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Organic PanicMichelle Obama's garden and its discontents.

By Christopher BeamPosted Thursday, June 4, 2009, at 9:35 PM ET

Michelle Obama works in the White House "kitchen garden"When Michelle Obama planted an organic garden on the White House lawn—which, she told NBC this week, has already yielded more than 80 pounds of produce—the response was overwhelmingly positive. (The main criticism: She should cook, too.) The Obamas' high-profile trip to New York included dinner at the impossibly local/organic/humane restaurant Blue Hill. (Main criticism: too predictable.) She even appeared on Sesame Street to champion the benefits of healthy eating. (Main criticism: no Snuffleupagus.)

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Pushing organic and local foods is hardly official White House policy. So far, Five Guys is as much a part of the administration's diet as arugula. But the first lady's public statements, combined with the selection of a White House chef who favors local and organic foods, has brought more attention to what we eat than anything since Top Chef.

But beneath the nodding and smiling, there has been some grumbling. Not all sectors of the food and agriculture industry specialize in organic or local foods. "There's a lot of pushback we're hearing, a lot of whining out of that community about the first lady doing her garden," says Larry Mitchell of the American Corn Growers Association, which represents both organic and conventional farmers. "They're getting awful squeamish on this thing."

The first complaint came from the Mid America CropLife Association, a group that represents agriculture and pesticide companies, in a letter to Obama in March. "Fresh foods grown conventionally are wholesome and flavorful yet more economical," the group said. "Local and conventional farming is not mutually exclusive." The letter also included a history lesson: "If Americans were still required to farm to support their family's basic food and fiber needs, would the U.S. have been leaders in the advancement of science, communication, education, medicine, transportation and the arts?" The White House did not respond.

Other groups argue that organic and local foods are well and good—as long as the White House doesn't pretend that Americans can subsist on backyard heirloom tomatoes alone. "We have no problem with this concept," said Bob Young, an economist for the American Farm Bureau Federation, on The Diane Rehm Show in March. "But understand that you're making lifestyle choices here about how you want your food produced. Fine. But don't denigrate the other approaches to food production."

Mary Kay Thatcher, also of the Farm Bureau, argued that the White House should present a complete picture of farming: "If Michelle Obama was having dinner with me, I'd say the organic garden is a great thing, but use it for education about organic vs. conventional agriculture, the pros and the cons." For example, said Young, organic farming requires tilling the soil, which uses up gas, as opposed to conventional farming, which kills weeds with chemicals.

Then there's the difference between organic food and local food. Michelle Obama is a fan of both. "When you grow something yourself and it's close and it's local, oftentimes it tastes really good," she wrote on the White House blog in March. But locavorism has its dissenters, too.

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Christopher Beam is a Slate political reporter. Follow him on Twitter.

Photograph of Michelle Obama by Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images.

COMMENTS

I found Xavier Equihua's comment about grapes in December quite telling. When I was growing up in 50's America we looked forward to the seasons - to that first great summer peach, strawberry, nectarine and watermelon. Then to the fall and persimmons, apples and pears. Yes, now we have everything available to us all the time but none of it is special any longer as it is always there. Our society has lost a sense of what makes things special and it has permeated all aspects of our lives. As well, most of the fruits and veggies we get all year round actually suck - oh, they look great but mostly they are tasteless, a pale replacement for that very special first peach of summer - fruit truly in season. I feel a sense of loss for kids growing up today in the environment of everything all of the time. Sure you have peaches in December - but is it really what a peach ought to be - picked unripe and shipped thousands of miles? I think not. Possibly going local can contribute more to our culture than we suspect. There are those of us Americans who still remember what specialness means. I would hope we can recapture that in all facets of our lives.

-- RjA
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Much the same way that politicians feel compelled to pick up a gun to attract rural voters, it may be that this is one of the Obama's ways to appeal to the relatively well off/educated slice of America that can afford to pay extra for organic honey for $20 dollars a bottle and locally grown tomatoes instead of the tasteless varieties shipped from god knows where.

-- highgrade
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