May 14, 2007 Jim Crawford and Samuel Fromartz To Discuss Organic Farming on May 23

Almost from the inception of the organic food movement there has been conflict between the mom-and-pop farmers and large-scale retailers. Farmer Jim Crawford and business journalist Samuel Fromartz will explore this dichotomy and other organic farming issues in a lecture at the Library of Congress.

The discussion will start at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, May 23, in Dining Room A on the sixth floor of the James Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington, D.C. The event, sponsored by the Library’s Science, Technology and Business Division, is free and open to the public; no reservations are needed.

Crawford owns and operates New Morning Farm, a 95-acre organic farm in south-central Pennsylvania, where he grows berries, herbs and vegetables. Crawford and his wife purchased their present farm in 1976 and have built a multifaceted, successful direct-marketing system. They have organized two farmers markets and helped found a wholesale marketing cooperative, the Tuscarora Organic Growers. Crawford is an active member of the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture.

Fromartz is the author “Organic, Inc” (2006). The book describes how an $11 billion industry arose out of an alternative food movement and how it “came close to betraying the very ideals that drove its expansion.” The book will be for sale, and a book signing will follow the lecture.

Fromartz began his career at Reuters in 1985, writing the news ticker that ran in New York City’s Grand Central Station. He worked in Washington and New York as a correspondent and editor, covering business. He left Reuters in 1997 to pursue a career as a freelance writer. His work has appeared in Business Week, The New York Times, Fortune and other publications.