November 2005    
New Book Reveals History of Organic Food Industry

Harcourt Trade Publishers announces the upcoming publication of ORGANIC, INC.: Natural Foods and How They Grew, the definitive book detailing the history, business, marketing, and continuing growth of the $12 billion organic food industry by business journalist Samuel Fromartz. Fromartz has written for numerous publications, including The New York Times, BusinessWeek, Inc., and Fortune Small Business. ORGANIC, INC. is scheduled for publication in April 2006.

With major food and beverage companies such as Kraft, Smuckers, McDonald's, and General Mills entering the organic market, ORGANIC, INC. will serve as an authoritative examination of the ideals behind the organic food movement and its transformation into a multi-billion dollar industry. As referenced in a New York Times front page business section article on November 1, 2005, the question the organic industry now faces is whether the move into the mainstream will propel the change in agriculture that organic proponents have long sought or whether it will compromise organic standards in order to increase growth and profits.

With major food and beverage companies such as Kraft, Smuckers, McDonald's, and General Mills entering the organic market, ORGANIC, INC. will serve as an authoritative examination of the ideals behind the organic food movement and its transformation into a multi-billion dollar industry. As referenced in a New York Times front page business section article on November 1, 2005, the question the organic industry now faces is whether the move into the mainstream will propel the change in agriculture that organic proponents have long sought or whether it will compromise organic standards in order to increase growth and profits.


ORGANIC, INC. traces organic food back to its anti-industrial origins more than a century ago, casting a spotlight on the present-day innovators who created an alternative way of producing food that took root and grew beyond their wildest expectations. In the process, Fromartz captures how the industry came to risk betraying the very ideals that drove its success, in a classically complex case of free market triumph.