Excellent article, Sara. I've become bored of Micheal Pollan and Eric Schlosser, but you've grabbed my interest by bringing the ideas to Ann Arbor.

One thing that caught my eye was this:

"Higher costs of production mean higher costs in the grocery store, something many Americans have a hard time accepting after being spoiled by an economy where businesses compete to offer the absolute lowest price. But the low prices come at the expense of quality, which the workers at Tantré Farm said shouldn’t be a point of compromise in something as essential as food."

I think this is very accurate. Nonetheless, I object somewhat to the use of the term "spoiled." Cheap food, for many people, is not a luxury - it is a necessity. It has fueled incredible population growth, especially in urban areas where food must be brought in from elsewhere. We've seen the results, of course, in the epidemics of diabetes, obesity, and heart disease that plague our nation, which in recent years have aligned more and more with socioeconomic factors.

When I hear about a restaurant like Grange, I'm happy that the food vanguard is moving forward in Ann Arbor. At the same time, however, I recognize that healthy, local food still constitutes only a fraction of the diet of its patrons - and that those patrons constitute only an elite fraction of our society. The green jobs guru Van Jones often speaks of "eco-apartheid" when referring to the current environmental movement. Our country's major producers are beginning to recognize the value of organic, local, biodegradable, and energy-efficient products, but it is still only a fraction who can afford the higher cost.

Ultimately, I think the next step in the food movement will be a bridge between conventional and organic methods of food production. Some compromises may be necessary, but our producers should strive for products that reduce environmental and social costs while remaining affordable for a large part of the population. Today we go to the store and see conventional and organic eggs being sold by the same company - this company is thriving by maintaining a green image for its high-end customers, while still delivering cheap, antibiotic-laden, CAFO eggs to the majority of its customers. I look forward to seeing restaurants, grocery stores, and farms that can figure out how to bridge that gap.