The Organic Industry Caves to Monsanto: What Now?

Moderators: Elvis, DrVolin, Jeff

The Organic Industry Caves to Monsanto: What Now?

Postby Nordic » Fri Jan 28, 2011 3:05 am

If you're one of those people who are sick and tired of being pissed off, don't read this.

The bad guys are winning. We're getting our asses kicked here.

http://www.organicconsumers.org/article ... _22449.cfm

The Organic Elite Surrenders to Monsanto: What Now?

"The policy set for GE alfalfa will most likely guide policies for other GE crops as well. True coexistence is a must." - Whole Foods Market, Jan. 21, 2011

In the wake of a 12-year battle to keep Monsanto's Genetically Engineered (GE) crops from contaminating the nation's 25,000 organic farms and ranches, America's organic consumers and producers are facing betrayal. A self-appointed cabal of the Organic Elite, spearheaded by Whole Foods Market, Organic Valley, and Stonyfield Farm, has decided it's time to surrender to Monsanto. Top executives from these companies have publicly admitted that they no longer oppose the mass commercialization of GE crops, such as Monsanto's controversial Roundup Ready alfalfa, and are prepared to sit down and cut a deal for "coexistence" with Monsanto and USDA biotech cheerleader Tom Vilsack.

In a cleverly worded, but profoundly misleading email sent to its customers last week, Whole Foods Market, while proclaiming their support for organics and "seed purity," gave the green light to USDA bureaucrats to approve the "conditional deregulation" of Monsanto's genetically engineered, herbicide-resistant alfalfa. Beyond the regulatory euphemism of "conditional deregulation," this means that WFM and their colleagues are willing to go along with the massive planting of a chemical and energy-intensive GE perennial crop, alfalfa; guaranteed to spread its mutant genes and seeds across the nation; guaranteed to contaminate the alfalfa fed to organic animals; guaranteed to lead to massive poisoning of farm workers and destruction of the essential soil food web by the toxic herbicide, Roundup; and guaranteed to produce Roundup-resistant superweeds that will require even more deadly herbicides such as 2,4 D to be sprayed on millions of acres of alfalfa across the U.S.

In exchange for allowing Monsanto's premeditated pollution of the alfalfa gene pool, WFM wants "compensation." In exchange for a new assault on farmworkers and rural communities (a recent large-scale Swedish study found that spraying Roundup doubles farm workers' and rural residents' risk of getting cancer), WFM expects the pro-biotech USDA to begin to regulate rather than cheerlead for Monsanto. In payment for a new broad spectrum attack on the soil's crucial ability to provide nutrition for food crops and to sequester dangerous greenhouse gases (recent studies show that Roundup devastates essential soil microorganisms that provide plant nutrition and sequester climate-destabilizing greenhouse gases), WFM wants the Biotech Bully of St. Louis to agree to pay "compensation" (i.e. hush money) to farmers "for any losses related to the contamination of his crop."

In its email of Jan. 21, 2011 WFM calls for "public oversight by the USDA rather than reliance on the biotechnology industry," even though WFM knows full well that federal regulations on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) do not require pre-market safety testing, nor labeling; and that even federal judges have repeatedly ruled that so-called government "oversight" of Frankencrops such as Monsanto's sugar beets and alfalfa is basically a farce. At the end of its email, WFM admits that its surrender to Monsanto is permanent: "The policy set for GE alfalfa will most likely guide policies for other GE crops as well True coexistence is a must."

Why Is Organic Inc. Surrendering?

According to informed sources, the CEOs of WFM and Stonyfield are personal friends of former Iowa governor, now USDA Secretary, Tom Vilsack, and in fact made financial contributions to Vilsack's previous electoral campaigns. Vilsack was hailed as "Governor of the Year" in 2001 by the Biotechnology Industry Organization, and traveled in a Monsanto corporate jet on the campaign trail. Perhaps even more fundamental to Organic Inc.'s abject surrender is the fact that the organic elite has become more and more isolated from the concerns and passions of organic consumers and locavores. The Organic Inc. CEOs are tired of activist pressure, boycotts, and petitions. Several of them have told me this to my face. They apparently believe that the battle against GMOs has been lost, and that it's time to reach for the consolation prize. The consolation prize they seek is a so-called "coexistence" between the biotech Behemoth and the organic community that will lull the public to sleep and greenwash the unpleasant fact that Monsanto's unlabeled and unregulated genetically engineered crops are now spreading their toxic genes on 1/3 of U.S. (and 1/10 of global) crop land.

