Real Organic Podcast
Farmers interview scientists, activists, politicians, and authors engaged in protecting USDA organic food against an active corporate takeover. Real Organic Project released its add-on food label in stores and markets in 2021, and is focused on introducing eaters across the United States to our movement and its allies. In this podcast series, you'll meet the best organic and regenerative farmers around, as well as journalists, climate experts, policy makers and chefs (Dr. Vandana Shiva, Paul Hawken, Leah Penniman, Bill Mckibben, Alice Waters, Dan Barber, and Eliot Coleman - to name a few!) who support our mission and have lent their voices and insights to explaining the importance of keeping corporate cheaters out of the real food movement. As bad players aim to redefine what food is for the sake of their own profits, we believe there is too much at stake for both human and planetary health today and into the future. Feed the soil, not the plant!!
Real Organic Podcast
Bernward Geier: Doing Right In The Wrong System
#211: On a recent trip to Biofach 2025 in Germany, Linley Dixon visits with former IFOAM (International Federation of Agriculture Movements) president Bernward Geier to discuss ways to maintain organic integrity around the globe amid growing industrial pressures. Market forces, political influences, and variances in integrity among certifiers are all contributing to the growing differences between the EU and US organic labeling systems, with the EU growing their acreage planted in Organic and corresponding labeling programs, and the US importing the majority of their offerings on the shelf while keeping their farmland dedicated to chemical agriculture. Whether you're an organic farmer, industry insider, or eco-conscious eater, this episode offers a deep dive into the critical issues defining the future of sustainable food production worldwide.
Bernward Geier is the former director of IFOAM (The International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements), a role which he held for 18 years. He is the current director of COLABORA - Let's Work Together, a nonprofit focused on bridging the overlap in sustainability movements between agricultural and ecological organizations. Bernward serves as a board member for Vandana Shiva's organization Navdanya, and is also a celebrated author, filmmaker, and speaker.
To watch a video version of this podcast with access to the full transcript and links relevant to our conversation, please visit:
https://realorganicproject.org/bernward-geier-doing-right-in-wrong-system
The Real Organic Podcast is hosted by Dave Chapman and Linley Dixon, engineered by Brandon StCyr, and edited and produced by Jenny Prince.
The Real Organic Project is a farmer-led movement working towards certifying 1,000 farms across the United States this year. Our add-on food label distinguishes soil-grown fruits and vegetables from hydroponically-raised produce, and pasture-raised meat, milk, and eggs from products harvested from animals in horrific confinement (CAFOs - confined animal feeding operations).
To find a Real Organic farm near you, please visit:
https://www.realorganicproject.org/farms
We believe that the organic standards, with their focus on soil health, biodiversity, and animal welfare were written as they should be, but that the current lack of enforcement of those standards is jeopardizing the ability for small farms who adhere to the law to stay in business. The lack of enforcement is also jeopardizing the overall health of the customers who support the organic movement; customers who are not getting what they pay for at market but still paying a premium price. And the lack of enforcement is jeopardizing the very cycles (water, air, nutrients) that Earth relies upon to provide us all with a place to live, by pushing extractive, chemical agriculture to the forefront.
If you like what you hear and are feeling inspired, we would love for you to join our movement by becoming one of our 1,000 Real Friends:
https://www.realorganicproject.org/real-organic-friends/
To read our weekly newsletter (which might just be the most forwarded newsletter on the internet!) and get firsthand news about what's happening with organic food, farming and policy, please subscribe here:
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