Is Organic Food Marketing Hype?

19 April 2010
Newsweek

Organic produce, and meat and dairy products, are a tiny although growing fraction of what Americans spend on food, on the order of 3 percent. And one would expect it to be a fairly uncontentious topic, compared with some that the Open to Debate formerly known as Intelligence Squared U.S. debate series has tackled over the past year (American policy toward the Mideast, the financial crisis, etc.). But when six speakers including a farmer and a food critic squared off this week to debate the proposition “Organic food is marketing hype,” the level of passion generated surprised even veteran moderator John Donvan.