WFM and most of the largest organic companies have deliberately separated themselves from anti-GMO efforts and cut off all funding to campaigns working to label or ban GMOs. The so-called Non-GMO Project, funded by Whole Foods and giant wholesaler United Natural Foods (UNFI) is basically a greenwashing effort (although the 100% organic companies involved in this project seem to be operating in good faith) to show that certified organic foods are basically free from GMOs (we already know this since GMOs are banned in organic production), while failing to focus on so-called "natural" foods, which constitute most of WFM and UNFI's sales and are routinely contaminated with GMOs.

From their "business as usual" perspective, successful lawsuits against GMOs filed by public interest groups such as the Center for Food Safety; or noisy attacks on Monsanto by groups like the Organic Consumers Association, create bad publicity, rattle their big customers such as Wal-Mart, Target, Kroger, Costco, Supervalu, Publix and Safeway; and remind consumers that organic crops and foods such as corn, soybeans, and canola are slowly but surely becoming contaminated by Monsanto's GMOs.

Whole Food's Dirty Little Secret: Most of the So-Called "Natural" Processed Foods and Animal Products They Sell Are Contaminated with GMOs

The main reason, however, why Whole Foods is pleading for coexistence with Monsanto, Dow, Bayer, Syngenta, BASF and the rest of the biotech bullies, is that they desperately want the controversy surrounding genetically engineered foods and crops to go away. Why? Because they know, just as we do, that 2/3 of WFM's $9 billion annual sales is derived from so-called "natural" processed foods and animal products that are contaminated with GMOs. We and our allies have tested their so-called "natural" products (no doubt WFM's lab has too) containing non-organic corn and soy, and guess what: they're all contaminated with GMOs, in contrast to their certified organic products, which are basically free of GMOs, or else contain barely detectable trace amounts.

Approximately 2/3 of the products sold by Whole Foods Market and their main distributor, United Natural Foods (UNFI) are not certified organic, but rather are conventional (chemical-intensive and GMO-tainted) foods and products disguised as "natural."

Unprecedented wholesale and retail control of the organic marketplace by UNFI and Whole Foods, employing a business model of selling twice as much so-called "natural" food as certified organic food, coupled with the takeover of many organic companies by multinational food corporations such as Dean Foods, threatens the growth of the organic movement.

Covering Up GMO Contamination: Perpetrating "Natural" Fraud

Many well-meaning consumers are confused about the difference between conventional products marketed as "natural," and those nutritionally/environmentally superior and climate-friendly products that are "certified organic."

Retail stores like WFM and wholesale distributors like UNFI have failed to educate their customers about the qualitative difference between natural and certified organic, conveniently glossing over the fact that nearly all of the processed "natural" foods and products they sell contain GMOs, or else come from a "natural" supply chain where animals are force-fed GMO grains in factory farms or Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs).

A troubling trend in organics today is the calculated shift on the part of certain large formerly organic brands from certified organic ingredients and products to so-called "natural" ingredients. With the exception of the "grass-fed and grass-finished" meat sector, most "natural" meat, dairy, and eggs are coming from animals reared on GMO grains and drugs, and confined, entirely, or for a good portion of their lives, in CAFOs.

Whole Foods and UNFI are maximizing their profits by selling quasi-natural products at premium organic prices. Organic consumers are increasingly left without certified organic choices while genuine organic farmers and ranchers continue to lose market share to "natural" imposters. It's no wonder that less than 1% of American farmland is certified organic, while well-intentioned but misled consumers have boosted organic and "natural" purchases to $80 billion annually-approximately 12% of all grocery store sales.

The Solution: Truth-in-Labeling Will Enable Consumers to Drive So-Called "Natural" GMO and CAFO-Tainted Foods Off the Market

There can be no such thing as "coexistence" with a reckless industry that undermines public health, destroys biodiversity, damages the environment, tortures and poisons animals, destabilizes the climate, and economically devastates the world's 1.5 billion seed-saving small farmers. There is no such thing as coexistence between GMOs and organics in the European Union. Why? Because in the EU there are almost no GMO crops under cultivation, nor GM consumer food products on supermarket shelves. And why is this? Because under EU law, all foods containing GMOs or GMO ingredients must be labeled. Consumers have the freedom to choose or not to choose GMOs; while farmers, food processors, and retailers have (at least legally) the right to lace foods with GMOs, as long as they are safety-tested and labeled. Of course the EU food industry understands that consumers, for the most part, do not want to purchase or consume GE foods. European farmers and food companies, even junk food purveyors like McDonald's and Wal-Mart, understand quite well the concept expressed by a Monsanto executive when GMOs first came on the market: "If you put a label on genetically engineered food you might as well put a skull and crossbones on it."

