I heard about this story while driving to work the other day. Something that’s not mentioned in the article above is a quote from Monsanto’s director of product development, in which he expresses concerns that the vegetables he’s able to buy in the store just can’t compete on taste when compared to those he can grow in his home garden.
This, as the impetus for the new Dole and Monsanto partnership to develop better tasting foods through science, strikes me as a wheelbarrow full of irony. Smaller producers using age-old organic and biodynamic techniques have long ago discovered the “secret” to growing better tasting foods: The less you mess around with nature, the better your food is going to taste.
Much in the same way that Pure Branding client Gaia Herbs benefits from the fact that their organically grown plants offer vastly increased levels of medicinal plant constituents, organically grown foods contain higher levels of flavinoids and more bio-available nutrients (ref: The Organic Center).
I hate to give away free advice to Dole and Monsanto, but It’s always been clear to me: From strawberries to carrots, arugula to potatoes, the organics I buy are always better. Good luck trying to match that in the lab!