The organic food debate is a spirited one, especially here in farm and ranch country.

Organics are often viewed as either an exciting new market for Montana producers or as unwanted competition for "mainstream" crop and livestock products.

We embrace the idea of bringing more choice - both in terms of organics and locally grown food - into our grocery stores. That said, we question last week's decision to continue allowing WIC dollars to pay for organic foods.

Authorized in 1974, the federal Women, Infants and Children program puts staples such as milk, eggs and cheese on the tables of more than 20,000 low-income Montanans each month. The recipients are children under age five and pregnant or breastfeeding women who might otherwise go without.

A national report last month that American kids are developing rickets, a bone-softening disease, because of calcium-deficient diets drives home WIC's importance.

Unfortunately, the program's funding has remained flat against rising food costs. Future funding levels are uncertain, with dollars tied up in the controversial Farm Bill now wending its way through Congress.

"We're doing everything we can to make sure we're making reasonable and realistic cuts so we can avoid a waiting list if at all possible," said Jo Ann Dotson, chief of the state Family & Community Health Bureau, which oversees the Montana WIC program.

One of those reasonable and realistic cuts was removing organics from the list of WIC-approved foods.

"We're not against organic foods or anything like that," Dotson said. "It's purely a cost thing."

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