More consumers are choosing organic, even in a tough economy.

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RODALE NEWS, WASHINGTON, DC—Despite the recession, American sales of organic food continue to increase, with sales up 5.1 percent in 2009 and rising at least 8 percent in 2010.

As Americans have become increasingly aware of the problems with industrial agriculture production—chemical pesticides, food-safety issues, lack of sustainability—a market for alternatives has blossomed. Organics accounted for only 3.7 percent of total food sales in 2009. But apparently, enough consumers are buying organic food to make industrial agriculture sit up and take notice. The big guys have caught on, and are in the process of softening their image and dressing up in sustainable clothing.

THE DETAILS: Monsanto, the leading global supplier of herbicides and seeds, is probably the best known of the behemoths working to paint themselves as benevolent and sustainable. The company has a video, Monsanto's Sustainable Yield Initiative, that describes how the company plans to feed the world and solve world hunger with its brand of agriculture, patented seeds, and pesticides. In fact, its methods cause some of the problems farmers and poor people around the world are having. Some countries fight to keep Monsanto's version of sustainability out of their land.

McDonald's now has its own U.S. Sustainability Award, established three years ago "to recognize the importance of sustainability as an area of growing importance to the business." In 2010, McD's selected Cargill as the award recipient. Cargill, a multinational corporation that supplies McDonald's with eggs, cooking oil, and beef, received the award for doing the things one would think the company should have been doing all along: improving animal-handling practices, promoting science-based animal-welfare programs, establishing environmental goals. Essentially, one behemoth of a company has awarded another behemoth for its sustainability. (Next year, perhaps Cargill will return the favor and cook up an award to give to McDonald's—maybe for getting rid of Happy Meals toys.)

Meanwhile, the Corn Refiners Association responded to negative press about high-fructose corn syrup by renaming their product "corn sugar."

And the blog Civil Eats (www.civileats.com) provided this tasty tidbit in September: The subscriber newsletter Agri-Pulse reported that Tip Tipton—the man behind the "Got Milk?" campaign—has been tapped to produce an image campaign that seeks "to reverse consumers' negative perceptions about a broad range of issues." The topics to be polished up include factory farming, the use of agricultural chemicals, processed industrial food, and high-fructose corn syrup. Civil Eats reports that the initiative could cost 20 to 30 million dollars per year. And that university agriculture programs will be used to help raise funds.