A support group and a lab in the St. Louis area provide resources for people with the allergy to mammal products — and evidence that its effects can be reversed.
One of the pigs at Illinois Country Harvest waits for organic feed in Prairie du Rocher, Illinois. Once butchered, the meat will be Certified Naturally Grown. Harshawn Ratanpal, KBIA
It's good to be back in the swing of things, finishing some stories we've been working on since before the holidays. I hope you're making progress on the to-do list, too!
Last week, we published a piece from Harshawn Ratanpal, a Desk reporter at KBIA in Columbia, Missouri. It's about "Certified Naturally Grown," an alternative to the pricey USDA Organic label that some producers are exploring. We asked Harshawn to give us a behind-the-scenes look at how he got interested in the topic and his reporting process. He shares:
As I reported out this story, an editor asked me why I chose this particular group, Certified Naturally Grown. There are a seemingly endless number of labels that show up on grocery store shelves, and this story is mostly focused on just one. I found CNG, as an example, explains a lot about the labyrinthine labeling landscape that so many consumers and producers have to navigate.
After speaking with sources, I found that people don’t actually care much about the specific label on their food. All that many of them want is some assurance that it was made in a way they consider good or natural, and many small farmers want to give them that without adding too much to their production costs. CNG is trying to give both sides of the market a way to do that, but for some, it’s getting lost in the sea of terms slapped on their food. That means it can be a risk for both consumers and farmers. As one consumer I spoke to put it: “It’s a leap of faith.”
This story sent me to a local farmers market to talk to customers, and across state lines to talk with CNG farmer Jennifer Duensing and her three adorable pigs in Illinois. Working to highlight and bridge the gaps in communication between consumers and the people who grow our food is a key function of the journalism we do here at the Ag & Water Desk, and I'm glad to be able to share that in this piece.
