Ecological food

Ecological farming is natural farming. That means that it creates a better environment. Some fundamental principles concering an ecological farm are:

• Natural manure and compost is used on the farm. This creates no nitrate in the subsoil water or in lakes and such.
• The animals on the farm must feel comfortable and live in a good environment
• Variation in the use of plants in stead of synthetic sprays.
• Preventive efforts, for instance crop rotation, mechanical weed control and adapted fertilising.
• The farming is based on most possible renewable and local resources. This is ecofriendly and gives the rural districts a chance to earn more money and become more independent. This can cause more people to move to the rural districts.

What is negative about ecological farming?

THere are very few negative aspects about ecological farming, but the goods they produce are a bit expensive. This happens because the farmers needs more money because it takes more time and work to produce the food.

It is the most expensive plants that flourish on an ecological farm. So next time you visit the store, we really  recommend that you buy ecological food. Your conscience will be clearer.

                    Investigation in stores at Vennesla

Our group investigated the selection of ecological food in the three largest local stores at Vennesla. It turned out to be a great disappointment.

The first store we entered was "Spar Trekanten". We were met by a confused manager who didn`t seem to like questions about ecological food in his store. He tried to find some ecological food without any luck. The only thing we could find was some ecologically produced baby food and some seeds. He mentioned that the store had an ecological week last year without success. He suggested that we should investigate the selection of ordinary household commodities.

The second store we visited was "Rimi". We  tried to find some ecological food in the store, but could not find anything. After a while we found a male employee and asked him. He did not know and referred us to a female employee. She told us that they didn`t sell ecological food because of little interest from the customers. But they would gladly order some, if the customers asked.

We finished at "Coop Prix Torsby". We were met by the manager who gave us  a list of all ecological food that the store had in stock. It was an impressive list of three pages. He says that the sale of ecological foods are getting improving steadily. We noticed that he didn`t have all the fruit on the list. We asked another employee if she could call the main office in Oslo, and ask them why they did not have all the fruit. It was because these fruits were so expensive that the customers preferred cheaper fruit. After a few minutes of searching, we found a whole trolley filled with ecological food. 

We found that the selections of ecological food in Vennesla are rather bad.  But the "Coop" organisation must be given some credit for their project regarding ecological food. To read more click:  "Coop Natur".  To make ecological food more available on the market the customers, the stores and the state has a joint responsibility. The customers must buy ecological food in spite of the fact that it is a bit more expensive. The stores must order ecological food although the sale may be modest at first. The state must reduce the VAT and other taxes on the ecological food, so that the prices may be reduced.