A farmer holding a bunch of carrots

Late 2024 brought rumblings about a recall of organic carrots. The story behind this story requires a nuanced examination of the forces at play in our food system.

Together, Grimmway and Bolthouse sell 60-80% of the carrots in the US, both organic and chemically grown. Because they supply so many carrots across the country, any contamination can have a wide footprint.

How did we get a carrot monopoly in the first place? It’s not as straightforward as you might imagine.

In 1984, when Danny Duncan started Cal-Organic Farms, every organic farmer used compost and cover crops. Grimmway Farms was still family owned in 2001, when they bought Cal-Organic. Even as they scaled up to the almost-50,000 acres they manage today, Grimmway enjoyed a unique reputation among large-scale producers for their foundational soil management practices.

Grimmway and Bolthouse were both acquired by private equity in the last five years. Food & Power reports that carrot prices have risen 55% in that period. And where the carrots are sold matters.

Massive retailers like Walmart, Costco, and Amazon sell a jaw-dropping amount of food. Shoppers in the US spend up to one-third of our grocery money at Walmart alone!

Big Retail doesn’t source produce from local organic farmers. It’s far more “efficient” to work with a few, very large, producers.

The buyers often employ their own company rules about farming practices. Some of the best tools in organic farming can be off the table: compost and hedgerows are treated like food safety issues, and cover crops just complicate the harvest. This is a race to the bottom.

It was not always so.

The carrot monopoly exists because no authentic organic farmer can survive these price horrors, especially if we’re asking them to steward soil and build biodiversity.

You may have noticed that most of the brands under Grimmway are private labels of the retailers that sell them. Marketside is Walmart. O-Organics is Safeway (which is Albertson’s). Nature’s Promise is Stop & Shop (which is Ahold Delhaize). GreenWise is Publix. Retail is consolidating rapidly.

Industrialization and consolidation have led to a brutal and simplified sort of “organic” production. It’s true, no toxic, synthetic pesticides are used – but big produce operations have mostly forsaken building the soil for complex applications of purchased organic nutrients.

This is why it’s so incredibly important to support authentic organic, community-scale farms. Our dollars make a difference for their survival and our soils!

So, what can you do? 

  • Seek out carrots from your local organic farmer! Your local co-op and independent retailer are more likely than the major grocery chains to carry seasonal local or regional produce.
  • Consider adding a variety of vegetables to your meals. Studies show that taking steps to diversify your diet positively impacts the diversity of your gut microbiome. Discourage monocrops, inside and out.
  • One more thing to clear the air:  When you need carrots and all that’s available is Grimmway or Bolthouse, buy organic. Organic means no toxic synthetic pesticides or processing aids.
  • Stay tunedWe’ll reach out when your voice is needed.
THANK YOU for caring about organic food and farms as much as we do.

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