Fwd: Putting Our Blueberries to the Test

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From: King Grove Organic Farm<info@kinggrove.com>
Date: August 17, 2025 at 6:00:21 PM EDT
Subject: Putting Our Blueberries to the Test

A Brief and Incomplete History "Organic farming" (or as our grandparents called it: "farming") has been practiced for roughly 12,000 years - and farming success was always dependent on finding or developing healthy, productive soil. This changed with the invention of chemical-based farming systems and the public relations success of what was termed "The Green Revolution."  Chemical farming, with its "revolutionary" pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides, was so comprehensively adopted that it ultimately became known as "conventional" agriculture (to distinguish it from the more time-honored methods).  In simple terms, this new agriculture elevated chemistry over biology. More traditional farming systems, which remained committed to maintaining healthy soil as the basis for the stewardship of healthy plants and the production of healthy food, then became known by names such as "biological" or "organic". Ultimately, as public perceptions of chemical agriculture changed, there was a demand for labeling to help distinguish biology-based farming systems (and products) from chemical ones. In the US this resulted in the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 (OFPA) and the advent of USDA Certified Organic food. The expressly stated intention of this legislation was to identify and protect farming systems that prioritized environmental stewardship and pesticide-free food for those seeking those qualities. It was also explicitly intended to ensure standardized organic food, and to address issues of consistency and consumer confidence. More recently, in just the last decade or two, there has been another "revolution" within organic agriculture itself; one that might fairly be called "The Plastic Revolution" or the "Hydroponic Organic Revolution."  Unlike conventional chemical-based farming systems, hydroponic farming systems don't just relegate biologically active soil, they ELIMINATE soil altogether. Usually in favor of an inert (or nearly inert) substrate (or soil substitute) in some sort of plastic container, and the crop plant is instead provided most of its nutrition via a liquid feed. (The USDA stands alone in the world in allowing hydroponic to be labeled as "organic".) In short: 1. Real Organic Agriculture emphasizes healthy soil and the absence of toxic chemicals. 2. Chemical (Conventional) Agriculture relegates soil and relies heavily on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. 3. Hydroponic Organic Agriculture eliminates soil and relies heavily on plastics. Despite this reality, the USDA sees no distinction between real, soil-based organic farming and hydroponic organic. The USDA allows both to be labeled the same; Certified USDA Organic. (In fact, the USDA requires them to be labeled the same.) This flies in the face of fifty some-odd references to soil and soil stewardship in the organic laws. And it makes a mockery of the clearly stated purpose of those laws; to standardize organic food and to ensure consistency and consumer confidence. Not only do we think hydroponic organic is inferior to real organic; we think it is often inferior to conventional chemical agriculture (because hydroponic involves no living soil). Worst of all, we KNOW that hydroponic organic is fast eliminating and replacing real organic in many crops. If this continues, we will soon lose real organic as a choice and we will be left with only the chemical and hydroponic options. We would argue that this reality should be very apparent to the USDA and its policy makers. About ten years ago farmers in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas, noticed cheap imported blueberries taking over store shelves (all labeled USDA Organic). These were from enormous, industrial scale hydroponic/container farms in Central and South America that were fast eliminating and replacing real organic farms in the Southeast United States. (A few years later we realized this was happening to other regions of the US as well, and that domestic Conventional blueberry farms were disappearing too.) As enormous hydroponic operations started taking over blueberry production, the same thing was happening with real organic tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, greens, and more. This trend has continued to accelerate since, and we are increasingly alarmed. Not only as farmers, but also as people who care about the quality of the food we all eat and the environment we all live in. PUTTING BLUEBERRIES TO THE TEST We disagree with the USDA's insistence that hydroponic is organic because we believe real organic and hydroponic farming systems do NOT produce the same, or "consistent" food of the same quality standard (as the law requires). We believe that, at least with the crop we grow and know best, these two growing systems produce vastly different food – by almost any measure. What to do? During our blueberry harvest this Spring, we set aside samples of KGOF blueberries. We also collected samples from two conventional blueberry farms in Central Florida. And we went to our local grocery store and purchased two samples of "USDA Certified Organic" blueberries from Mexico and Peru. (These are the two countries that now supply most of organic blueberries consumed in the US - and virtually all of the organic blueberries from those countries are hydroponic/container grown.)  Then we thought about the quality of agricultural crops generally, and blueberries specifically. What makes a blueberry worth buying and eating?  How could you rank them in terms of their quality? We came up with some criteria and put them to a fair test. We started with ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP.  Perhaps the most important, this is a big subject – and one we have reported on previously.  In short, the environmental benefits and costs of each of the three growing systems are well-documented.  Real organic agriculture, by definition, provides ecological services as a positive externality (value not factored into the price of the food it produces). Chemical agriculture, on the other hand, is widely recognized as producing negative externalities (e.g., harmful public health effects and chemical pollution of soil, water, and other natural resources). And hydroponic organic blueberry production systems are arguably even more environmentally harmful than chemical systems.  https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/jaliscos-berry-farms-hurt-locals/ Next…TESTING FOR FLAVOR Blueberries are a complex food. Science has discovered that we don't just taste blueberry flavor. The flavor is also produced by complex aromas that we detect with our sense of smell. Blueberry aroma is created by an array of volatile organic compounds (VOC's) that have yet to be completely identified. (The flavor is so complex that it is uniquely difficult to reproduce artificially. Raspberries and bananas, for example, have far fewer flavor compounds. This is why you can find many candies that artificially reproduce those fruit flavors – but not blueberries.) But what science cannot do well is tell us how much we enjoy a particular blueberry. It's a subjective experience. So we decided to seek out experts on flavor and have them put our blueberry samples to the test. We took all six samples (two KGOF organic, two conventional chemical, and two hydroponic organic) to Chef Dan Barber and the world class chefs at the Michelin Two-Star Restaurant Blue Hill at Stone Barns in Tarrytown, NY*. We figured that the highly trained palates of world-renowned chefs would provide the most meaningful test of flavor. The tests were conducted entirely blind and the results were nearly unanimous. The two Hydroponic Organic samples (from Mexico and Peru) tied each other in last place. (There was completely unanimous agreement that the hydroponic blueberries had inferior flavor compared to all of the other samples.) The two Conventional Chemical blueberry samples finished third and fourth. The two KGOF samples (Real Organic) finished first and second. Next Week…TEST RESULTS FROM THE PESTICIDE LABORATORIES!  * By the way, Chef Barber hosted us for dinner after the taste test. If you have never been to Blue Hill at Stone Barns, or done any research on what they do there, please have a look. Even better, go there. You will not be disappointed. The limits of time and basic believability keep us from trying to describe what it is like, but it is an astronomical gastronomical ecological and agricultural experience. Farmer/ Author/ Chef Dan Barber and his colleagues are doing extraordinary work to increase the viability of organic farming and improve the food system overall. We are very grateful for their support of The Real Organic Project and real organic farms like ours. https://www.bluehillfarm.com/ https://www.row7seeds.com/ Click Here to Order Now - Shipping Last 2025 FROZEN Farm Pick Up - September 13th - Click Here to Order As always, if there is a quality issue with your order, we will make it right. SATISFACTION GUARANTEED. We wish you good health and thank you for your support! Hugh and Lisa King Grove Organic Farm 19714 County Road 44A Eustis FL 32736 United States Unsubscribe © 2025 King Grove Organic Farm