Arkansas Farmer Grows Organic Mushrooms
posted 8:30 pm Thu November 22, 2007 - Shirley, Arkansas
No doubt, you've already enjoyed your family feast featuring all the traditional fare so this story is timely.
In addition to talking turkey, we're talking organic. With the recent surge in the sale of organic food--we thought we'd get it straight from the mouths of experts. Who answer the question of exactly what is going on your table?
This organic shitake mushroom farm in Shirley represents just a fraction of a growing industry in Arkansas and across the country. Instead of the ground, they take root in logs.
(Tom Kimmons, Shirley Community Dev. Corp.)"We don't use any insecticides, pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides. We do have slugs, slugs love mushrooms. And we use the old-fashioned method. We pick them, drop them and stomp them. Sounds crude, but very effective."
(Kimmons)"Organic was really for small family farmers that were feeding their own kids and wanted them to eat good food."
(Kimmons)"Now it's starting to become sexy. A lot of people want to be organic"
As evidenced by the regular classes offered at Kimmons' mushroom farm.
(Kimmons)"We're a non-profit corporation. We've trained over 650 small farmers to grow shitake on logs."
In fact, organic farming has reportedly become one of the fastest growing segments of the agricultural industry.
(Ron Rainey, Agri-Business Dept. UALR)"But it's a niche market. Talk about 3% of total food sales but it's been averaging an annual growth rate of about 20%."
So just what is driving these sales?
(Stephanie Baker, shopper)"I shop organic because I want to avoid antibiotics and pesticides in my food. And I think it's more natural that's the way we used to do it 50-years ago, 100-years ago."
(Masami Fiser, shopper)"When we talk about food, you'll say, oh, you're tired, eat some birdock or drink some soup. I was brought up to believe good food and good health go hand in hand."
Kimmons says organic foods like his mushrooms aren't just good they're better for you. He's just completed a 4-year contract with the Cancer Institute--growing mushrooms for research. And he describes them as "immunopoteniators. "
(Kimmons)"When you eat these shitake that are grown this way, they enhance your immune system in such a way that you're much less prone to getting disease."
While the USDA has a special certification process for organic foods:
(Jo Beth McElhanon, Dietician, Baptist Health Med. Center)"The studies at this time are inconclusive whether organic versus conventional is more nutritious. What we do know is agriculturally is we're getting more and more organic farmers in the market."
(McElhanon)"The area of most interest is anti-oxidants, a chemical called poly-phenols, that help to decrease free radicals, that help promote cell health and prevent cell damage. I think we'll see more science and research in that area. Right now, we don't have USDA standards on how many anti-oxidants you should get each day."
How do you know what you're pulling from the shelves is truly organic? Look for the logo that certifies according to USDA standards.
(Rainey)"Organic is a legally protected name by the USDA and it has a certification process, natural doesn't have that type of certification from the USDA. "
(McElhanon)"If you're gonna have labels that say naturally, you'll see hormone-free, pesticide-free, chemical-free. Those don't necessarily mean organic."
To qualify, the food has to be produced in 95% organic fashion. That includes how it was grown, how the soil was prepared, where appropriate and environmental impact.
(McElhanon)"You can have cakes, pies and cookies that are made with organic materials, but does not necessarily mean they're still good for you because they're still cakes, pies and cookies, high in fat and high in calories. If you're going to include those things, you need to balance out those things with exercise and diet."
And if you go organic, you're going to pay a little more because it costs more to produce. In Arkansas there are fewer organic growers. Many fruits and vegetables shipped in. Consider these apples purchased at another store:
(McElhanon)"If you look at them you'll see they look basically the same size the difference was at the check out, one was 13 cent more than the other."
But when it comes to good health many say you can't put a price tag on that.
(Dee Fiser)"Being with my wife for 31-years now and we've come to believe that all medicine and side effects aren't really where we want to go as some of the last of the baby boomers"
(Kimmons)"Man is what he eats and people are starting to be more conscious that just because you buy something cheap, you don't necessarily mean you want to put it in your mouth and if it's your food, it's worth the investment in your health and your body."
But McElhanon says regardless of whether or not you choose organic or conventional, you're encouraged to eat 5 fruits and vegetables every day.
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