Organic farming not a green alternative now (Time of India 03 January 2012)

TODOS SANTOS, MEXICO: Clamshell containers on supermarket shelves in the US may depict verdant fields, tangles of vines and ruby red tomatoes . But at this time of year, the tomatoes , peppers and basil certified as organic by the agriculture department often hail from the Mexican desert, and are nurtured with intensive irrigation. Growers here on the Baja Peninsula, the epicenter of Mexico's thriving new organic export sector, describe their toil amid the cactuses as "planting the beach" .

Del Cabo Cooperative, a supplier here for Trader Joe's and Fairway, is sending more than seven and a half tons of tomatoes and basil every day to US by truck and plane to sate the American demand for organic produce year-round . But even as more Americans buy foods with the organic label, the products are increasingly removed from the traditional organic ideal: produce that is not only free of chemicals and pesticides but also grown locally on small farms in a way that protects environment.

The explosive growth in the commercial cultivation of organic tomatoes here, for example, is putting stress on the water table. In some areas , wells have run dry this year, meaning that small subsistence farmers cannot grow crops. And the organic tomatoes end up in an energy-intensive global distribution chain that takes them as far as New York and Dubai, UAE, producing significant emissions that contribute to global warming.

From now until spring, farms from Mexico to Chile to Argentina are enjoying their busiest season. Some large farms that have qualified as organic employed environmentally damaging practices , like planting only one crop, which is bad for soil health, or overtaxing local freshwater supplies. Many growers and even environmental groups in Mexico defend the export-driven organic farming, even as they acknowledge that more than a third of the aquifers in are categorized as overexploited by the Mexican water authority.