At the Alfalfa’s Market a half mile from the NBJ office, eggs start at $2.99 a dozen. Organic eggs, of course, command a higher price, ranging from Nest Fresh’s $4.99 for a dozen, through Chino Valley Ranchers “Omega-3, soy-free” at $6.99 and Vital Farms “Pasture Verde” at a startling $8.99. With USDA organic standards clearly stipulating specific feed and animal welfare practices, what could account for an 80% price variance across the organic brands?
This is the crux of the investigative work conducted by Wisconsin-based nonprofit Cornucopia Institute who contends that as industrial scale production practices become standard even in the organics industry, the essence of organics gets lost.

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