Is My Organic Garden Saving Me Money on Grocery Bills?

Scott Cooney — Tue, 05 May 2009 00:28:25 +0000

When Michelle Obama helped break ground on the White House organic garden, I’m sure she understood that the benefits went far beyond the borders of the veggie patch. It may help create green collar, shovel-ready jobs. Low-income kids from local schools get an incredible opportunity they will never forget: playing in a vegetable garden and learning where our food comes from, at the White House, while they grow food that may well be eaten by our President or the President of Costa Rica or South Africa. The garden also provided other intangibles that America needs right now: hope, independence, and a can-do attitude. Michelle’s approval rating stands at 84%, and most articles talking about why she’s so popular will mention the garden.

But I have to wonder…did she guess that she’d be saving the taxpayers money by reducing the grocery bills at the White House? A recent Wall Street Journal article touted the savings in backyard gardens: investments as small as a dollar can produce $75 worth of veggies, and the average family with a garden saves about $530 per year on groceries.

Intrigued, I decided to investigate my own cost/benefit analysis in my small organic garden in San Francisco.

Pesticide Lobby Bugged by Michelle Obama’s White House Organic Garden

Elizabeth Balkan — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 01:15:04 +0000

Are you worried that an organic garden on the White House grounds might cause some Americans to start eating a wide variety of chemical-free, locally grown produce? The Mid America CropLife Association, a lobbying group for agribusinesses giants, is.

Just a few days after Michelle Obama invited local fifth graders to help plant the White House Kitchen Garden, the MACA, a group which represents and is comprised of former executives from Dow AgroSciences, Monsanto and DuPont Crop Protection, sent the White House a letter (which can be viewed in its entirety here) expressing their disappointment that she had not “recognize[d] the role conventional agriculture plays in the US.”

But that’s not all. The group went on to provide a dose of propaganda educational information, including little known fact that “technology allows for farmers to meet the increasing demand for food and fiber in a sustainable manner.” Drawing a clear line between technology, undefined, and sustainability does not, in the strictest terms, suggest the group’s total disapproval of organic farming methods.

That outright statement came in an email MACA sent their members shortly after sending the first lady aforementioned letter, in which they said that the idea of an organic garden “made Janet Braun, CropLife Ambassador Coordinator and I shudder.” [italics mine].

Green Options » White House Organic Garden

Is My Organic Garden Saving Me Money on Grocery Bills?

Pesticide Lobby Bugged by Michelle Obama’s White House Organic Garden

Are you worried that an organic garden on the White House grounds might cause some Americans to start eating a wide variety of chemical-free, locally grown produce? The Mid America CropLife Association, a lobbying group for agribusinesses giants, is.