By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL
updated 12/30/2011 10:49:14 PM ET

TODOS SANTOS, Mexico — Clamshell containers on supermarket shelves in the United States may depict verdant fields, tangles of vines and ruby red tomatoes. But at this time of year, the tomatoes, peppers and basil certified as organic by the Agriculture Department often hail from the Mexican desert, and are nurtured with intensive irrigation.

Growers here on the Baja Peninsula, the epicenter of Mexico’s thriving new organic export sector, describe their toil amid the cactuses as “planting the beach.”

Del Cabo Cooperative, a supplier here for Trader Joe’s and Fairway, is sending more than seven and a half tons of tomatoes and basil every day to the United States by truck and plane to sate the American demand for organic produce year-round.

But even as more Americans buy foods with the organic label, the products are increasingly removed from the traditional organic ideal: produce that is not only free of chemicals and pesticides but also grown locally on small farms in a way that protects the environment.

The explosive growth in the commercial cultivation of organic tomatoes here, for example, is putting stress on the water table. In some areas, wells have run dry this year, meaning that small subsistence farmers cannot grow crops. And the organic tomatoes end up in an energy-intensive global distribution chain that takes them as far as New York and Dubai, United Arab Emirates, producing significant emissions that contribute to global warming.

Read more here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45831214/ns/world_news-the_new_york_times/

That is such a typical tale of the shopper's woe Blue. Big chain stores demanding "quantity" to satisfy apparent demand, ends up putting enormous pressure on the "organic" farm setups!

Grow local and sell local - and stop chasing the big bucks!!

Even better - grown your own!

Well - at least the lesson is not lost on the GT Home growers hey?

Yep, Sky, that whole article just made me .

Do I get that poor farmers in the Baja are making money? Yep. But at what cost to them in the long run? Their water supplies are running out so that subsistence farming is at risk.

What happens to them when the "food fashion" no longer runs to cute little tomatoes in plastic (for goodness sakes!) cartons?

What happens when "food fashion" turns to something else?

How do they eat when the water for their crops is gone?

"Planting the beach," indeed! Humph!