Why Go Organic?

Great article!!! I have three grandchildren and I have been told they have the opportunity to live well into their nineties and my littlest could hit 110 years old. I only hope that somehow miraculously there will be clean water, wholesome food and an environment to exercise in without face masks or oxygen hits. Eating organic is one great way to support reversal of our food systems and encourage moving in these directions. Keep healthy, eat well and always be grate-full!!!! - 2/18/2013 4:26:20 AM

I think the biggest reason to buy organic is to avoid genetically modified food, but that's just my 2 cents... - 1/17/2013 11:50:31 AM

I can't go to do grocery; but sometime my children brings organic foods and they don't know if organic foods. The best things is growing our own food. - 10/26/2012 4:55:23 PM

P.S. Check out the history of DDT if you want to get a good idea of our track record on "safety" in our food supply. There are old commercials for DDT that show children being sprayed to demonstrate how harmless it is, and now we know that it is extremely harmful to the environment. Just use common sense! If it stinks and gives you a migraine, don't spray it on something you are going to eat (and for God sakes, don't spray the kids!). - 8/1/2012 5:10:14 AM

This is a response to NWORKENTINE (see below). Your comment left me uneasy for many reasons, one of them being that this website is viewed by so many people looking for good information on what they should be eating. I have a degree in environmental science and I have been growing my own produce in my garden since I was about ten or so. Knowing my background, of course you will say, "Well, she's just a treehugger supporting expensive farming methods that benefit no one!" The truth is that if you take a supermarket tomato that has been flown from who knows which country and compare it to a sun-ripened tomato that has just been picked from your organic vegetable garden, you will undoubtedly find that the organic one tastes 100% better than the supermarket tomato. Scientists have studied lycopene and other phytochemicals and most reputable ones have come to the conclusion that we don't know as much about whole foods as we thought we knew. There are so many other important phytochemicals that we have not even touched, and you are basically saying that the soil our food grows in does not matter??? I say it does. Organic farming is good for everyone; I really don't see how you can possibly support your argument. I am not trying to start a fight; I am just curious to see where you get your information. - 8/1/2012 5:04:52 AM

It's all about petro chemicals versus a healthy, organic, natural soil. It's your choice. Choose cancer or live cancer-free. Looks to me like cancer rates have shot sky-high since farmers started using chemical fertilizers. We were far better off in the 1950s when small farmers grew their own crops for their neighbors, when their chickens ran free in the yard, and without all those chemicals leeching all the nutrients out of the soil. The taste of organic beef is highly superior to that of antibiotic-laced meat. - 7/31/2012 9:31:26 AM

We need to fight for our right to buy healthy foods!!! Keep buying organic, think of the benefits and how America's processed foods have taken over our children's diets. These companies reap ALL the benefits, while hurting us. The more we buy and demand, these Monetary Monsters will have to label our products correctly and give in to a healthier way!!! - 7/10/2012 8:52:54 AM

This article really discredits this website. I tell people that eating organic is a personal choice. There is insufficient evidence to say either way that organic foods are better for you, better tasting or better for the environment. There is plenty of research to say it does none of those and there is some research that says it does do those. It's unfortunate the the author uses a study that is nearly 20 years old - that is significantly outdated.
Current research shows that all non-organic fruits and vegetables fall within the FDA's safe levels of pesticide and other chemical residue. In fact, with the current washing techniques, the chemical residue is well below the upper safe limit. Organic produce only improves this slightly, but it still contains chemical residue. Taste is purely suggestive, and most people even prefer the taste of non-organic food.
Coming from the corn-belt and knowing very well the processes that are required to be able to sustain the soil after decades of use, you cannot rely on mother earth alone to be able to maintain the soil's fertility levels. Even then, current farming techniques have been shown to have minimal, if any, effect on the environment.

Like I said, it is unfortunate that this article taints the credibility of SparkPeople. I constantly check articles that are written against current published research, and so far this website has been great. I felt comfortable recommending people to this website until now. - 6/26/2012 9:26:15 AM

The organic movement should be about sustainability. They way big ag is going now, we will be out of functional/health
y farm land. Watch or read Food Inc. - 5/2/2012 7:22:58 PM

I personally am not entirely into the organic movement but I do believe that the pesticides have harmful side-effects of which we are not completely aware. I do however spend a little extra each month to buy some organic produce and grass-fed meats. My children can taste the difference in the produce and my oldest does not get intestinal distress when she she eats grass-fed beef as opposed to grain-fed beef. I have even noticed that one of my recipes seems less acidic when I use organic items when making it.

