Organic Food: Healthier for You and the Planet

I really dig that TH is into organics - but would really like to see you not incorporating information thats put out by the Organic Consumers Union, who is pretty radical and puts a considerable amount of negative press out there regarding organic. Yes - the feds run the game - and that makes things difficult. However - it does keep the playing field for organic certifiers somewhat equal - which is way different prior to October 22, 2002 when the law went into effect. Before then - the rules of what is "organic" for consumers was completely open game. Check out the Rodale institute and the Organic Center for some really good down to earth info on the organic industry.

But... since organics are so popular now, the majority of organic foods are now produced by the big agriculture firms - ConAgra, etc - and that means the food is still traveling long distanaces, and are NOT making the supply chian "greener". Do we really want organic food from China sold by WalMart and grown on huge corporate farms that displace thousands of people from their land?

Don't just buy organic, buy LOCAL organic. and don't be fooled by the "organic" label. Whole Foods for example wants you to feel all warm and fuzzy about buying organic - but they are causing a LOT of CO2 emissoins by purchasing organic foods from South America and New Zealand.... that's not "green".

Sounds like certification needs to be made more stringent, not less.

The concept of "organic" is deeply flawed because it looks at only half the situation.
It may exclude the future application of pesticides, herbicides, etc. from agricultural fields; however, a field that has been saturated with persistent synthetic toxic chemicals for decades magically becomes "organic" after a short rest period of no further applications.
The minerals mined out of the ground by decades of past crops are not required to be replaced.
The bacteria, molds, fungi, worms, insects, and countless thousands of other living species that are absolutely necessary to build a healthy soil have been killed and can not return to the still-contaminated earth.
So, ignoring what one should do, and narrowly focusing only on what should NOT be done, simply ignores the ugly reality that food produced by "organic" standards are still highly inferior; taht is why they tend to tasteless.

If you want to see some really cool certified organic check this out

and pass it along-you can purchase online

www.angeleyesproduce.com
www.theorganicdifference.com

Organic isn't always more expensive. I grow organic fruits and vegetables which I sell in a small farmer's market that charges a very small fee. Also, I am not certified since I can't afford it, so I can charge less. I grow in just 1/3 of an acre. I sell less than $5,000 a year so I can say I am organic. Anyone is welcomed to check out my microfarm since it's 1/4 mile from the market. Word of warning not everyone who says they are organic really are. In relation to the comment that certification should be more stingent, sorry that only makes it even more expensive for small growers. Large growers can get "better" treatment from the people who do the certifying. The certification is not free, the growers pay the certifying agent.

Organics are just a marketing system which makes money.
Small local farmers cannot afford to obtain the certificate, even they grow perfect organic plants.

It does seem like many companies are guilty of greenwashing, which is a term used to refer to the false marketing of environmentally friendly foods, products and services. These companies are turning organics into something it's not. There are companies out there, who are genuinely working towards helping to better the environment, while working with farmers to provide real quality organic/all natural foods. Pizza Fusion leads by example, delivering their organic and vegan friendly pizzas in hybrid cars. Also they have a close relationship with Lady Moon Farms, Applegate Farms and Bob's Red Mill who all carry certified organic and all natural products. Check out PizzaFusion.com, if more businesses emulated their practices we could restore the postive outlook we all once had on organic and green business

http://www.organicassistant.com/
Some notes of interest I have put together over the last 6 years I have been doing research on all things organic. These are not exact figures.
Organic Grocery sales in the UK = £2 billion.
This is 2% of the £100 billion Grocery market.
80% of all organic is sold by the supermarkets.
20% by the independents.
20% of organic is sourced in the UK.
80% is imported.
Organic is growing world wide at 20% 'ish per annum.
Organic in the UK is growing exponentially, certainly at 20% per annum.
Question.
Supply and demand - can it keep up?

I have found a company that offers internationally certified organic skin, hair, body, cosmetic, oral and nutritional products. You can become a preferred customer or sign up for the business opportunity.
http://meyers.mionegroup.com

Re the comments about soil magically becoming "organic" overnight (9/14 comment), you should look at biodynamic agriculture. Its founder, Rudolph Steiner, talked about "healing" the soil. Now I understand why biodynamic tastes even better than organic.

Lynn
http://www.organicmania.com

With all this talk about everybody wanting organic sounds like all of these big growers should wise up and just go all organic. They don't realize they might just make more money. (That's all they care about anyway). With more people becoming aware of what they are doing to our food supply, hopefully soon everybody will be forced to grow organic.

The higher cost of organic food becomes relative, once you factor in the farmer's market opportunity. That is our #1 source for organic produce, and other items.

Obviously, most people cannot do 100% of their food shopping at a farmer's market, and not everyone has access to one.

But we find the balance between those sources (especially when the farmer's market is within walking distance - we have 2 of those!) allows us to offset some of the cost of a Whole Foods shopping trip.

Very comprehensive and informative article - twas a good 5min read.

Organic: Chemically based on or derived from hydrocarbons.

Nearly all if not all pesticides are made up of organic compounds.

I resent the hijacking of the word "organic."

All food is organic...

