Stephen Bede Scharper

IT WAS LIKE AN ALTAR CALL. I had just finished a conference presentation on organic agriculture when a tall, hale fellow in his late 30s bounded down to the front of the auditorium. He wanted to tell his story about how organic food had saved his life. He recounted how he (let’s call him Jacques), a truck driver from Montreal, had weighed 325 pounds and been diagnosed with cancer, diabetes and a smorgasbord of other ailments.