Organic Wheat or Bust
- Sal Fresh
- 17 hours ago
- 4 min read
At Simply Fresh Market, "real food" isn't a slogan we put on a sign and forget about — it's a standard we hold ourselves to every time we mix, bake, or dish something up for you. One of the quiet decisions behind that standard is the wheat we choose. Every recipe in our book that calls for wheat gets organic - no exceptions. Here's why that matters to us, and why we think it should matter to you.
Wheat Is Wheat… RIght?
Not quite. The grain itself may look the same, but how it's grown makes a real difference — and most of that difference happens out in the field, long before it ever reaches a kitchen.
Conventional wheat farming relies on a sequence of synthetic chemical inputs across the growing season: herbicides to clear weeds before planting, fungicide and insecticide seed coatings, synthetic fertilizers, growth regulators to keep stalks from falling over, and fungicides sprayed at flowering. Organic wheat skips all of that. Instead, it's grown using crop rotation, cover crops, composted natural fertilizers, and mechanical weed control — working with the land rather than dousing it.
The Part That SurprIses Most People: Pre-Harvest Spraying
Here's the one we really want you to know about.
In conventional wheat production, it's a common practice in some regions to spray the crop with glyphosate (the active ingredient in Roundup) shortly before harvest — not to kill weeds, but to dry the field down evenly so it can be harvested faster. When that's done, the herbicide is applied directly to the grain late in its life, which is when residues are more likely to end up in the finished product. It isn't done to every field, but because there's no way to know which is which once it's milled into flour, it's a real question mark hanging over conventional wheat.
This is why you may have heard about glyphosate turning up in testing of everyday wheat products like cereal, crackers, and bread. It's also why several countries have restricted the practice. Certified organic wheat prohibits pre-harvest glyphosate entirely — along with all the other synthetic herbicides, fungicides, and insecticides used in conventional growing.
When your flour comes from organic wheat, that whole category of concern simply isn't part of the equation.
What "OrganIc wheat" Actually Guarantees
We don't take the word "organic" lightly, and we don't think you should either. Certified organic wheat means:
• No synthetic herbicides — including no pre-harvest glyphosate drying
• No synthetic pesticides or fungicides in the field or on the seed
• No synthetic fertilizers — soil is fed with compost and natural amendments
• No GMOs — and yes, this matters now more than ever (more on that below)
• Healthier soil and cleaner water around the farms that grow it
The standard is backed by USDA certification and real inspection. In fact, as of 2024, the USDA tightened its organic rules significantly with the Strengthening Organic Enforcement rule, closing long-standing loopholes in the supply chain — requiring certification for the brokers, traders, and importers who used to slip through, and demanding full farm-to-shelf traceability. We pay attention to this so you don't have to.
The New Reason ThIs Matters: GMO Wheat Is Now a ThIng
For decades, one of the few reassuring facts about wheat was that there was no such thing as genetically modified wheat on the market. That changed recently. In August 2024, the USDA deregulated HB4 wheat — a drought-tolerant genetically modified variety — making the U.S. one of only a handful of countries to clear GMO wheat for cultivation.
It isn't growing in American fields commercially yet, but it's moving in that direction. Choosing certified organic wheat is the clearest way to stay ahead of that shift, because organic standards prohibit GMOs by definition. When we say our baked goods and prepared foods are made with organic wheat, we're also saying they're made without genetically modified grain — today and as the market changes.
OUR BASELINE STANDARD
Some places might use organic ingredients selectively — a special loaf here, a premium item there. That's not how we think about it. We chose organic wheat as our baseline, across the board:
• Our bakery cakes, pastries, and scratch-made goods
• Our gourmet prepared meals and original recipes wherever flour is called for
• Anything we craft that requires wheat
We do this because we believe the everyday food — the muffin you eat every morning, the meal you grab on a busy weeknight — is exactly where ingredient quality matters most. It's the food you and your family actually live on. That's not the place to cut corners.
Real Food, All the Way Down
Choosing organic wheat costs us a little more and asks a little more of our sourcing. We think it's worth it, because it's consistent with everything else we stand for: organic and locally-sourced ingredients, no GMOs, nothing artificial, transparent labels you can trust, original recipes made from scratch.
When you pick up something we've made, you shouldn't have to wonder what's hiding in the flour. With organic wheat, there's nothing to hide — and honestly, once you know the difference, it’s impossible to go back.
Come taste the difference for yourself. Stop by and visit us, or order online!
Information on organic standards, wheat regulation, and farming practices in this article is drawn from the USDA National Organic Program and USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).
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