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The distance between New York and Washington, D.C., is 313 miles, a number that became especially relevant last week to activist Adam Eidinger as he prepared to set out on foot for the capital, along with hundreds of other food activists, farmers, and business leaders.

“Many organic leaders realized this past spring that, basically, we don’t have a friend in the White House,” says Eidinger, who hopes the march will accomplish what good will could not. “We’re going over the cliff here. This is very much a personal thing with the president now.”

Candidate Barack Obama made many promises, but one in particular-“We’ll let folks know if their food has been genetically modified, because Americans should know what they’re buying”-has become an ever more potent rallying cry for supporters of organic foods. The march comes just as the Food and Drug Administration considers a legal petition to require the labeling of genetically modified foods, known as “Frankenfoods” by critics. Such foods are already prolific in our diets; the Grocery Manufacturers Association estimates that 80 percent of processed foods now contain ingredients that have been genetically modified.