It is a busy time of year. It would just ease my mind (as I’m cooking with your beans) to know that they are safe from poison sprays. They are beautiful and blemish free. They don’t need to be certified. I just want to hear about the conditions under which they are grown. It would give me comfort.

Thank you for your kind concern and questions.

In a nutshell, I for one do not have any concerns with dry beans grown using conventional methods. I believe there are far greater and more pressing risks to our health coming from processed foods, bacterial outbreaks, water and air pollution.

To me the greatest benefits of organic farming are to the soils and the water tables. The chemicals used for farming of all crops that is left in the soil is of great concern and much like global warming, it is a slow but ominous eventuality of potentially life changing affects.

The people of the world could not be fed if all farming converted to organic methods, and certainly there are millions of people who are underfed or even starving now.

I must admit that I am very cynical when it comes to the “Organic Movement”. I believe it is wrought with fraud and deception and is used by many solely to meet a market need and generate profits. There are many legitimate and ethical growers, producers, processors and purveyors of Certified Organic Foods. They have worked hard to produce the very safest foods possible, and people with the time, abilities, options and resources to consume and support these goods have every right to do so.

However, success breeds imitation and the quality standards and practices followed in the USA, may in other countries be replaced by something as little as a “rubber stamp” stating “Certified Organic”. The quality of any product be it food or otherwise, is only as good as the morals, ethics, and practices of the purveyor, along with the standards used and the methods of qualification and inspections. I don’t have many answers only a lot of questions.

Laura, please see the attached pdf of my notes on general dry bean growing practices.

Thank you and Merry Christmas!