Happy New Year! Over the holidays we read an article that really burned our biscuits—one that clearly needed a response in defense of sustainable agriculture. Below is the letter we sent to the New York Times Editorial Board, and you can read our full response here. Please feel free to share far and wide.

Dear Editor,

Michael Grunwald’s recent opinion piece Sorry, but This Is the Future of Food fails to acknowledge the urgent problems in our food system that will only be exacerbated by further industrialization: food waste, environmental pollution, poor animal welfare, diet-related public health challenges, and the massive subsidies that continue to incentivize unhealthy foods, to name just a few. Instead, Grunwald repeats many of the tiredest talking points Big Ag has been pushing for decades.

As a farmer-based certifying organization, we agree it is not helpful to demonize farmers. But it is disingenuous to present ‘business as usual’ as the only viable option and to ignore the alternative solutions right in front of us. I can point to many high-welfare, pasture-based AGW-certified farms that are already producing sustainably at significant scale, supplying high-quality meat and other foods without the negative impacts above.

Grunwald’s closing message sadly echoes Big Ag’s all-too-familiar directive: namely to “shut up and eat,” leaving us and our children to clean up the mess. I invite Grunwald to put his boots on and join me on a visit to an AGW-certified farm. He might just change his mind.

Emily Moose

Executive Director

A Greener World

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