From: King Grove Organic Farm <info@kinggrove.com> Date: August 17, 2025 at 6:00:21 PM EDT To: stars2man@yahoo.com Subject:Putting Our Blueberries to the Test
We Tested Real Organic v. Conventional v. Hydroponic "Organic"
"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.
From: Google Scholar Alerts <scholaralerts-noreply@google.com> Date: August 16, 2025 at 2:05:03 PM EDT To: stars2man@gmail.com Subject:J O Roger Johansson - new related research
Abstract Associated Publications: Yin, D., Harris, CK & Warner, JC (2025). Estuarine exchange flow in the Albemarle-Pamlico Estuarine System. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans.(In Press).
From: Vojtech Vosecky <vojtech@circulareconomist.org> Date: June 24, 2025 at 5:53:19 AM EDT To: Dr Raf� <stars2man@yahoo.com> Subject:♻️ Fighting waste with... cookies?
Maybe you noticed that I didn't send The Loop over this weekend. For the first time in 10 months!
Well, the thing is - June has been incredibly busy, both personally and professionally.
Just when I got back from my keynote at the Green Transition Forum last Wednesday, my friends with small kids arrived to visit us for several days.
On Thursday morning, we packed our bags and went out camping and celebrating the Swedish Midsummer.
We took our kids and slept on an island in a Swedish West Coast archipelago! This is how bright it is here at around midnight.
We had a wonderful time, but there was not a single second to get this edition across the finish line.
So, with a few days' delay, I am happy to bring you a circular champion, who's tackling the food waste from the ground up. You've probably heard it before - almost 40% of food we produce globally is never eaten.
In farms, factories, and supply chains, edible parts of crops are thrown away simply because no one knows what to do with them.
The next wave of circularity isn't only about composting leftovers. It's about seeing value in materials where others see trash.
Or upgrading byproducts into premium ingredients. And our today's company is already doing just that.
Founded in 2016, Renewal Mill is a US-based ๐บ๐ธ enterprise and a pioneer of food upcyling. They turn byproducts from food manufacturing into high-value ingredients and snacks.
Their mission is to keep nutritious parts of crops in the system - not in the bin.
A few stats:
๐ธ Annual revenue: ~ $750,000 ๐ฉ๐ผ Team: ~10 employees ๐ฐ Capital raised: $3.2 million ๐ฅฃ Products: 10+ (flours, baking mixes, cookies) ๐ Retail & foodservice presence: 1,000+ locations across the U.S.
Their secret sauce? A tech-enabled model that scales food rescue and makes it tasty.
Its flagship ingredient is organic okara flour, followed by a line of premium upcycled flours and ingredients.These ingredients serve as the base for Renewal Mill's own consumer product line, including baking mixes and ready-to-eat cookies
Byproducts as missed opportunities
80,000 kilograms of food is being wasted around the world, every single second.
We trash enough to comfortably feed 2 billion people around the globe.
It's not just about guilt or hunger. Food waste also means wasted water, land, energy, and carbon budgets.
Almost 1/4 of all the food wasted are crops. Here's how it hits them specifically:
๐ฑ Soy – After making soymilk or tofu, okara (soy pulp) is left behind. It's packed with fiber and protein, but usually dumped or used as low-value animal feed.
๐พ Oats – The oat milk boom generates tons of pulp that often ends up as waste, despite being nutrient-rich.
๐ฝ Corn – Milling leaves behind husks and germ, with huge potential for upcycling.
๐ Bananas – Overripe or "imperfect" bananas are trashed at massive scale, though perfectly edible.
๐ Pineapples – Skins and cores are discarded, though they contain enzymes and fiber useful in other products.
All these byproducts are nutritious, valuable, and often overlooked.
Until now.
How Renewal Mill bakes a change
Renewal Mill is building an entire supply chain for food byproducts.
Here's how their circular model works:
Sourcing: They partner with plant-based food producers (e.g. soymilk companies) to collect their leftover pulp, like okara.
Upcycling & processing: They dry and mill this pulp into ultra-fine, shelf-stable flour - high in fiber and protein.
Product development: They sell this flour to food manufacturers (B2B) and also create their own branded products like cookies and baking mixes (B2C).
Retail & partnerships: Their products are available in grocery stores, cafes, and e-commerce. They collaborate with brands like Salt & Straw and Miyoko's Creamery.
By treating food waste as a resource, Renewal Mill shows how to close the loop in food production – a key principle of circular economy.
Renewal Mill reports that its okara flour carries roughly 40% of the carbon footprint of traditional all-purpose wheat flour, thanks to the emissions saved by diverting soy pulp from landfill.
Their impact so far:
✅ Diverted hundreds of tons of okara from the landfill
✅ Saved millions of liters of water
✅ Prevented CO₂ equivalent emissions in the thousands of kg
✅ Built a replicable model for upcycling in the food sector
They're not just recycling food, they're rewriting the recipe for food systems.
What's next?
Food waste is a trillion-dollar problem. Upcycling is a billion-dollar opportunity.
But scaling it will take more than a few passionate businesses.
We need:
--> Tech to integrate byproduct sourcing into supply chains.
--> Food safety standards and labeling that support upcycled ingredients
--> Policy incentives for food processors to valorize, not dump
--> Consumer education that makes "waste-based" food cool
SMEs like Renewal Mill show what's possible. But the real breakthrough comes when circularity becomes the norm, not the niche.
It's time to stop tossing food value. Let's bake it back in.
If you are turning 'waste' products into something new, have job openings, or have an upcoming event, I'd love to feature your work. Get in touch here.
That's it for this week, see ya next Saturday!
Vojta PS: Please don't forget to leave feedback on this new edition!