The biotech industry and Organic Inc. are supremely conscious of the fact that North American consumers, like their European counterparts, are wary and suspicious of GMO foods. Even without a PhD, consumers understand you don't want your food safety or environmental sustainability decisions to be made by out-of-control chemical companies like Monsanto, Dow, or Dupont - the same people who brought you toxic pesticides, Agent Orange, PCBs, and now global warming. Industry leaders are acutely aware of the fact that every single industry or government poll over the last 16 years has shown that 85-95% of American consumers want mandatory labels on GMO foods. Why? So that we can avoid buying them. GMO foods have absolutely no benefits for consumers or the environment, only hazards. This is why Monsanto and their friends in the Bush, Clinton, and Obama administrations have prevented consumer GMO truth-in-labeling laws from getting a public discussion in Congress.

Although Congressman Dennis Kucinich (Democrat, Ohio) recently introduced a bill in Congress calling for mandatory labeling and safety testing for GMOs, don't hold your breath for Congress to take a stand for truth-in-labeling and consumers' right to know what's in their food. Especially since the 2010 Supreme Court decision in the so-called "Citizens United" case gave big corporations and billionaires the right to spend unlimited amounts of money (and remain anonymous, as they do so) to buy media coverage and elections, our chances of passing federal GMO labeling laws against the wishes of Monsanto and Food Inc. are all but non-existent. Perfectly dramatizing the "Revolving Door" between Monsanto and the Federal Government, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, formerly chief counsel for Monsanto, delivered one of the decisive votes in the Citizens United case, in effect giving Monsanto and other biotech bullies the right to buy the votes it needs in the U.S. Congress.

With big money controlling Congress and the media, we have little choice but to shift our focus and go local. We've got to concentrate our forces where our leverage and power lie, in the marketplace, at the retail level; pressuring retail food stores to voluntarily label their products; while on the legislative front we must organize a broad coalition to pass mandatory GMO (and CAFO) labeling laws, at the city, county, and state levels.

The Organic Consumers Association, joined by our consumer, farmer, environmental, and labor allies, has just launched a nationwide Truth-in-Labeling campaign to stop Monsanto and the Biotech Bullies from force-feeding unlabeled GMOs to animals and humans.

Utilizing scientific data, legal precedent, and consumer power the OCA and our local coalitions will educate and mobilize at the grassroots level to pressure giant supermarket chains (Wal-Mart, Kroger, Costco, Safeway, Supervalu, and Publix) and natural food retailers such as Whole Foods and Trader Joe's to voluntarily implement "truth-in-labeling" practices for GMOs and CAFO products; while simultaneously organizing a critical mass to pass mandatory local and state truth-in-labeling ordinances - similar to labeling laws already in effect for country of origin, irradiated food, allergens, and carcinogens. If local and state government bodies refuse to take action, wherever possible we must attempt to gather sufficient petition signatures and place these truth-in-labeling initiatives directly on the ballot in 2011 or 2012. If you're interesting in helping organize or coordinate a Millions Against Monsanto and Factory Farms Truth-in-Labeling campaign in your local community, sign up here: http://organicconsumers.org/oca-volunteer/

To pressure Whole Foods Market and the nation's largest supermarket chains to voluntarily adopt truth-in-labeling practices sign here, and circulate this petition widely: http://www.organicconsumers.org/article ... _22309.cfm

And please stay tuned to Organic Bytes for the latest developments in our campaigns.

Power to the People! Not the Corporations!

Ronnie Cummins
Organic Consumers Association



"He who wounds the ecosphere literally wounds God" -- Philip K. Dick
Nordic
 
Posts: 14230
Joined: Fri Nov 10, 2006 3:36 am
Location: California USA
Blog: View Blog (6)

Re: The Organic Industry Caves to Monsanto: What Now?

Postby WakeUpAndLive » Fri Jan 28, 2011 3:08 am

This is insane...I would have never thought.
User avatar
WakeUpAndLive
 
Posts: 271
Joined: Thu Jan 20, 2011 7:49 pm
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: The Organic Industry Caves to Monsanto: What Now?

