Are we organic farmers?

In my mind, I believe that my husband and I are growing organic vegetables. However, I cannot use the word “organic” when putting our vegetables for sale in shops. Only producers who have been officially certified as doing organic farming are allowed to call their products “organic.” In some ways, that makes sense. Not just anyone can say they are a doctor or a lawyer. Well, you can call yourself whatever you want, but having freedom of speech doesn’t mean you can open a clinic and start charging patients money just because you say I’m a doctor. Only after you have studied, and been certified, and proven that you have obtained the necessary skills and knowledge are you allowed to be entrusted with people’s lives. Just because I say, “I’m growing organic vegetables,” doesn’t prove anything. So, the reality is, in order to sell vegetables as “organic,” they need to be certified as “organic.” That is to protect consumers. Afterall, I’m sure I would be angry if I found out that produce which was labeled “organic” was actually covered in pesticides.

That made me stop and think. What do I mean by “organic”? And if I cannot call our vegetables “organic,” than how can I describe them? First of all, by “organic” I simply mean growing vegetables without using chemical pesticides and chemical fertilizers. In that sense, I can say that our vegetables are “pesticide free” or “made without chemical fertilizers.” Is that the only difference? According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishery website, organic farming is defined in the following way. “Agriculture which does not use fertilizers or pesticides made from chemicals and does not rely on GMO technology; it also employs agricultural methods which try as much as possible to reduce the burden on the environment in relation to agricultural production.” Based on this definition, I think we can say that we are making organic vegetables. We don’t use GMO technology, we us bamboo and fallen leaves as resources, and we are engaging in agricultural practices with soil enrichment and biodiversity in mind. However, we haven’t done the paperwork, or had the investigation, or paid the fees, so we aren’t certified “organic.”

So… all we can do is come to be recognized through our relationship with our customers. All we can do is ask them to believe us when we say we don’t use chemicals. However, it is not a blind trust. If you look at our fields, bamboo stakes and mulch made from fallen leaves is in plain sight. The fact that our vegetables have holes or bugs on them is proof that we don’t use chemical pesticides. The problem is, in the current market, vegetables that have holes, or are a strange shape, or have an insect on them are viewed as “flawed,” and the value of the vegetables goes down. Vegetables which look “nice” are considered to be delicious and safe, whereas so called “ugly” vegetables are considered to be poor in quality. But, is that really the case? Behind the “nicely” shaped and colored vegetables, there may be use of GMO technology. Vegetables without any holes or insects may be covered in chemical pesticides. There are many such hidden realities. To decide that something must be delicious because it looks pretty is the same as deciding that a person must be kind on the inside because they are beautiful on the outside. In either case, you are only looking at the surface. The taste of vegetables should be judged by putting them in your mouth, not just by their appearance. In that sense, we want people to come to our farm, see our fields, and eat our vegetables on the spot. We believe that is the key to building a trust relationship with our consumers.

As small-scale farmers, our aim is not to make vegetables as though we are a factory. Our goal is not to be as efficient as possible to be as fast as possible to produce as many vegetables as possible to make as much money as possible. For us, it is important to interact with the soil and the vegetables and the insects, to use the resources given by nature, to use our own bodies, to live as humans, to live in thanksgiving to God. We want to share that kind of life with our consumers, too. We don’t want to use chemical pesticides because we value the lives of the people who buy our vegetables. That might sound like the thing you’re supposed to say, but it’s true. We want to get past the divide between “producers” and “consumers” to see each other as living beings, sharing life, eating delicious and healthy food, and building a community where people support each other.

I thought that we were growing organic vegetables, but I realized that what we are aiming for is not simply “organic farming.” If you look at the definition of organic farming, it is merely referring to a method of agriculture. It says nothing about relationships between people. Perhaps what we are trying to do is not organic farming; rather we should call it “holistic farming.” Farming which engages the mind and heart and body. Farming which keeps the natural world, and people, and God in view. Farming which values learning and connection. That is because, just as people lose the power to live without food, so too, they lose the power to live when their hearts are not satisfied. Even if we were to produce vegetables without using chemical pesticides, can we really say that we are contributing to an abundant healthy life if there is no heart of thanks in eating and no joy of sharing with others? We believe that the heart is nurtured when we value the natural environment and the lives of people given to us by God. We may need a certificate in order to call our vegetables “organic,” but there is no certification needed to live our lives. We would love for all of you to eat our holistically grown vegetables. If possible, at Ryo Mimi Farm, with us. Full of thanksgiving and joy.