What's Organic? Why Local?
Certified Organic
In just a few years, the term "organic" has changed meaning. Before the "USDA organic" label existed, the term implied sustainability. Being sustainable means choosing methods that are naturally well-suited for the local area and not negatively impacting the land.
Unfortunately, the "USDA organic" label only addresses the production-side of farming. They don't check farms' long-term effect on the environment.
The USDA certification has helped bring organics to the mainstream, yet many believe it has weakened the true meaning of "organic" and is causing large agri-businesses to displace family farmers.
Buying Local
Partially as a result, buying local is an increasingly growing trend, where people choose products from their own region’s producers. This helps small, family farmers survive and keeps money circulating within their own community.
Small farmers also tend to grow more diverse varieties in their crop rotations, which keeps soil fertile and yields more choices for consumers.
You Decide
Some believe choosing organics is the priority, since no toxic chemicals or harmful fertilizers are used. Others believe buying local is the priority, since it helps local communities survive, and the product is more diverse and freshly picked.
Ultimately, you should decide what’s important to you:
Personal Health?
There are numerous studies from around the world connecting conventional pesticide use, genetic-engineering, and antibiotics with higher rates of disease and infections. SOLUTION: Organic.
Environment?
Fresh water: The #1 urgent health issue according to a recent United Nations report is the contamination of our fresh water supply. Prominent cause: Conventional pesticide run-off into our groundwater and rivers. SOLUTION: Organic.
Dead zones in the ocean: The #1 top environmental threat according to the United Nations report is the increasing number of "dead zones" in our oceans. Most prominent cause: Nitrogen from conventional fertilizers leaching into our oceans. SOLUTION: Organic.
Ecosystems and biodiversity: Conventional methods degrade soil fertility, increase erosion, and cause more resistant pests. And, large agri-businesses — even large organic agri-businesses — often do not consider their long-term effect on ecosystems. SOLUTION: Organic.
Fossil fuels: Products from large agri-businesses travel significantly farther distances causing extreme fossil fuel pollution. SOLUTION: Local.
Local Communities and Economies?
Large agri-businesses, both organic and conventional, leach money from rural communities and put family farmers out of business. Large ag-corporations notoriously undersell the fair market value and involve more middlemen returning fewer returns to the actual growers. SOLUTION: Local.
World Hunger?
We need to adopt practices that yield abundant crops now and in the future. Conventional farming methods are unsustainable, depleting soil fertility and harming ecosystems. Alternatively, sustainable organic farming involves selecting crops and methods appropriate for each specific region and nurturing healthy soil and biodiversity for the long-term. SOLUTION: Organic & Local.
Clearly, our food system is a complex issue. As consumers, we need to choose businesses that have our health, environment, and local economies in mind. Our collective food purchasing habits can truly help improve our personal health and the environment around us.
Benefits of Organics - Quality
Taste
Organic produce is grown in its natural environment and without toxic chemicals. Healthy produce from healthy soil means the best-tasting fruits and vegetables available.
Benefits of Organics - Health & Safety
General safety
Organic agriculture follows the same local, state and federal health standards as conventional farms. Farms also end up being inspected more frequently as part of the certification process.
Organic farmers use natural, safe methods such as insect predators, mating disruption, traps, and barriers to control pests, and crop diversity and rotation to build soil fertility and natural resistance to weeds.
Minimal chemical or synthetic residues
Because no toxic chemicals or synthetics are used in organic farming, there are virtually no harmful remnants left on the fruits and vegetables.
In a recent study by Consumer Reports, they found that organically-grown produce had "consistently minimal or nonexistent pesticide residue".
Safer for kids
On average, kids eat more fruits and vegetables per pound of body weight than adults. Their developing physiology is more vulnerable than an adult’s to the negative effects of chemicals, synthetics, and genetically-modified organisms.
The Environment Working Group found that over 1 million children in the U.S. under five-years-old eat food daily that is contaminated with pesticides shown to cause neurological dysfunction. In another study by the National Academy of Sciences, exposure to lead, mercury and conventional pesticides were shown to cause one in four developmental and behavioral problems in children.
Organic produce offers the highest nutritional value and helps protect children from the harm of conventional residues.
Healthier farmers
Organic farming is healthier for the farmers themselves. They’re in direct contact with the farming materials, and studies have shown that farmers who work with conventional pesticides are six times more likely to develop cancer.
Benefits of Organics - Fertile Soil for the Future
Keeping soil healthy ensures productive crops in the long-term.
What is healthy soil?
Qualities of healthy soil include:
Good structure that resists erosion, absorbs water quickly, and has a high water-holding capacity.
Abundance of living microbes and organisms that contribute to good soil structure and release, transform, and transfer nutrients.
Retention of more carbon, which helps reduce the impact of global warming.
Benefits of Organics - Fresh Water & Oceans
Because organic farmers use no chemical, synthetic or bio-engineered materials, the whole issue of pesticide and fertilizer run-off is avoided. (This is an urgent issue in the United Nations Environment Programme.)
Unlike common conventional farms, whose run-off contaminates groundwater (our source of drinking water) and the oceans (where they spark algal overgrowth that suffocates marine wildlife), organic farm methods have minimal to no impact on our water systems.
Benefits of Organics - Biodiversity & Eco-systems
Organic methods not only help maintain natural habitats; they actually foster an even stronger, more diverse natural eco-system.
International studies have shown astounding results.
In addition, innovations in ecologically-based farming are fundamentally changing agriculture. The Land Institute is paving the way to mimic the laws of nature to create synergistic agricultural eco-systems. Capitalizing on nature's ability to regulate and sustain itself, these systems require less human intervention to produce healthy, prolific crops.
Benefits of Organics - Long-Term Viability
It's easy to see that organic agriculture is the only viable solution for the sustainability of our long-term food supply.
It's healthy and safe.
It fosters fertile soil for future crops.
It has no negative impact on our groundwater or oceans.
It promotes biodiversity and healthy eco-systems.
And finally, it yields the same – if not more – output.
Organic farm yields
Currently, statistics show that organic farms' yields average about 95% of conventional farms' yields.
It's a matter of investing the same time and research on optimizing organic farm practices that we do on conventional practices. Even allocating a small percentage of the USDA research fund to organic farming could help organics reach their full potential.
In a study by the Rodale Institute, results have shown that after 15 years, "organic methods are as efficient, economical and financially competitive as conventional methods, and better for the soil and the environment."
The organic crops performed as well as, and sometimes better than, conventionally grown crops. Especially during drought years, organic crops outperformed conventional crops of the same type.
Organics in developing countries
Helping developing countries choose crops that naturally thrive in their specific environment and teaching them to use natural fertilizer and pest control methods yield the highest outputs and creates the most fertile soil for the future.
Organic agriculture is less expensive for these farmers to operate and maintain as well. They don't need to buy expensive engineered seeds, they don't need to purchase and manage chemicals, and they avoid costs of conventional pesticide clean-up.
Organic farming allows less-fortunate countries to maximize their output while conserving their health and environmental resources.