Postby 8bitagent » Fri Jan 28, 2011 3:24 am

Ugh, Whole Foods. Insanely overpriced big box grocer for yuppy pseudo liberals to feel "good" about themselves. I'm glad Trader Joes has consistently kept their prices very low and resisted selling out.
For those of us who live each month on few hundred US dollars; dollar and 99 cent stores are more of the way to go(hard to keep up a faux eco leftist hippy lifestyle with no money)

Now, a decade ago there was the Monsantos awakening, with a slew of books, documentaries and news reports coming out. So, I thought a lot of people were hip to the harm of Monsantos and other similar poison wielding companies...I guess not. Or they just don't care.
"Do you know who I am? I am the arm, and I sound like this..."-man from another place, twin peaks fire walk with me
User avatar
8bitagent
 
Posts: 12244
Joined: Fri Aug 24, 2007 6:49 am
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: The Organic Industry Caves to Monsanto: What Now?

Postby winsomecowboy2 » Fri Jan 28, 2011 3:40 am

http://rareseeds.com/shop/

http://our.windowfarms.org/

I gave up mourning my personal lack of political capital a while back.

Small useful things are the new currency.
I leave these links as a small and probably flawed answer to the question posed "What now?"
winsomecowboy2
 
Posts: 83
Joined: Tue Dec 29, 2009 7:04 pm
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: The Organic Industry Caves to Monsanto: What Now?

Postby Burnt Hill » Fri Jan 28, 2011 10:25 am

Thanks winsomecowboy2.
Small useful things are the new currency.

I agree.
Nice links.
User avatar
Burnt Hill
 
Posts: 2584
Joined: Wed Nov 22, 2006 7:42 pm
Location: down down
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: The Organic Industry Caves to Monsanto: What Now?

Postby 23 » Fri Jan 28, 2011 11:12 am

8bitagent wrote:Ugh, Whole Foods. Insanely overpriced big box grocer for yuppy pseudo liberals to feel "good" about themselves. I'm glad Trader Joes has consistently kept their prices very low and resisted selling out.


I'm fortunate to have a choice between three companies that provide organic food where I live: Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, and Sunflower Market.

You can tell which economic class of shoppers shops where by the vehicles that are parked outside the stores.

And you can tell a little bit about the company's corporate policy by where they place their stores.

TJ and SM have their stores in middle class neighborhoods here. WF seems to be attracted to gated community neighborhoods.
"Once you label me, you negate me." — Soren Kierkegaard
User avatar
23
 
Posts: 1548
Joined: Fri Oct 02, 2009 10:57 pm
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: The Organic Industry Caves to Monsanto: What Now?

Postby anothershamus » Fri Jan 28, 2011 12:50 pm

Don't be fooled! Trader Joe's is not what it appears!
http://www.naturalproductsmarketplace.com/articles/2010/08/trader-joe-s-expos.aspx
Trader Joe’s success comes from a mix of atmosphere and product selection, but the company is secretive when it comes to touting or explaining store operations. Because many—from rival retail chains to its own shoppers—want to know the “secret world of Trader Joe’s," Beth Kowitt and other reporters from Fortune Magazine spent two months speaking with former executives, competitors, industry analysts and suppliers, most of whom asked not to be named, to get the inside scoop.

Trader Joe’s has 344 stores in the United States, which are highly profitable for the owners—the Albrecht family, who also own the Aldi Nord supermarket empire in Germany. Last year, Trader Joe’s sales equaled Whole Foods.

Kowitt said its management is “obsessively secretive" when it comes to business tactics, which is an extension of the Albrecht’s values. They are known to be tight-lipped, and don’t interact with the press.

The grocery store’s ambience is a huge drive for business, and this is helped by the way its employees are treated, according to the article. Managers can make in the low six figures, and full-time crew members can start in the $40,000 to $60,000 range, and on top of that, Trader Joe's annually contributes 15.4 percent of employees' gross income to tax-deferred retirement accounts. Happy employees make for better customer service.

In the report, Kowitt discovered Trader Joe’s sells about 4,000 SKUs, and about 80 percent of the stock bears the Trader Joe's brand. Typical grocery stores can carry 50,000 SKUs. For Trader Joe’s, this results in an estimated $1,750 in merchandise per square foot, more than double Whole Foods'. Also, she noted the company has no debt and funds its own growth.

Shoppers don’t seem to mind the smaller selection because they trust Trader Joe’s to offer quality products. Studies have shown more selection doesn’t mean a shopper is more willing to buy, and shoppers at Trader Joe’s believe it only offers two choices of a product because those are the best options available.

