[Sosfbay-discuss] whole foods boycott side effects

[Eric A. Meece]

I know that Whole Foods has driven the local natural food stores out of 
business.
But I'm sorry, what is a "CSA"?

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Paco NATHAN" <ceteri at gmail.com>
To: <sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org>
Sent: Tuesday, September 15, 2009 9:28 PM
Subject: Re: [Sosfbay-discuss] whole foods boycott side effects


> +1 for what Tian described
>
> I spent 18 years in Austin, watching Whole Foods grow from a small
> market literally around the corner from my place (the early 10th &
> Lamar store) into a large corporation. Knowing some of the execs, as
> well as several friends who'd worked there over the years... let's
> just say that Whole Paycheck management *aren't* the kind of people
> I'd want to have around my kids.
>
> Nor is Whole Foods any friend of organic, family-run farms. That was
> the "joke" around Austin, where there were so many CSAs within 50
> miles of the WFM corporate headquarters building, the city-wide
> farmers market held each weekend literally two blocks away -- yet WFM
> barely paid lip service to recognizing, let alone helping support
> them.
>
> Foodies in Austin who want an upscale market with great organic foods
> don't go to WFM as much, instead they tend to shop at Central Market
> -- another large corporation, but *much* better organic produce,
> better support for local farmers, stronger commitment to minimizing
> packaging, composting refuse, etc.
>
> When a group of organic consumers, organic farmers, and farm workers
> recently petitioned WFM regarding their use of GMOs, their inclusion
> of known carcinogens and toxins in their "natural" personal care
> products, WFM threatened to sue the Organic Consumers Association.
> Read the following:
>  http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_19057.cfm
>  http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/642/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=27761
>
> The dirty little secret is that WFM has been caught, not just once,
> lobbying along with factory farms to get "organic" labeling
> deregulated, etc., and therefore placing pressure to displace family
> farms.
>
> Boycott or not, I have no need to support jerks like that,
> particularly when I get better produce delivered closer for less
> expense...
>
> If you want to support organic farmers, a great way is to visit
> farmers markets or join a CSA. Our family subscribes to Two Small
> Farms in Watsonville, which delivers locally here in Mountain View.
> It's absolutely wonderful. Local, seasonal, organic foods, with
> emphasis on cultivating public interest in many heirloom varieties.
> http://twosmallfarms.com/  If you don't need all that much weekly
> produce, then consider sharing or bartering what's left in your CSA
> box with neighbors. That's a great way to make friends :) What we
> don't get from the CSA, then Milk Pail is nearby and also a very good
> market.
>
> Paco
>
>
> On Mon, Sep 14, 2009 at 22:39, Tian Harter <tnharter at aceweb.com> wrote:
>> For me boycotting whole paycheck is business as usual. They charge
>> too much in my opinion. That's why I go to the farmers market for just
>> about everything I can. Do the vendors provide health care? Probably
>> not for many of them, but they work for themselves, which is good enough
>> for me.
>>
>> I'm thinking what we should boycott is products that came off assembly
>> lines. Whole Paycheck is full of that stuff, another reason to boycott
>> them. Mountain View's Milk Pail Dairy has a good bulk food section.
>> So does Molly Stones.
>>
>> Tian
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