By Julie Vrazel

Values and farmers and ranchers—they go hand-in-hand.

A 30-second commercial by Whole Foods Market shows that. Sort of.

It implies organic is superior and more ethical than conventionally-grown food. I don’t agree.

In their marketing scheme to boost sales, Whole Foods left out one important ingredient—conventional farmers and ranchers.

Truth is, like their organic counterparts, they care about the land, crops, livestock and their consumers. Conventional farmers and ranchers have values, morals and ethics. They raise a healthy product, too.

But a more educated, diverse consumer is browsing the grocery store aisles. We want to know the farmers and ranchers who grow our food. We want to know they have values. We want to know more.

It’s up to us to use that knowledge. And that means we can see through some advertisements—like this one.

One-sided arguments may boost market shares. But they’re an insult to the hard-working farm families who choose to grow crops and livestock another way, providing safe, wholesome and “ethical” food for folks like you and me.