Genoa Area Chamber of Commerce media director Marilyn Reeder says she nearly always visits the Genoa Farmers Market, and the interest in organic foods is growing.

“There is much more interest this year,” Reeder said. “We expect growers to look at planting more so they can sell it at Genoa this year.”

In 2000, over $7.8 billion was spent on organic food; 49 percent was purchased in conventional supermarkets, 48 percent in natural food markets, and three percent from direct marketing outlets.

Results of the Ohio Survey of Food, Agriculture, and Environment Issues found that 37 percent of respondents agree organic foods are safer than conventional, and 81 percent indicated when given a choice, they prefer locally grown foods. The survey said 20 percent frequently shop at a farmer’s market or roadside stand, and 49 percent occasionally do so.

But Mike Miller, the manager of Miller’s New Market in Genoa, says not all organic products are big sellers in the stores. His store has organic beer on the shelf, and he’s having difficulty clearing it out.

“The problem with organic and those kind of items — the reason they don’t sell is, A, they are expensive and, B, people haven’t tried them.”

The Andersons offers nearly every type of organic product that can be marketed. Besides produce, the Sylvania store manager says The Andersons stores are very integrated with what he calls “low carbon” distribution or buying local.

That doesn’t necessarily mean all are big sellers, says assistant manager Mike Pietz of The Andersons in the Woodville Mall.

“We’re offering them. Some of them we’re getting a greater response for, and some of them aren’t,” Pietz, said.

Beef Consortium

Miller’s New Market, like other local markets, offers preservative-free meat as well as processed meat. Most packaged meat arrives from Miller’s distributor in Illinois, but the Genoa store buys some natural beef locally.

“The Hereford beef that we sell does not have any preservatives, no steroids, and no hormones in the cattle itself. We do sell a lot of it,” said Mike Miller.

“The Black Angus everybody advertises, they do use the hormones in it. To be Angus, all the cattle have to be is black to qualify. With the Hereford, it’s not necessarily a black steer, but this is the way they are raised.”

Elmore farmer Chuck Wooten and his wife Jill are part of a consortium which includes other local farmers that sell and market natural beef. The Wootens are both employed in the medical field at St. Vincent’s Mercy Hospital, so the natural beef business is a sideline.

“We don’t like a lot of fanfare because we’re just humble people. What we try to do, is, we’re just trying to offer a product that is free of anti-bodies, steroids, and hormones,” Wooten said. “Without the natural fat, the myelin sheath, there is not a lot of marbling.”

Wooten used to be in business raising Piedmontese cattle, a double-muscled Italian bred that is naturally low in fat, cholesterol, and calories. He sold that operation two years ago.

“There are a lot of people who raise them naturally because it is a niche,” Wooten said. “My wife and I got into it 12 years ago. We started downtown at the ( Toledo) farmers market.”

Wooten still has cattle at his farm, but markets his product entirely by word of mouth. Today, he occasionally travels to Amish country to purchase his livestock.

“We buy steers from the Amish farmers, because they are organic,” Wooten said. “I go down there and buy loads of steers from them that are real young. They raise them real natural.”

Many of Wooten’s clients are medical personnel at St. Vincent’s, who will testify to the benefits of eating naturally-raised beef.

“That helps us because we talk to a lot of doctors who are friends, or physicians or surgeons, and we talk to them about different types of meat,” Wooten said. “Red meat is good for your body. For somebody who manages their red meat, it’s unbelievable. People will always hear the negative things — they hear the cholesterol and they hear the fat.

“Well, if you buy good organic all-natural beef that’s lean, you can take it over fish or chicken any day. It’s the cardiologists who prefer it,” Wooten continued.

Wooten admits that certain breeds of cattle stuffed with steroids can also produce high quality meat. He says it depends on your taste.

“A certified Angus producer has good, quality beef. They’ll pay you good money, but I’ll tell you what, they are at high prime. They want it so white it looks like snow, and so tender you can cut it with a butter knife,” Wooten said.

“The problem is, does it clog your arteries? In a minute, plus you can’t guarantee that stuff coming from Montana and Wyoming where the huge Angus farms are, aren’t full of steroids and hormones. I’ve been out west, and I’ve seen what they do in some those places, and it’s atrocious and it’s appalling.”

Greg Huntermark, manager of Lee Williams House of Meats in Oregon, says the benefits from healthy foods can go beyond keeping your heart healthy, such as preventing gray hair.

“Being in the food business, we’re eating a lot of beef,” Huntermark said. “I mean, you’ve really got to watch your cholesterol.”

At age 48, Huntermark purchases food for his own consumption from a health food on Monroe Street, plus he is a distributor to his friends and family of certain health products. Along with exercise, he says it’s helped.

“My blood pressure is perfect. I don’t like to say my job is a high stress job, but guess what, I’ve got 45 employees and we’re bringing (certain health foods) out here all the time. With the blood pressure perfect, my cholesterol is down, my joints are better off,” Huntermark said.

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