I think it is great TH is covering the topics related to organic foods, and also how it is no longer limited to the little guys. If organic consumption increases, eventually virtually every company will have to go organic.

Although many organic growers do not sell their products online there is a company I know of called Holy Food Imports and they are a small company which sells organic food grown in Israel.

Their website is is at www.holyfoodimports.com however their site is scheduled to be down until May first.

I think the best way to go organic is to get your produce from local farmers markets or neighbors who grow veggies in thier yard or better yet grow you own. a simple container garden can produce a good amount of food for a family even with minimal space. Growing food does not take a great time commitment so even those who are not home during the day can tend to thier garden. my family and I are working toward more independence from stores. with proper planning you dont need to "buy" your greens. Just another option that is out there for those disgusted with the price of organics and confused by the labels or annoyed with the distances these "green" veggies have to travel

This Great Organic Debate will still be here for our grandchildren to discuss if everybody doesn't get on board soon. Farms that are organic lie next to farms that aren't, so whats to stop winds or a high water mark from push chemicals back on to organic farms, nothing! Our 'must have it now' culture has paved the way for this need to guarantee excess stock of food for the developed world while the rest go hungry. People have forgotten about the seasonality of foods, nobody is excited by food anymore because you can get what you want when you want. Organic farming will reintroduce this natural cycle back.

We are working on a new program called Project Organics.The Program would take 10% of pre tax profits and donate it to non profit agencies that help the homeless. The money would be used towards leasing land,tractors, seeds, and a decent hourly wage for the homeless to grow organic crops.Planting more crops locally through donations will help the homeless,the local community, and would increase the supply of local organic foods.At harvest time, the local restaurants would buy as much of the produce from the homeless agency.as needed.The balance would be used in the local food bank and sold at local market.All profits would then be used towards housing,food,and other things badly needed by our homeless community.We have already formed an alliance with two churches in Florida and hope to start the program in July.

Community leaders can take note.There are many ways to help the local community if the effort is made.The organic industry continues to grow at record rates even in todays economy.Help your community to be locally sustainable and self supporting.

Soon you are going to have to get all of your food from local farmers, food driven to market by truck will be so expensive because of the cost of gas for you to buy!!! Haha, but seriously, isn't it all about the love given to the farm? I mean, good wholesome food doesn't necessarily bear the organic stamp, and just because something is labeled organic doesn't mean it is not without trace elements of hormones and pesticides extracted from the soil from prior crops grown. There is definitely something to be said about food grown locally....it just tastes better. I don't think it's that certified organic food tastes any better, I think it's more along the lines of the common produce that grocery store produce managers buy tastes worse.

keep transportation costs in mind. A 2005 report in the journal Food Policy calculated the energy expended to truck produce from farm to market and concluded that consumers would do less environmental damage by buying locally grown conventional food than organic produce from across the continent. The ideal is to buy organic food from within 12 miles of your dinner table. For most of us, though, this is impossible, and inadequate labeling makes it difficult to know if a box of tomatoes came from a local orchard or from Chile.

From Wired Magazine

I really want to do good and buy organic, but it's so hard to know if what I'm buying really is. I live in New Jersey where the farms are dropping off one by one and being replaced by housing developments. Some of the farms sold most of their land and now buy food from other farms and sell that to us. I need help with buying truly organic food in New Jersey. Right now it pretty much seems impossible.

Taste testing rice crackers?

Organic food look worse but taste fresh and sweet

Organic food healthy for our body and make our body stronger. Go green !!

Thank you TreeHugger for this great source for my science project which is obviously on organic food. I love this site--it's awessom!

~Tala

IWho wants to drip chemical insecticides and fertilisers from China and India into their tea ? Not me. Non-organic beverages are particularly prone to the dangers of careless chemical use. This is why it is vital to have a safe provider of top notch Organic tea. Visit www.greenboar.com to find out more.

I wish I could buy everything organic - but for a graduate student (& for many others) it is much too expensive. Without a doubt it is almost always more expensive than other produce.

Our local farmer's market has a very limited selection and their organic produce is more expensive that shop organic produce.

Where can one get cheap organic produce in Chicago??

we need all over the world only organic food !
for better health

Great information, especiallyabout the history and future of the organic food industry. As an organic foodie myself it amazes me that as you guys put its "it costs more to not have pesticides" its really sad. I just don't understand how as consumers we allowed for our food to become so fake.

The thing I didn't really see in this post is how to buy organic cheaply. People see or ehar about organic ther often associate expensive and it does not have to be that way. i recently wrote a post at PIC Current http://current.pic.tv/ about buying organic on a budget. It might be helpful to your readers.

Thanks for continually providing great environmentally freindly practices, tips, and ideas.

Why is it that so many people think that the only way to grow food efficiently is with pesticides and fertilizers, and that if the crops aren't sprayed with pesticides then the bugs will eat them? I keep on trying to convince my friends and family, but in vain. So what should I tell them?

Keep up the excellent work! Your website helps to keep me from boredom as well.

I sent this article to my dad to yells at my all the time for "wasting" my money on organic food.

Thank you TreeHugger for this great source for my science project which is obviously on organic food. I love this site--it's awessom!