“Get hip, go organic!”

This tagline, taken from www.organicauthority.com, sums up the worldwide movement toward organic living.

Fortunately for Ames residents, there is a long-established organic and natural foods store close by.

Linda Johnson, general manager of Wheatsfield Grocery, 413 Douglas Ave., said the company’s sales have doubled in the past few years. During that time, membership has grown from around 500 to 1,700.

“There’s a definite trend toward organics,” she said.

Since the USDA implemented organic production and certification laws in 2002, the industry has seen many changes.

In the last four years, certified organic farmland in the U.S. has grown from 1 million to 2.3 million acres. However, this figure is still less than 0.3 percent of total U.S. farmland.

The Organic Consumers’ Association predicts that by 2010, organic production will be a “dominating force in global agriculture.”

Organic and natural foods have a list of benefits. Stacey Brown, Wheatsfield operations manager, said she prefers them for a combination of reasons.

“It’s really not just one thing. I want to be healthy and put good ingredients into my body,” she said.

“I also like to support environmentally friendly practices, and know a little bit about where it’s coming from.”

“People are looking for more of a connection with their food, and we try to provide that,” Brown said.

They offer a variety of products, from locally baked goods to ethnic ingredients, a wide variety of cheeses and informative books and magazines.

“Everything that we do, we want to follow our mission statement while working around the co-op principles,” Brown said.

Every cooperative establishment upholds seven main principles: voluntary and open membership; democratic member control; member-economic participation; autonomy and independence; education, training and information; cooperation among cooperatives; and concern for community.

The last principle is reflected in Wheatsfield’s mission statement and drives it into expansion.

The mission statement reads: “Wheatsfield Cooperative is a socially responsible, member-owned retail business providing high-quality, sustainably produced food and products in the cooperative tradition.”

Johnson said the store’s recent growth has made it more important to carry a broader variety of groceries.

“We need to make sure we have enough room for those things, and provide a place for local producers to sell their products,” she said.

Wheatsfield began in 1974, when a small group of Ames residents formed a buying club for quality, hard-to-find food items, and housed themselves in what is now Alumni Hall on campus. Only months later, it formed the Mutual Aid Food Association (MAFA) to make the items available to the public.

Six years and two moves later, MAFA moved into Wheatsfield’s current location at 413 Douglas Ave., which was twice the size of its original space.

Wheatsfield became an official registered cooperative in January 2005.

Brown said she loves the store’s current location, but feels a move is necessary to offer more services and “do things better and more comfortably for our customers.”

Wheatsfield’s board of directors has already implemented what Brown called an “expansion vision,” complete with a parking lot, which is unaffordable in downtown Ames, bakery and deli.

Despite Wheatsfield’s big plans and the general trend toward organics, Brown said the U.S. food industry is in critical shape.

Corporate giants have started inching their way into the organics scene, including Wal-Mart, which decided to double its stock of organic foods last year.

Such corporations are moving to have organic standards lowered.

In June 2007, the USDA approved a rule allowing 38 nonorganic substances to be used in products bearing the USDA Organic seal, despite more than 10,000 comments from consumers and family farmers.

Brown said that she anticipates the problem will only get worse before it gets better. At the root of the problem, she said, is our consumer-driven society.

“People don’t want to think about the consequences of that,” she said.

For more options on organic food in the Ames area visit John’s Natural Foods, 326 Fifth St.