Organic Food

To keep pace with growing demand, producers are always in a rush to grow more and more crops, and have come to depend on a deadly cocktail of pesticides in order to prevent insect attacks and control diseases.  For the big agricultural corporations, this is great news for their balance sheets.  But it's not such great news for your health.

For example, were you aware that when you eat the average apple - even after washing it - you're also eating thirty different pesticides?

Since the Second World War, the quality of our food has sharply decreased.  For instance, today's fruit contains much less vitamin C than its wartime equivalent.  However, organic food has been shown to provide 50% more vitamins, minerals, and nutrients than food which is conventionally farmed. (The Advantages of Organic Food)

Industrial agricultural and its approach to farming and crop cultivation overran the process of growing food using organic gardening and agricultural practices.  Proponents of the industrial style of agriculture advocated for the utilization of chemical or synthetic herbicides, fertilizers, and insecticides for use in producing crops.  By the beginning of the 1960s, industrial agricultural practices had gained predominance in all of Europe and North America, as well as many countries around the world.

The use of chemicals for raising animals or growing crops was believed by most of society at the time to be a proper and efficient method to increase agricultural production.  By the 1970s, however, many agricultural experts were beginning to observe the seriously negative effects on human health and the environment that arose from using chemicals in the production and treatment of food products.  The documented history of agriculture and organic food shows that a movement began to form as more and more people came to realize the tangible benefits of organic food.

Organic gardening started on a small-scale, mostly in homes and on a few organic farms.  Today, there are many businesses throughout the world which cater to the growing organic food market.  (Understanding Organic Agriculture: The History and Benefits of Organic Food)

Buying organic food leads to a far less toxic environment for all forms of life.  Only about one half of one percent of pasture and farm land in the United States is classified by the USDA as organic.  This means that 99.5% of American farmland is risking exposure to harmful agricultural chemicals.

Industrial agriculture not only harms the health of workers and pollutes the farmland; it also has serious consequences for non-farming lands downstream.  Pesticide drifting affects these communities with invisible and odorless poisons.  Synthetic fertilizer is known to drift downstream and is the primary cause of “dead zones” in fragile oceanic ecosystems.  In the Gulf of Mexico, one dead zone covers more than 22,000 square kilometers – roughly the area of New Jersey.

The dependence of chemical fertilizer, along with mono-cropping, has eroded top soil in the U.S. to the tune of an estimated $40 billion every year, based on data collected by David Pimental at Cornell University.  Additionally, there is the equally drastic decrease of minerals and micro nutrients found in vegetables and fruit.  When soil is fed with organic matter rather than synthetic fertilizers like ammonia, levels of nutrients in produce have been shown to significantly increase.  Higher levels of minerals and vitamins are also found in organically grown food. (“Elevating Antioxidant levels in food through organic farming and food processing,” Organic Center State of Science Review. 2005)

The use of the term “organic” has the potential to spark a meaningful cultural revolution in which biodiversity and diversity in general are encouraged and environmental harm and chemical toxins are greatly reduced, with the goal of being eliminated.  Cultural and biological conservation can be as simple as saving a single heirloom seed to prevent its extinction.  (Top 10 Reasons to Support Organic in the 21^st Century.)

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) informs consumers that the terms natural and organic are not interchangeable. “Natural” refers to products without artificial flavorings, colorings, or chemical preservatives and minimal processing. The USDA defines “organic foods” as products grown without the use of pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, sewage sludge, genetically modified organisms, or ionizing radiation. The agency also requires that organic meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products be produced from animals free of antibiotics or growth hormones. The term “organic” is increasingly recognized as a trusted symbol of eco-friendly products. Companies that handle or process organic foods for public consumption must be certified by the USDA. Only producers who sell less than $5,000 a year in organic foods are exempt from this certification; however, they must follow the same government standards to label their foods as organic.

Consumers who want to buy organic products should be able to correctly identify them. The USDA’s label standards for organic products include 100% Organic (made with 100% organic ingredients); the word organic or the organic seal (95% organic); made with organic ingredients (minimum of 70% organic ingredients); and organic ingredients listed on the side panel (less than 70% organic ingredients). (Dahm, Samonte and Shows)

If you're planning on growing organic food, you have to consider organic pest control. Just as organic food requires the USDA organic label to be considered truly organic, organic non-food products require the OMRI, or Organic Materials Review Institute, logo. Only insect sprays with this label are certified for use with organic gardens.

Organic insect sprays are made with natural ingredients that are easily broken down by nature into elements that plants and the environment can use. By using organic insect sprays, you won’t have to worry about potentially harmful chemicals entering the soil or your food. These organic bug sprays are safe to use up until the day you harvest.

Dahm, Molly J., Aurelia V. Samonte and Amy R. Shows. "Organic Foods: Do Eco-Friendly Attitudes Predict Eco-Friendly Behaviors?" Journal of American College Health (2009): 195-202.

Organic foods: Are they safer? More nutritious? 20 December 2008. 26 April 2010 <http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/organic-food/NU00255>.

The Advantages of Organic Food. 26 April 2010 <http://www.organicfoodinfo.net/>.

Top 10 Reasons to Support Organic in the 21st Century. 26 April 2010 <http://www.organic.org/articles/showarticle/article-206>.

Understanding Organic Agriculture: The History and Benefits of Organic Food. 26 April 2010 <http://www.biodelice.com/history-organic-food.asp>.