Don't Spend the Extra Money on Grassfed Milk

Organic Valley Grassfed Milk recently hit the shelves of my local Market Basket, retailing for $1 more per half-gallon than standard organic milk. Since I'm a strange person who can't go grocery shopping without coming home with a research project, I wanted to see if it was actually worth the extra money.

If you're buying milk, it's worth it to buy organic, and Organic Valley is one of the better national brands. But is it worth paying that much more for grassfed milk?

The short answer is no:

• Grassfed cows seem to be no less destructive to the environment than standard cows
• The evidence grassfed milk is healthier is pretty limited. It's a bit of a Rorchach - if you're inclined to believe grassfed is healthier, you'll find evidence to back you up. If you're more skeptical, you'll wonder if it's worth paying 25 percent more just for a slightly better omega-6 to omega-3 ratio.
• Organic milk is already better for you and the environment than standard milk, and whole milk is better for you than you think
• If you really want to cut the environmental impact of your milk drinking, switch to soy

Grassfed milk seems to be more of a marketing gimmick than a health or environmental benefit. Oh, you won't spend an extra $1 per half-gallon on grassfed milk? I guess you don't really love your children, huh?

If you have $1 a week to help yourself & the planet, I'd rather you switch to clean electricity.

Organic Egg Shortage: Free Market Failure

The Market Basket grocery store in New Bedford posted this sign recently apologizing for an industry-wide shortage of organic eggs. The shortage has also been reported in places like New York City.

According to the Wall Street Journal last year, the invisible hand of the free market isn't working:

The Farm Belt isn’t going organic fast enough to keep up with surging consumer demand, forcing makers of organic foods from milk to deli meats to look abroad for key commodities while struggling to recruit skeptical farmers at home. The U.S. is the world’s largest producer and exporter of corn and soybeans, but organic supplies, which are used largely as animal feed for production of organic meat and dairy, are hard to come by here.

We shovel billions in taxpayer subsidies to corporate farm interests and they can't even make enough organic eggs to sell us. Great system, huh?

If you can't find organic eggs at the grocery store, use the USDA's Farmers Market Search to track down some local eggs. Or for the really ambitious, look into getting some backyard chickens.

Bigger Isn't Better: Why Gigantic Produce is a Terrible Value

My girlfriend noticed these giant tomatoes the size of cantaloupes at Harris Teeter the other day. It's a produce-wide trend - softball-sized avocados, strawberries that are no longer bite-sized, apples that are more of a meal than a snack.

Many people look at giant portions and see a bargain, but abnormally large fruits and vegetables are a terrible value. Especially since many fruits and vegetables are sold by weight, you're paying an inflated price for watered-down taste and nutrition:

• Plants give about the same amount of nutrition to each fruit or vegetable no matter its size, so supersizing just dilutes it
• By breeding for size over nutrition & taste, there's evidence conventional produce nutrition & taste has genetically declined over time
• Fruits and vegetables need time to soak up the sun & develop flavor, but they can be robbed of that by artificially accelerated growing processes

Why would anyone buy these monsters? Even if you don't want to spend a little more on the foods that are worth buying organic, I don't understand the appeal of the wide range of imitation food products, from tasteless tomatoes to process cheese loaves to corn-based pancake syrup. Why not buy real food?

What Foods Are Worth Buying Organic?

Climate advocacy hasn't made me rich as fast as Rick Perry promised it would, so I need to shop green on a budget and practical advice is hugely valuable. What's worth buying the organic version of? What's not? (Answer: Kraft Organic Process Cheese Loaf.)

Wake Up World has a rundown of 7 foods worth spending a little extra on to get the most nutrition and avoid unwanted extras like pesticides, weed killers and artificial hormones. It's a good one to bookmark for future reference, along with the New York Times' 5 "strategic" organic foods. Two foods on both lists: Milk and potatoes.

Grocery Store Cashier Stunned by Normal-Looking Organic Red Pepper

"What is this?" the young Safeway cashier asked me as he pulled an item off the conveyor belt, held it up to eye level, and examined it carefully.

"It's an organic red pepper," I said. "The regular red peppers looked like frankenfood."

"I know, those things are huge!" he replied. "I was just surprised to see a normal-looking red pepper."

