World's biggest retailer takes on organic food. I sit on fence.

I'm feeling a little torn. I really, really hate Walmart. I think they are one of the worst corporations on the planet (also one of the biggest - go figure).

Thing is they have announced they are moving into the organic food market, so I'm torn.

On the one hand this will mean organic produce is more widely available in the US (and what happens in the US tends to happen here rather rapidly) and as the demand grows so will the number of producers, and prices are bound to drop.

On the other hand, Walmart isn't exactly known for it's polite treatment of suppliers (just the opposite in fact) and the move to organic foods could place major strain on organic farmers, many of whom already struggle to make a profit, despite pricing their goods well above non-organic produce.

Sustainablog has a pretty thorough round-up of the US media response (not all of it positive), and this Business Week story, surprisingly, lands firmly with the struggling farmers.

Interestingly, this article in The Guardian mentions that the pulling power of Walmart is making several major processed food producers (not that many of them produce food) sit up and take notice.

Kellogg and Kraft are already working on organic versions of their products, Pepsi is planning organic products for later this year, and General Mills, which makes cereals such as Cheerios and Cocoa Puffs, will follow suit.

Organic Pepsi! Seriously, just because it has organic ingredients doesn't mean it's food.

The other worrying trend is that US mega-corporations are attempting to water down the standards that govern what can and can't be called organic. According to Business Week, several large US-listed companies have already had some success.

And large companies have tried to use their muscle in Washington to their advantage. Last fall, the Organic Trade Assn., which represents corporations like Kraft, Dole, and Dean Foods, lobbied to attach a rider to the 2006 Agricultural Appropriations Bill that would weaken the nation's organic food standards by allowing certain synthetic food substances in the preparation, processing, and packaging of organic foods. That sparked outrage from organic activists. Nevertheless, the bill passed into law in November, and the new standards will go into effect later this year.

Great, so now we'll have cheaper, not-quite-but-almost organic foods available in the world's largest retailer, which, among other things, drives competition out of business, pays workers below poverty level wages, and destroys inner-city vibrance by creating strip-mall cultures.

I think I might have just come down off that fence.

If you're in the US, go and see Robert Greenwald's (maker of Outfoxed) new documentary, "Walmart: the high cost of low price." If not, check out his blog, and lobby your local cinema to lobby their distributors to pick the title and give it an Australian run.