The Benefits Of Organic

The organic market is booming nation wide and around the world, appealing to the health-conscious, environmentally minded and spreading to the average person.

Organic food is defined as foods that are produced according to certain production standards, meaning they are grown without the use of conventional pesticides, artificial fertilizers, human waste, or sewage sludge, and that they were processed without ionizing radiation or food additives. Livestock are reared without the routine use of antibiotics and without the use of growth hormones. In most countries, organic produce must not be genetically modified. This definition is according to Wikipedia.org and is what is true by today’s organic food standards.

According to the international organic farming organization IFOAM, organic agriculture should keep ecosystems and its organisms healthy. In other words it should keep our food, animals, water supplies and the human race healthy. Buying, growing and eating organic, while it can be expensive, is a great way to help preserve the earth in addition to one’s own health.

Why Organic?

Protect Your Children!

Children are exposed to at least 8 cancer-causing pesticides, found in the foods marketed to them, 4 times as much as adults! Therefore, food choices can have a great impact on their toxins exposure, activity level and over all health.

Build Soil

The Soil Conservation Service estimates that more than 3 billion tons of topsoil erodes from U.S. croplands yearly. Topsoil in the United States erodes 7 times faster than it naturally builds. This alone has a devastating impact on the nutrition found in our foods. Soil is what keeps our plants, and thus our food, growing correctly and healthy.

Protect Water

Humans are made of 2/3 water. The earth is 3/4 water. The EPA estimates that at least 38 states have groundwater polluted by pesticides. This means half the nation drinks polluted water. Most of the water used on crops for food is groundwater that is polluted with the same pesticides which are trying to keep them healthy.

Save Energy

Today’s farming uses more petroleum than many other industries. It also uses 12 percent of America’s total energy stores. In fact it takes more energy to create synthetic fertilizers than all the tilling, cultivating, and harvesting of all U.S. crops! Although farming organically means using much more labor-intensive and natural methods, it also means less energy used and many less steps from the farm to consumption of that food item.

Fewer Dangers To Health

A lot of pesticides were approved by the EPA before the research was done to link them and cancer. Now, the EPA says 60 percent of all herbicides, 90 percent of all fungicides, and 30 percent of all insecticides are cancer-causing. The National Academy of Sciences said in 1987 that pesticides may cause 1.4 million additional cases of cancer in the United States alone. Some pesticides have also been shown to cause birth and nerve defects as well as genetic mutation.

Protect Farmers

The Natural Cancer Institute found that farmers who come in contact with herbicides are 6 times more likely to get cancer. Pesticide poisonings, in California alone, have increased 14 percent since 1973. This number is expected to double in the next 10 years. Field workers have more occupational illnesses than most others. The worst rates of illness are reported in developing countries. A million people suffer from pesticide poisoning annually! Many pesticides that are banned in the U.S. are exported to other nations for use.

Give Family Farms A Boost

Many larger farms are moving toward organic practices, but still most organic farms remain small and independent, standing on less than 100 acres. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that half of the nation’s farming could come from only one percent of all farms in the near future. In the U.S. alone, 650,000 family farms have disappeared in the last 10 years, so going organic could be the one last hope for many family farms.

Support A True Economy

It may appear that buying organic is more expensive. But in reality conventional farming actually includes costs like $74 billion of federal subsidies (1988), testing, disposal and clean-up, and damage control for pesticide use which is passes on to the consumers through higher energy cost and higher taxes.

Supporting local agriculture, organic agriculture, and the natural way of life actually would bring these cost down in the long run if the whole nation turned to this mindset. Also, by buying through independent buying clubs, cooperatives and farmers markets you can keep your personal organic spending low so you can help support the bigger economy of our nation while still incorporating a healthy lifestyle into your family.

Promote Biodiversity

Mono cropping is planting big patches of land with the same crop every year. This means a lack of diversity of plants in the soil. Every crop requires different nutrients and minerals from the soil they are planted in. When farmers do not rotate crops in a field the specific nutrient that the crop needs will eventually be depleted, so the food grown in them lacks vital nutrients and minerals. This is why so many chemical fertilizers are used to replace these natural nutrients and minerals, just so the crop will grow.

Crop rotation is a practice used by organic farmers to balance the soil natural planting a crop which uses high percents of some nutrients and then replacing it with a crop that uses other nutrients but replaces the ones from the previous crop. Who knew farming could be so scientific? But it is, and it works… naturally.

Great Taste

Why are so many restaurants and top chefs offering organic dishes now days? It tastes better! Natural nutrients and minerals in soil means natural plant growth and development, which means better taste.

If you have not tried organic produce I encourage you to do so. You will instantly taste a difference. It is harder to tell a taste difference with more processed organic foods like cereals or cake mixes, they are made to taste like the standard. There are many great tasting organic items on the market which makes the transition to healthy food a lot tastier! Try it today, you just might be surprised.

Organic Statistics

More than 100 nations practice organic farming, and more than 24 million hectares are organically managed. Internationally, the organic market increased to $23 billion by 2002, mostly due to higher demand in North America. Consumer demand continues to rise. Almost 20,000 natural-food stores and 73 traditional ones feature organic items, making for nearly 2 percent of all food sales in the United States. 12,200 American farmers are certified organic and growing. 39 percent of the U.S. uses organic items and growing.