How awful did the regular red peppers look? So giant and sickly that I'd already snapped a cell phone picture of them:

From Washington, VA to Washington, DC: Tracking Local Food

Check out this CNN story tracking food from an organic farm in Washington, VA to a farmers market in Washington, DC! To find a farmers market near you, visit WashingtonPost.com's interactive farmers market map.

Agribusiness Attacks Obama Organic Garden

Busy day here at Miles Grant for Delegate Campaign HQ -- just taught The Green Mom to play Wii Tennis, now we're hoping the rain ends in time for this afternoon's canvass.

But I had to take a minute to pass along this article (via TPM):

Michelle Obama planted an organic garden to promote fruits and vegetables as part of a healthy diet, but some chemical companies are worried it may plant a seed of doubt in consumers’ minds about conventionally grown crops. [...]

MACA, which represents agribusinesses like Monsanto, Dow AgroSciences and DuPont Crop Protection, is rather less thrilled about the fact that no chemicals will be used to grow the crops. The group is worried that the decision may give consumers the wrong impression about conventionally grown food.

“We live in a very different world than that of our grandparents. Americans are juggling jobs with the needs of children and aging parents,” the letter states. “The time needed to tend a garden is not there for the majority of our citizens, certainly not a garden of sufficient productivity to supply much of a family’s year-round food needs.”

Talk about setting up a straw-man argument. Who says a garden is supposed to be your family's only source of food? Don't have time to garden? Who says you have to -- shop at a farmers market or buy organic at the grocery store.

Once victory gardens were a sign of patriotism. Now agribusiness wants you to think they're a sign of weakness. Really makes you wonder whose best interests they're looking out for.

Just in Time for BBQ Weather ...

Here's an organic option I'd never noticed before ... Annie's Organic BBQ Sauce:

Harris Teeter Foils My Snark Yet Again

I was all set to do a post railing against Harris Teeter for carrying a dizzying array of organic food without carrying a single organic option of one of The Green Miles' favorite foods -- ice cream.

Then I was shopping tonight and for the first time saw this:

Not only did they have four different varieties of organic ice cream, but it was very competitively priced -- a quart for $4.99.

I thought about getting some for a taste-test, but I'm actually willing to give it The Green Miles Seal of Approval without one. If I'm dropping $4 for a pint of Ben & Jerry's or Haagen-Dazs, I expect it to be excellent. But when it comes to the Big Three flavors (vanilla/chocolate/strawberry), I'm probably just looking for something to a la mode an apple pie. Volume does the trick just fine, and $5 for a quart compares well to Edys, store brands, etc.

That's the only organic ice cream available at my local Harris Teeter, but Breyers, Ben & Jerry's, and Stonyfield also make organics. There are also several smaller brands.

It's nice to know there are options since dairy is one of the best ways to go organic!

Stonyfield Goes from Natural to Organic. So What's the Difference?

My new favorite breakfast is Stonyfield Chocolate Underground fat-free yogurt with BearNaked peanut butter granola. It's like a Reese's peanut butter cup, if Reese's was run by damn dirty hippies.

Recently I noticed Stonyfield's label had switched from "natural" to "organic." What's the difference? More than you might think.

Basically, natural just means the product was made with no artificial ingredients. Organic means the product was made without the use of chemical pesticides, fertilizers or antibiotics and no genetically modified organisms. It's especially complicated when dealing with dairy products, because grazing land and feed cannot be treated with chemical fertilizers or persistent toxic pesticides for a period of three years.

For Stonyfield, it was no accident that their suppliers were able to meet the stringent organic requirements:

Stonyfield Farm and Organic Valley/CROPP have worked together in recent years to further encourage organic conversion. In addition to establishing a transition fund to provide monetary support for farmers during the conversion process and providing more staff to work directly with farmers, the companies scheduled hundreds of procurement and membership retention events, and sponsored organic workshops and conferences for farmers. Stonyfield CE-Yo Gary Hirshberg and his wife, Meg, also contributed $100,000 to a loan fund to supply needed support to organic farm families, and Stonyfield Farm was the lead sponsor, with a gift of $450,000, of the nation's first land grant-based organic dairy farm, at the University of New Hampshire.

You can read the short version of Stonyfield's organic process on the Stonyfield website or the long version in the Stonyfield Organic Guide booklet.

