What is clean food? What is it, really?

Obviously, it’s more than washing off of food before it’s eaten. Laura Masterson, an urban farmer, beautifully articulates what she believes is clean food, and how it’s a much more encompassing term than one might think.

As Masterson explains, it’s not just the absence of synthetic chemicals, or the use of natural, organic fertilizers, the avoidance of using harmful substances. Clean food has more to do with a better understanding and deep respect for an entire farm system ecology, how various parts of a system have an effect upon the whole farm. While Masterson argues that organic farming is good, it’s only a beginning approach to farming, a minimum standard upon which to build better growing practices.

What does clean food mean to you?