To find these few products, Trader Joe's has four top buyers, called product developers, who travel quite extensively looking for new offerings, according to Kowitt. She said Trader Joe's biggest R&D expense is travel for those product-finding missions.

Kowitt suggested the company may be so quiet about its strategies is because some of them are at odds with its image. Many big companies produce its private label brand. For instance, instead of selling locally grown food, Stacey’s, a division of PepsiCo'sFrito-Lay makes its pita chips, and Danone’s Stonyfield Farm is behind a number of its dairy products.

Trader Joe’s doesn’t want its shoppers to know its artisan products really come from large corporations, and the suppliers don’t want their consumers to know their name-brand products are sold as a much cheaper price under a private label brand. Therefore, everyone in the deal keeps quiet, noted Kowitt

As Trader Joe’s grows, and more reports like this one are made public, Kowitt said it may be difficult for the company to keep its neighborhood-store images. Former employees quoted in the article said the company is becoming more corporate as it grows. But, so far, it is still popular as it stays ahead of American’s desire for organic and artisan foods.

In addition, the article provides a brief history of the company from the founding 43 years ago by Joe Coulombe to Albrecht’s purchase in 1979 to today, now run by CEO Dan Bane. It also explores Trader Joe’s distribution methods, which is focused on using as few stops as possible, and helps determine where new stores are opened.
)'(
User avatar
anothershamus
 
Posts: 1913
Joined: Fri Jun 23, 2006 1:58 pm
Location: bi local
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: The Organic Industry Caves to Monsanto: What Now?

Postby Nordic » Fri Jan 28, 2011 2:17 pm

Interesting. Trader Joe's employees are possibly the happiest white people in Los Angeles, I always figured they either had some secret to finding these people, or else they paid them well. Maybe both.
"He who wounds the ecosphere literally wounds God" -- Philip K. Dick
Nordic
 
Posts: 14230
Joined: Fri Nov 10, 2006 3:36 am
Location: California USA
Blog: View Blog (6)

Re: The Organic Industry Caves to Monsanto: What Now?

Postby anothershamus » Fri Jan 28, 2011 2:20 pm

Nordic wrote:Interesting. Trader Joe's employees are possibly the happiest white people in Los Angeles, I always figured they either had some secret to finding these people, or else they paid them well. Maybe both.


Good to their workers but check the labels, and the prices, as always, and don't get too sucked in by the 2 buck chuck!
)'(
User avatar
anothershamus
 
Posts: 1913
Joined: Fri Jun 23, 2006 1:58 pm
Location: bi local
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: The Organic Industry Caves to Monsanto: What Now?

Postby ninakat » Fri Jan 28, 2011 2:42 pm

Burnt Hill wrote:Thanks winsomecowboy2.
Small useful things are the new currency.

I agree.
Nice links.


Ditto. Thanks.
User avatar
ninakat
 
Posts: 2904
Joined: Tue Nov 07, 2006 1:38 pm
Location: "Nothing he's got he really needs."
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: The Organic Industry Caves to Monsanto: What Now?

Postby 23 » Fri Jan 28, 2011 2:53 pm

Nordic wrote:Interesting. Trader Joe's employees are possibly the happiest white people in Los Angeles, I always figured they either had some secret to finding these people, or else they paid them well. Maybe both.


It's both.

I have a friend who was let go by Starbuck's and got a job with TJ.

He later told me that he died and went to heaven.
"Once you label me, you negate me." — Soren Kierkegaard
User avatar
23
 
Posts: 1548
Joined: Fri Oct 02, 2009 10:57 pm
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: The Organic Industry Caves to Monsanto: What Now?

Postby Joe Hillshoist » Fri Jan 28, 2011 10:24 pm

anothershamus wrote:
Nordic wrote:Interesting. Trader Joe's employees are possibly the happiest white people in Los Angeles, I always figured they either had some secret to finding these people, or else they paid them well. Maybe both.


Good to their workers but check the labels, and the prices, as always, and don't get too sucked in by the 2 buck chuck!


Isn't 2 buck chuck a cask of cheap wine?
Joe Hillshoist
 
Posts: 10616
Joined: Mon Jun 12, 2006 10:45 pm
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: The Organic Industry Caves to Monsanto: What Now?