As for depleting soil nutrients, crop rotation is the key to making sure that soil isn't entirely depleted of its nutrients. Some farmers even plant specific crops that are then tilled back into the soil to increase the nutrients in the soil. Most GOOD farmers practice crop rotation whether they are conventional or organic. - 12/5/2011 1:04:07 PM

From what I have read the benefits of organic are relatively minor from a health and nutritional standpoint. A one or two percent difference is hardly worth the price and there are no acknowledged studies I have ever read that says "conventional" farming has ill health effects. Any intensive land use; organic or conventional; will deplete the soil over time without supplimental fertilizing
Organic farming does have the benefits of helping keep the soils the crops are grown in healthier from the return of available (composted) nutrients to the soil. That may be for some a sufficient reason to focus on organic products. - 9/27/2011 1:51:28 PM

A lot of misleading facts in that article. It states that conventional farmers are 6 times more likely to get certain cancers than non-farmers. What the author fails to mention is that organic farmers are also exposed to a much higher cancer risk than non-farmers, most of it attributable to skin cancer.

Also there is no evidence that nitrogen in the atmosphere causes global warming. The high rate of growth of conventional farming produce has been shown to consume more carbon dioxide from the air than organic produce, which helps against global warming. - 9/26/2011 9:41:25 PM

Great article. Organic growers replenish the soil using compost made from the by products of what they produce, the plant material that we don't eat, such as leaves and stems. They do use organic manure from organically raised livestock which is why there is a shortage of it, there are not enough organic livestock producers. They also use nutrients from the sea to help replenish their soil. They do not user synthetic fertelizers which only add 3 nutrients to the soil, not enough to sustain the soil over a period of several years.

Another method of organic growers is to plant "nitrogen fixers" such as legumes. The roots from these plants produce nitrogen to help support the soil, another method of organic farmers is to plant rye or other grasses then tilling it under before it matures to add nutrients back into the soil.

Every organic farmer that I know, including myself, has a compost pile. Discarded plant material and organic manure are left to decompose and used as fertalizer in fields and gardens.

If you do your homework you will find that the great dust bowl of the early 1900s during the great depression was not caused intierly by drought, it was caused,in part, by the destruction of the top soil. There were not enough nutrients to support any crops, not even weeds which would have at least held the soil in place. Our native soil is so depleated that it's a wonder it supports anything.

Organic growers support the soil, not just the crops they grow. They know that if they want to continue to produce healthy crops, they have to take care of the soil too. And by not using pesticides they protect the environment. They don't kill the bees and butterflys which polinate the crops. Pestecides are non selective thay kill everything, including people, why do you think there are warning lables on all pestecides and the poison control center phone number included on the packaging?

We are what we eat and I choose to eat as healthy as possible, I choose not to eat poison or synthetic foods if I can help it.

Debbie

- 9/26/2011 9:43:54 AM

I think this is a great article. You say that buying all organic is so expensive...and I know, it is quite a bit more... but keep in mind that the more the masses buy organically, the more the prices will go down.
All the chemicals, antibiotics etc that are used in non-Organic products are a part of the reason that so many people get Cancer and other diseases. Your body doesn't want to continue to have to process these toxins in your body, it wants to do other things like burn fat.

Do you want to pay for organic food now or pay for doctors/hospitals later?

Remember, people are going to tell you what favors them, not always what is right. If I owned a non-Organic farm, I would tell you that buying Organic is not worthwhile as well, protecting myself. Understandable. But, that doesn't mean it's just as good or better than organic products.

And as far as meat goes, even if you don't care about your health from eating non-Organic meat, do you care about animals be treated horribly on "Big Business" farms?

If you haven't already, watch the Documentary "Food Inc", it'll change the way you think about what you're putting in your mouth.

How can you fight that "Natural" isn't best? I don't understand that.

- 9/26/2011 9:05:10 AM

Many have commented that the price of buying organic is out of their budgets. This is where having a garden is so beneficial. I am a Master Gardener and our goal is to teach people how to grow a few things in a small garden. You would be surprised just how much you can grow in a small place. And it's all about replenishing the soil in that small garden so that it does not get depleted of nutients. A simple thing like mulching your leaves in a bagger lawn mower and then throwing the ground leaves on your garden bed it a sustainable practice that does not cost hardly anthing. Everyone has trees and leaves. If you are growing some of your own vegtables, you know that they are safe. What I can not grow myself, I purchase at at Farmer's Market. If you want to learn how to start a small garden, ask a Master Gardener. You can find them through your local extension office. Happy Gardening!! - 9/26/2011 8:13:17 AM