The word "organic" once might have conjured images of enlightened hippies working barefoot on farms for the good of nature and humankind.

These days, the word has come to represent something very different - a global industrial food system often operating behind closed doors unfriendly to the individual consumer's queries about safety and quality.

There are people, however, who have decided to break away from the industrial food chain. They have taken it upon themselves to seek out locally grown, pesticide-reduced produce and humanely raised, hormone-free meats.

They are people concerned about their children's health, their impact on the environment, the treatment of animals and the farmer down the road.

These local farmers might not be USDA certified organic, but at least their customers know where their food comes from.

GROWING INTEREST

The number of farmers' markets across Michigan have increased from 90 three years ago, to 160 last season, said Elaine Brown, Michigan Food & Farming Systems executive director. In fact, she said market managers have been telling her they can't find enough farmers to meet the demand.

Pam Bosserd, 47-year-old owner of Bosserd Family Farm Market in Marshall Township, said in just eight years she's gone from selling sweet corn off a flat-bed trailer to opening a daily market that sells fresh-cut flowers, grass-fed beef, fruits and vegetables.

"It's definitely become a trend, and I don't think it's a trend that's going away," she said. "When there's a food scare, we start to see people coming out here and asking where their food came from."

"People are interested in supporting their local farmers," Brown said. "It is sometimes the only face of farming urban people see."

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