MA‘O Organic Farms is about more than food

Among the local enterprises worthy of attention from the margins of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation affair last week was MA‘O Organic Farms.

Not so much because of the fantastic array of produce from the farms, although much of the public’s contact is made through its vegetables, as common as corn and carrots and as flamboyant as tat soi and purplette onions.

What’s extraordinary about MA‘O is its organic character.

Now, before the constant critical commentators start stabbing the “elitist” buttons on their keyboards, they should be reminded that while the farm does grow pesticide-free foods for high- and higher-end restaurants and stores, MA‘O also cultivates healthy young people.

MA‘O is organic in the larger sense of the word, with educational programs running from intermediate school through college, integrating the land and its people and creating local economic opportunities to help its community thrive.

Michelle Obama’s emphasis during her tour on MA‘O was tied to the first lady’s efforts to curb obesity among children and to guide their eating toward fresh nutritional foods. It is a complicated struggle in the face of fast-food giants that have children recognizing the golden-arched home of a red-wigged clown before they reach kindergarten age.

It becomes even more difficult as members of Congress mind the bidding of potato-growing conglomerates and frozen pizza corporations that don’t want their flow of federal cash for school lunch programs stanched by silly concerns like children’s health.

The House and Senate

Appropriations committees, in preparing a spending bill, ignore U.S. Department of Agriculture nutritional standards that would, among other things, cut the amount of salt and starchy foods (i.e. freedom fries dusted with NaCl) and bulk up the quantity of whole grains on the lunch tray.

In a move that recalls the Reagan-era plan to count ketchup as a vegetable, mass-producing pizza makers have persuaded Congress to classify the two tablespoons of tomato paste smeared onto a flat crust as a veggie. The USDA, however, wants at least a half-cup of the red stuff — on or off pizza dough — to go toward already minimal vegetable measurements.

The bill would require more studies on salt intake, even though the folks on Capitol Hill could simply Google “sodium” and “health” and get myriad reports from reputable sources without forcing USDA to spend money needlessly.

As to “whole grains,” Congress wants to process the term’s definition before processing the proposal.

Of course, House Republicans — mindful of “cut regulation” cults — say the move toward more nutritional foods would put a costly burden on local school districts, even if government is footing most of the grocery bill.

Besides, they say, government should not be telling kids what to eat, though government already does so by plonking nutritionally deficient, parts-is-parts, fried, re-formed chicken chunks on cafeteria plates.

Enterprises like MA‘O farms could separate government from food and nutrition by having healthy, educated people grow healthy products on healthy land and creating a healthy economy.

If schools adopt such fully connected, go-organic models, more children would benefit.

———

Cynthia Oi can be reached at coi@staradvertiser.com.