Packaging with confusing claims can make it difficult to tell what's really organic. You can easily tell what's organic and what's not by looking for the USDA's organic seal. The USDA's website has an extensive rundown of the procedures for a product's organic certification. Wikipedia also has a thorough explanation of organic practices and benefits.

Green Living Challenge #8: Organic Lunch Leads to the Finish Line!

Today is your final day to complete the 2007 Arlingtonians for a Clean Environment Green Living Challenge! There's now an online entry form available.

I just realized I can grab my last 10 points for something I hadn't even been consciously doing:

Eat a locally grown, organic, and/or meatless ingredient meal twice a week.

I love cooking for family and friends, but I hate cooking for myself. Any lunch or dinner I make for just me usually involves no more than five minutes of prep time before going in the oven or going on my plate. Usually, that meant salads were out. Washing the lettuce, chopping the tomatoes ... way too much work.

Then this summer, I made a startling discovery: It takes just as much time to make one salad as it does three salads. OK, so it seems obvious, but I hadn't exactly spent sleepless nights crunching the numbers on salad prep. I've been making three salads on Sunday and bringing one to work each day for lunch.

And thanks to my local Harris Teeter, the salads are organic. They have a great selection of organic produce at prices that are comparable to their pesticidal (is that a word?) counterparts. I'd been thinking to fill this requirement I had to get free-range tofu from my local farmers market, but it was a lot easier than I'd thought.

There's more and more evidence that organic foods aren't just better for the environment. They may be healthier for humans as well, and not just because they don't contain pesticides. A new study (so new it hasn't been peer reviewed) says organic foods may contain more nutrients than conventionally-grown food.

If you're just starting the switch to organics, where can you get the most bang for your buck? The New York Times blog recently listed five of the foods that can make the biggest impact.

Points for this action: 10
Total points to date: 100
Points needed to complete Green Living Challenge: 100

Steroid Fruit: Advantages Only Skin Deep

No great scientific insight here today, just an experience with organic fruit to pass along.

Comparing an organic orange to a regular orange is like comparing pre-steroid Jason Giambi to post-steroid Jason Giambi.

Just look at them sitting on my window sill. The standard orange looks bigger, shinier, smoother, more perfectly spherical, and it's just plain bright orange. The organic orange looks smaller, dull with some brown patches, and it's not nearly as luminescent as the standard orange.

But peel the oranges, and all of the sudden the comparison is much different. It turns out the standard orange's size edge was all peel. It has a much thicker skin than the organic orange.

And that color difference? The standard orange's color and shine ends up all over your hands -- they're dyed and re-waxed to make them look better in the produce section.

What are you left with? It turns out the standard orange's advantages were all skin deep. They taste about the same, but the organic orange contains no pesticides.

Kraft Organic Cheese: For Those Who Don't Want Pesticides, But Still Want Diarrhea

OK, so I don't want to demean any company that's trying to go organic. But I saw a coupon last weekend for new Kraft Organic Cheese, and my reaction was thus:

Gross.

I couldn't find a picture of the new organic cheese, but here's a picture of regular Kraft cheese, which in my research I found is referred to within the company as a "process cheese loaf."

Gross.

The bottom line? Becoming organic doesn't make a gross product any less gross.

Kraft regular cheese? Gross. Kraft organic cheese? Still, in fact, gross.

It all reminds me of Jim Gaffigan's line, "There is the vegetarian Hot Pocket ... for those of us who don't want to eat meat, but still want diarrhea."

Weekend Update: Organic Chocolate & Solar Juice Bags

Just in time for Valentine's Day, Whitman's & Russell Stover are offering organic chocolates. The Green Girlfriend got some the other day, so hopefully she'll post a comment reporting on how they compared with standard chocolate.

Speaking of The Green Girlfriend, we went to Lost Dog Cafe for a late lunch/early dinner yesterday. They have the best selection of beer in Arlington, sandwiches that are much tasier and much cheaper than your standard Cosi/Potbelly/Au Bon Pain fare, and best of all, the owners are actively involved in animal rescue work, so you know your money is doing better work than just enhancing some stockholder's portfolio.

