lievers” in the organic movement, this may be our Organic Bible—a text we
could share with others to enlighten those who are still in the dark. For those
who have yet to join the revolution, it could be the book that forever changes
the way they look at food and agriculture and makes them join us in the revolt
against the current chemically ruled empire.
And there is no one better to tell this story and lead the new organic revolution than Maria Rodale—the granddaughter of J.I. Rodale, who launched
Organic Farming and Gardening magazine in 1942; and the daughter of Robert
Rodale, who began the longest running farming systems study ever, which com-
“They need to realize that ‘conventional
agriculture’ really means ‘chemical
agriculture’—and that a lot of the mysterious
health problems they and their families are
facing may very well be caused by exposure to
pares conventional chemical agriculture with organic farming. In 1987, Maria
Rodale joined the family business, Rodale Inc.—a leading multimedia company
focused on health, wellness and the environment, and the largest independent
book publisher in the United States. Since then, she has served in many positions, including leading the Organic Living division, where she was the editor-in-chief of Organic Gardening and oversaw all of Rodale’s gardening books. She
has won numerous awards, including the National Audubon Society’s “Rachel
Carson Award” and the United Nations Population Fund’s “Award for the
Health and Dignity of Women.” Today, Maria Rodale is the CEO and chair of
Rodale and the founding editor of the company’s newest online venture, Ro-
dale.com, which features her blog, Maria’s Farm Country Kitchen, and is the author of two books on organic gardening. Recently, Rodale took some time to
chat with Organic Processing about her latest book, Organic Manifesto.
”these chemicals….”
OP: What inspired you to write “Organic Manifesto?” What are some of the key mes-
sages that you hope readers will walk away with?
Rodale: The inspiration came out of the confusion that I was seeing, not only
with consumers in general, but within the organic community as well. “What’s
better, local or organic?” “Is fair trade better than organic?” There are so many
different small groups dividing up our world that even within the organic community, it’s hard to figure out what’s really the right thing. Is organic good
enough or should we go beyond organic? And then there were my friends who
were not involved the organic community who still didn’t even understand the
difference between natural and organic. They look at their shopping in a more
simplistic way than the organic community. I felt that it was time to offer clarity
as to what is really going on and why organic is so important to all of us, and so
I wrote the book.
As I researched, I realized that I not
only wanted others to understand organic better, but I wanted to understand it more too. Originally the book
was going to be more focused on why
organic was more nutritious—and that
is important—but I really felt like the
bigger story was about the horrible
health consequences of chemicals in
our environment. That’s the thing we
should be rallying around and fighting
against—the poisoning of ourselves
and our children. I wanted to get this
message out to everyday people so that
they could make decisions in their
lives based around that information.
When people read this book, I hope
they walk away with the understanding
that organic is really the only thing
they can trust out there. They need to
know that “natural” means nothing.
They need to realize that “
conventional agriculture” really means
“chemical agriculture”—and that a lot
of their mysterious health problems
they and their families are facing may
very well be caused by exposure to
chemicals from conventional agriculture. They also need to know that the
reason organic is currently more expensive is because chemical food is
completely subsidized by the government and we need to all work together
to stop this because it’s not right.
Everybody deserves good, clean, safe
food, and the only truly good, clean,
safe food is organic food. I want readers to realize that if there is just one
thing they can do for both for their
health and the environment, buying
organic is the most important.
To those already committed to organic, the message is that we really
have to unite and stand together to
fight for the integrity of the organic
rule, and also for what we know is the
right thing to do for the planet and for
people’s health. The results are in
from the experiment we’ve been subjected to through chemical agriculture
and we need to make changes based
