#058: Legendary organic farmer Eliot Coleman inspired Chef Dan Barber to focus on serving regional ingredients that could shape the food culture and ecological practices of his community for the better. This interview at NY's Stone Barns Center for Food + Agriculture culminates with some lengthy banter about whether organic is enough, or needs to be replaced by regenerative growing practices.
Eliot Coleman is an author, market gardener, and educator. His work on the USDA study in the late 1970's, "Report and Recommendations on Organic Farming" helped lead to the formation of the National Organic Program, setting the very standards that are being ignored by corporate interests today.
Dan Barber is the author of the Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of Food, the founder of Row 7 Seed Company, and the ecologically-minded chef behind the truly farm to table menu at Blue Hill at Stone Barns. He is a multiple James Beard Award winner, including: Best Chef New York City. Dan serves on the Real Organic Project Advisory Board.
To watch a video version of this podcast with access to the full transcript and links relevant to our conversation, please visit:
https://www.realorganicproject.org/eliot-coleman-dan-barber-organic-vs-regenerative-episode-fifty-eight
The Real Organic Podcast is hosted by Dave Chapman and Linley Dixon, engineered by Brandon StCyr, and edited and produced by Jenny Prince.
The Real Organic Project is a farmer-led movement working towards certifying 1,000 farms across the United States this year. Our add-on food label distinguishes soil-grown fruits and vegetables from hydroponically-raised produce, and pasture-raised meat, milk, and eggs from products harvested from animals in horrific confinement (CAFOs - confined animal feeding operations).
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We believe that the organic standards, with their focus on soil health, biodiversity, and animal welfare were written as they should be, but that the current lack of enforcement of those standards is jeopardizing the ability for small farms who adhere to the law to stay in business. The lack of enforcement is also jeopardizing the overall health of the customers who support the organic movement; customers who are not getting what they pay for at market but still paying a premium price. And the lack of enforcement is jeopardizing the very cycles (water, air, nutrients) that Earth relies upon to provide us all with a place to live, by pushing extractive, chemical agriculture to the forefront.
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