Ever heard of Juice Bags? If you're like me, your reaction was, "What, like Capri Sun?" These are backpacks or messenger bags with flexible solar panels on one side, so you can keep your electronic devices charged. If you're a frequent hiker or bike messenger, I can see where they'd be a great investment. You can be entered for a chance to win one by taking Grist.org's reader survey.

A few environmental programs that have been brought to my attention recently, if I get a chance to watch them, I'll post reviews:

- HGTV's "Living with Ed"
- The Sundance Channel's "The Green"
- NPR's "Discovering Where We Live: Reimagining Environmentalism"

This week, I'll be posting an "Ask the Green Miles" on I66 widening, and will be passing along any updates from Richmond on smoking ban legislation. And from what I hear, I may have lots of time to blog on Tuesday, because we could get a major winter storm here in DC. Few forecasters are putting down bets on snow totals yet, but AccuWeather is saying we could get 6-12 inches, with slight variations in the track of the storm having a big impact on whether we get much more or much less.

Stunning Upset: Organic Coffee Beats Starbucks

A major milestone for organic food this week, as Newman's Own Organic Coffee beat Starbucks in independent Consumer Reports taste tests! Dunkin' Donuts (not enough flavor) and Burger King (like making love in a canoe -- f'n close to water) were also-rans.

I've always been a big fan of Newman's Own products. The food tastes just as good, it's the same price (strangely, the salsa is much CHEAPER than its non-organic competitors at Harris Teeter), it's organic, and the proceeds go to good causes. Why NOT buy it?

In my experience, most organic products are of the same or better quality than their standard counterparts. My only negative experience has been with organic wine -- just not as tasty. What's your favorite organic product and why?

Raw sewage, organic beer, and global warming-related porn

I know all my recent posts have been random news & notes, but I've been busy lately, so calm down. Sip your coffee, relax, and enjoy the blog. I'll get back to posting more regularly, in the words of the great Napoleon Dynamite, whenever I feel like it. So there.

* The Union of Concerned Scientists (an organization best known for nearly hiring me as a press secretary five years ago despite my complete lack of knowledge at the time of what a press secretary actually did) has just put out a comprehensive report detailing the coming impacts of climate change. And let's not call them potential impacts or anything wishy-washy like that. Climate change is real, it's already happening, and the only question left is how severe the impact will be. Yes, it's depressing, but there are uninformed people out there who still argue that all is well. You need to be ready to refute their arguments, so read the report and get your talking points together. Now go, team, go!

* Another report -- if you're traveling to the American West in the future, don't bother packing a sweater.

* A major raw sewage spill is threatening Four Mile Run & the Potomac. Most of the water around DC inside the Beltway is already so polluted, it's a good idea to avoid contact with it, but in this case, it's a real health threat, especially for dogs. I heard about the spill through a text message from Arlington County, if you're not already signed up for Arlington Alert, you should do it now, it's really helpful!

* A follow-up to the recent organic beer question ... Business Week's cover story this week takes a look at the paradox of organic food -- as organic food becomes more popular, the business is being pulled further and further from its original ideals. And while I was fetching that link, I found another interesting Business Week article about green buildings.

* File under "you learn something new every day": I was trying to find a picture to go with the global warming stories below, and stumbled upon a porn series called "Global Warming: The Ed House Effect". Um, how can I put this? If you're at work, I would strongly advise against clicking that link.

Are All Organic Dairy Products Created Equally?

A new study from the Cornucopia Institute tries to answer that question, rating organic dairy products from different farms & companies.

I was eager to read it, since organic dairy products often have an especially high mark-up over their non-organic counterparts. However, the study seems to be so determined to prove its organization's points that it's not helpful to the everyday shopper.

It actually only rates smaller farms and companies, saying private-label firms refused to participate in the study. Therefore only one product I frequently buy is even rated -- Stonyfield Yogurt.

The rest are given a zero score, but grouped into types of company (store-brand, large corporation, etc.) and painted with a broad brush. Harris Teeter- and Whole Foods- brand organic milk get zero scores but "two-cow" ratings, while Horizon gets a zero score but a "zero-cow" rating. Little explanation is given other than a general bias about the type of company.

All that is fine if you're trying to make a political statement, but not terribly helpful for the average consumer. I guess I'll avoid the Horizon milk/eggs from now on? Let me know if you have any tips on buying organic!

UPDATE: The Nation devotes this week's entire issue to the politics of food