Postby 82_28 » Sat Jan 29, 2011 7:12 am

This is a link to the more extensive Trader Joe's article:

http://money.cnn.com/2010/08/20/news/co ... n.fortune/

Trader Joe's is a serious enigma. Every time I go in there I try and decipher whether their display signage is some kind of a patented font or whether employees are trained to get it right.

Joe, legend has it that two buck chuck (now three buck chuck, though on sale now for $2.49) came about when like Pan-Am airlines or something went out of business and they were sitting on a shit ton of Charles Shaw wine and Trader Joe's bought it up cheap and then wound up doing a long term volume deal with whatever entity produces that shit. Dunno if that's true though.

They sure do a good job of covering up their corporate ties though. I never pass up an opportunity to hit up TJs. There is always an impulse buy, yes impulse buy, worth investing in. To me that's the brilliance of the place. It's the only grocery store that every time I go in, I wind up putting a bunch of shit back. No matter how cheap it may seem, it is easy to go far over what you intended to spend. It's like crack I guess. They have the aisles set up so that it's not a hassle to just go from one side of the store all the way over to the other, back again, repeat, repeat and so on. If you can keep your wits about you though, it is the best store there is for most western lifestyle staples and you always find a surprise something there you just have to try. They got that shit down!
There is no me. There is no you. There is all. There is no you. There is no me. And that is all. A profound acceptance of an enormous pageantry. A haunting certainty that the unifying principle of this universe is love. -- Propagandhi
User avatar
82_28
 
Posts: 11194
Joined: Fri Nov 30, 2007 4:34 am
Location: North of Queen Anne
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: The Organic Industry Caves to Monsanto: What Now?

Postby 8bitagent » Sat Jan 29, 2011 8:17 am

82_28 wrote:This is a link to the more extensive Trader Joe's article:

http://money.cnn.com/2010/08/20/news/co ... n.fortune/

Trader Joe's is a serious enigma. Every time I go in there I try and decipher whether their display signage is some kind of a patented font or whether employees are trained to get it right.

Joe, legend has it that two buck chuck (now three buck chuck, though on sale now for $2.49) came about when like Pan-Am airlines or something went out of business and they were sitting on a shit ton of Charles Shaw wine and Trader Joe's bought it up cheap and then wound up doing a long term volume deal with whatever entity produces that shit. Dunno if that's true though.

They sure do a good job of covering up their corporate ties though. I never pass up an opportunity to hit up TJs. There is always an impulse buy, yes impulse buy, worth investing in. To me that's the brilliance of the place. It's the only grocery store that every time I go in, I wind up putting a bunch of shit back. No matter how cheap it may seem, it is easy to go far over what you intended to spend. It's like crack I guess. They have the aisles set up so that it's not a hassle to just go from one side of the store all the way over to the other, back again, repeat, repeat and so on. If you can keep your wits about you though, it is the best store there is for most western lifestyle staples and you always find a surprise something there you just have to try. They got that shit down!


Oh I absolutely love it. I am surprised though at how much they rake in from the other article posted, given the stores are so small. But everytime I go in, it's always packed. Yes, I also sometimes go to Target and Walmart for groceries(now days due to having wiped out finances it's mostly dollar store groceries) but man do I love Trader Joes:
Every worker is super friendly, the women are hot, everything I get is almost near dollar store prices, they cater to vegetarian weirdos like me, and everything I've ever bought tastes great. Besides, it's about as "mom and pop" as it gets in my area. Where I live there's literally several super high end hoity toity megamall/shopping centers clustered within a couple of square miles, with nothing but endless
star bucks, best buys, megachurches and Disney Celebration Florida like veneer. Not complaining, but nothings cheap in the area. Also I never understood Costo, Sam's Club, Winco. Those places freak me out with their enormity...I prefer smaller, minimalism food situations.

The price that your average grocery store charges(Ralphs, Safeway, Albertsons, Bel Air, Whole Foods, Nugget), I bet people spend a huge portion of their monthly income on food(and still aren't eating even close to right)
"Do you know who I am? I am the arm, and I sound like this..."-man from another place, twin peaks fire walk with me
User avatar
8bitagent
 
Posts: 12244
Joined: Fri Aug 24, 2007 6:49 am
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: The Organic Industry Caves to Monsanto: What Now?

Postby stickdog99 » Sat Jan 29, 2011 1:20 pm

What's the problem with two buck chuck?

It is poisoned?
stickdog99
 
Posts: 6589
Joined: Tue Jul 12, 2005 5:42 am
Blog: View Blog (0)
Next

Return to General Discussion

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 167 guests