There’s nothing like a gorgeous summer day in Oregon. Just spent part of the weekend at local farmer’s markets, where the people are friendly, the produce is beautiful, and the prices are sky-high (c’mon, folks, $1 per leek?). I  love eating fresh,untainted vegetables and fruits, but wish that somebody would figure out how to keep the cost down.  Still, it was heartening to see the sheer number of farmers at these events — a sign that at least in my part of the country, there is a resurgence in interest in careful, thoughtful, healthy smallholder farming. Sometimes it seems like everybody’s going organic, with “organic” on the labels of ever-more products, not just at the weekend markets, but in our grocery stores as well. Organic is growing fast, it appears. Or is it?

Turns out that the organic movement might be a smaller, less important factor than it appears.  Check out this interesting item over at Sustainablog for the background.