1 Meanings of “Organic” in North America: industrializing trends and emerging alternatives in organic farming. Presented at Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University (FAFU) Fuzhou, Fujian, P. R. China as part of CIDA Tier 2 project “Management of Sustainable Agriculture” Sept. 5, 2002 Professor Joe Galbo Department of Social Science The University of New Brunswick, Saint John Abstract In 2002 I was invited to give a lecture and a series of workshops to faculty and students involved in a CIDA funded Tea Garden project in sustainable agricultural development in China. My university, UNB, was involved with this project along with Fujian Agricultural Forestry University (FAFU). The Tea Garden project was developing a small pilot organic tea farm and the faculty and students involved in this project wanted to know more about the social implications of organic farming in North America. What follows is a slightly edited version of my presentation on the economic, political and cultural meanings of organic in North America, in part inspired by the work of Michael Pollan and Marion Nestle. It concludes with some relevant information about emerging models of organic sustainable development such as growing for local markets, the Slow Food movement, and Fair Trade. Introduction A recent New York Times article, about university students moving away from business programs into more socially conscious fields, is accompanied by a telling illustration: at the top of the page there is a drawing of the New York Stock Exchange, the symbol of Wall Street and American capitalism, under a stark, gray, and overcast sky. At the bottom there is an illustration of a sunny agricultural field and a farmer tilling his soil on a tractor bearing the name “Bob’s Organic Produce.” To understand the meaning of this pictorial we need to know something about the scandals that have recently plagued Wall Street, undermined investors’ confidence and made university students think twice