Organic gripes

I’ve had the pleasure of knowing various organic farmers and sharing in their experiences over the past two years and I find it disheartening to see such a negative account of this type of agriculture in your paper. [“Adventures in asparagus,” June 6].
Noemi Lopinto approached her subjects condescendingly. Not only did she supply useless commentary about what kind of car her hosts drove, she also stated, without the least bit of respect, that they lived in a manner reminiscent of the 1950s.

In avoiding more conventional chemical agricultural practices, organic farming involves a great deal of manual labour and the farmers persevere whether a task is pleasant or not. The author did not seem to have any understanding of the importance of hard work. She spoke of tasks as things that “rob you of your youth and vitality while giving you endless time without cable…” If farmers spent their time watching TV or on the Net, we would all have a lot less to eat.

Lopinto described arriving at the farm with visions of “sweating in the sun with a hoe in my hand, chucking bales of hay at burly farmhands while my daughter played in the clean earth,” adding that she’d chosen the wrong farm to visit. In Quebec, hay is not reaped by hand anymore, especially in mid-May. WWOOFs (Willing Workers on Organic Farms) volunteer to work on the farms in exchange for food and lodging, not to go on an idyllic country vacation.

Does Lopinto think that it’s interesting that she’d never been uglier than when she went to the farm? That her hair was all frizzy and she had zits? Does she think that her readers appreciate gratuitous vulgarity in referring to insects that bit her as “fuckers”?

I understand that the article was an account of a personal experience, but I found it full of negative, immature and useless anecdotes. Organic farmers work very hard for the good of the earth and the consumer in order to supply food that isn’t full of harmful chemicals. Thanks to the hard work of Daniel Bigras, Quebecers can enjoy fresh organic asparagus while supporting local businesses. Yes, sometimes 10-hour days are required, and it isn’t the prettiest job, but who is Ms. Lopinto to criticize what organic farmers do and how they live their lives? Perhaps Lopinto would have preferred a visit to a large cereal farm where she could have driven around in a big soundproofed and air conditioned eight-wheeled tractor.

Lastly, ending an article on organic farming with “I am covered in bug bites and ready never to leave the city again” doesn’t offer a very positive image of this type of agriculture and doesn’t make organic food sound very appetizing to the reader. But I’m sure the reader will see that Lopinto didn’t really understand what organic farming is all about.

-Isabelle Joncas,
Coordonnatrice du Réseau
québécois des projets d’agriculture soutenue par la communauté

I was so sad to read Noemi Lopinto’s article on organic farming. Every year, here at La ferme biologique La Récolte d’Osiris, we open our farm and our hearts to dozens of WWOOFers. It’s a wonderful experience that we share with people from all over the planet. We work together, share, eat exotic meals and write to each other after we go our separate ways. We’ve even had six WWOOFers who came back to be with us again, from the Czech Republic to Japan.

Working on farms like ours is a wonderful way for people young and old to travel inexpensively, meet and live with Quebecers, learn French if they want, eat the local food, learn about organic agriculture and work with people who have a passion for the land.
Of course, country living isn’t for everyone, but for Lopinto to describe her whole experience in such a negative way isn’t fair to all the travellers who would like to try WWOOFing, and the organic farmers of Quebec.

We love what we do and we believe in our healthy agricultural ways, and our way of life. Why disparage other people’s way of life? Let’s stay positive and have gratitude for what we’ve got.
-Danielle Turpin

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