘的,而不是來自中美洲?
我們再看看所謂的有機店鋪和超市:
2015年6月,一個專為小農戶講話的機構The Cornucopia Institute發表Whole Foods Faces FTC Mislabeling Investigation (Whole Foods面對聯邦貿易委員會不當標籤的調查)。我把其中兩段翻譯如下:
Its new “Responsibly Grown” program for rating produce is seen as an effort to help the company maintain the high prices and margins which had earned the retailer the moniker “Whole Paycheck.”
其新的“負責地栽種”產品評級制度,是為了幫助公司維持令其贏得“整張薪水支票”綽號的高價位和利潤。
Whole Foods developed a rating protocol that, in some cases, labels conventional produce, grown with petrochemical-based fertilizers and toxic pesticides, as “Best” while presenting Certified Organic produce to their customers either as “Unrated” or with inferior rankings.
Whole Foods制定了一個分級辦法。在某些情況下,它把傳統的農作物,也就是使用化肥和有毒農藥栽培的農作物,標示為“最佳”,但卻把有"有機認證"的產品,標示為“未分級”或劣等。
同一年7月,亞特蘭大2號電視台的消費調查員Jim Strickland發表Your ‘organic’ food may not really be organic(您的“有機”食品未必真的是有機)。
內容大致是講,當地有一店鋪,聲稱只賣自己農莊生產的有機農品。但暗中調查卻發現,店主人都是到只賣非有機作物的State Farmers Market採購,然後載回他的農莊。
從以上5條報導,你應該可以了解,不管是大公司或小農戶,能不能賺錢才是對他們最重要的。而堅持從事“誠實的”有機農作是不可能賺錢的。
我再強調,我絕非反有機。我衷心地希望它能成功。但當競爭對手,以有機之名行無機之實,老實的有機農戶怎麼生存?
引用通告: 有機5迷思 | 科學的養生保健
引用通告: 貴是有道理?有機蔬果降低罹癌機率? | 科學的養生保健