Organic food has become mainstream. Even Walmart has its own organic brand. Although it is thought to be synonymous with sustainable food that is good for the environment and people, organic is much more narrowly defined.

To be USDA organic, farmers cannot have used any substances from a prohibited list on their crops for three years. Soil fertility and pests are managed using crop rotation, physical, biological and approved chemical substances. There is no genetic modification and organic seeds are to be used when available. Becoming USDA certified is an expensive and highly regulated process, to which many small farmers cannot devote the time and capital. This dictates the wording allowed on food labels.

The Northeastern Organic Farming Association of New York offers the Farmers Pledge as another option for agrarians. The pledge covers the same principles as USDA certification with additional stipulations. There is an emphasis on soil conservation, renewable energy, ethical business practices and supporting the local farming community. The association doesn’t monitor farmers and the program is free to the farmers, but does specify that customers may, with an appointment, visit the farm and inspect their practices for themselves.

Neither the Farmers Pledge nor USDA organic certification directly addresses the distance the food traveled or the amount of fossil fuels consumed in the process. As fossil fuels are nonrenewable sources of energy, minimizing the number of miles travelled is essential to creating the most sustainable product possible. Organic spinach from California still had to be put in a refrigerated truck and shipped to New York.

Eating local food inevitably means eating seasonal food and adjusting your expectations. This means stuffing your face with peas in June and spending the winter eating beets, cabbage, potatoes, spinach and things that have been pickled and preserved.

An easy way to participate in local agriculture is to buy a CSA share. CSA, or Community Supported Agriculture, and is a business model implemented by many local farms. Customers become members of a farm by paying at the beginning of the season to receive a share of the farm’s harvest during a set number of weeks. This ends up costing less than buying the same amount of food at a grocery store or farmers’ market and eliminates any middlemen. All of the money you pay goes right back to the farmer.

One bummer for the university community is that most of us don’t live here for the entire growing season, making the typical CSA share from June until November impractical. But never fear, for there are farms in the area that have tweaked the CSA model to accommodate different schedules.

Grindstone Farm in Pulaski, N.Y., offers early-bird spring shares for five weeks in May and June and academic shares September to November in addition to full-season options. Common Thread CSA in Madison, N.Y., offers student shares from late August to the first week in November. Greyrock Farm in Cazenovia, N.Y., has a year-round CSA where members pick up eggs, meat, veggies, milk and storage crops.

The time to sign up is now, the farmers need to pay bills during the winter and start planning for next year.

Leanna Mulvihill is a senior forest engineering major and environmental writing and rhetoric minor. Her column appears every Tuesday. She can be reached at lpmulvih@syr.edu.

Published on October 23, 2011 at 12:00 pm