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When do you buy organic? When do experts?
I never know when it makes sense to shell out extra money for organic foods. It's one of the reasons I started working on the story for Marketplace this afternoon on feeding a growing world population.
For some shopping decisions, like what produce to buy if you want to avoid pesticides, there are guides. Check out the Environmental Working Group's "Dirty Dozen" and "Clean 15" list of fruits and vegetables with the most and least pesticides. You can download the PDF here. There's also an app.
But what really matters? The experts I talked to each had different answers to the question: "When and do you choose organics over conventionally grown food?"
Farmer and former California secretary of Agriculture AG Kawamura says the organic vs. conventional label matters a lot less to him then how recently the fruits and veggies were picked, and how good they look. He buys whatever is freshest.
Agriculture expert Mark Rosegrant from the International Food Policy Research Institute has a similar approach: "I'm sort of mixed I guess. I don't religiously buy organics, but if there are some nice looking ones there, I'll sometimes buy them."
Cookbook author and food columnist Mark Bittman says if he's got a choice he'll always buy organic, with a few exceptions: "if something is local, and it's really appealing and it's not organic, I don't care that much." But, he said he thinks we need to come up with a better definition for sustainable food, something that means more than "organic." "I want to see farm workers treated fairly, I want to see animals treated fairly, I want to see consumers treated fairly and I want to see the land treated fairly."
Finally, Pedro Sanchez, from Columbia University buys organic milk "because I don't like what they are doing to the cows." He says he doesn't like the way some dairy farmers overuse antibiotics. As far as other foods, Sanchez says, "I go with either one, and because of the price differential I go with the conventional."
We want to know what you do? Do you buy organics? When and why?
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Adrianne,
I suggest that you look to the leaders in the organic movement for good information on sustainability and organic research. The September issue of Organic Gardening Magazine features, "Organic Methods Hold Water". The Rodale Institute's Farming Systems Trial (FST) has been tracking performance of organically grown grain and conventional crops for the past 30 years.
Ask Vendana Shiva what is happening to farmers in India as a result of GMO.
Shame that Marketplace is shilling for Monsanto, but the BS you're touting doesn't hold up to scientific scrutiny at all.
http://www.srfood.org/images/stories/pdf/officialreports/20110308_a-hrc-...
The truth is, the only agricultural practice proven to sustainably increase crop yields while improving the soil's water-holding capacity is organic.
Please stop spreading Monsanto's lies through your advertising and reporting.
It saddens me as a new, young organic farmer that fear and misinformation would lead people to support and promote use of pesticides and genetically modified foods rather than a more natural based and community based food system.
The arguments made against organic agriculture as a plausible way to feed the world are false. There has been much research around this question and it has proven that organic agriculture does in fact produce MORE food per acre than agriculture utilizing synthetic, fossil fuel based fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. The University of Michigan released one such study years ago. You can find it at: http://ns.umich.edu/htdocs/releases/story.php?id=5936.
Of course, organic may not be able to feed the world if less than 2% of our population choose to grow food. Perhaps this was an assumption made by the advocates in this story. If we only want a nominal part of the world population growing food--we will need to resort to GM technology we don't understand and whatever synthetic inputs we can put our hands on before they inevitably disappear. And we will have new and larger problems with a population unchecked by available food supply.
Thank you for doing what you do! My family (5 of us) eat primarily organic, buying from a local farmer for veggies as well as dairy and some meats. I am thankful for farmers, like you, who choose to do what is RIGHT for humanity and the environment instead of choosing what may sometimes be EASY and initially more PROFITABLE, but BAD for our adult bodies, and especially the little bodies of our children. Who knows what actually contributes to the rise in Autism and Autistic Spectrum Disorders, but how long has that been on the rise, and how long have we been using GM foods and increasing the use of pesticides???????
What is the "sustainability" of toxic chemicals, patented seeds and industrial farming when it impacts the earth, the consumer and the food negatively.
There is a reason we have such a high cancer rate here in the states - Organic farming should be encouraged and further developed. What is really in your food?
The new pesticide recently approved for strawberries in California because the last one was making workers sick deserves a mention. Last year California approved methyl iodide, a known neurotoxin. Is that really the strawberry I want to feed my family just to save a dollar at the store? NO THANK YOU. I would rather NOT eat a strawberry!
It is a shame people have to pay more to avoid poison on their food.
First, I dont think organic is that much more expensive except in prepared or baked foods like graham crackers. Broccoli for example not only cooks in five minutes but maybe costs .10 cents more. Same for bananas and sweet potatoes, onions and white potatoes. Okay so strawberries and rasberries are much more, maybe buy those local.Wild blueberries are an option. Local eggs if hens have not been eating GMO grain. I know people who work full time want quick easy to prepare dinners, if you make a chili you can eat it for several days. All very cheap. Plant a garden!
Second, I forgot to mention the first time I wrote about this disturbing article that panders to Monsanto and the rest of for profit big ag corporations,I forgot to mention that American non organic sugar beets, soy, corn, dairy (mostly) all are genetically modified and the people who eat them are the guinea pigs.
I purchase both locally grown fruits and vegetables and locally grown Organic Foods. In some cases it is just too costly for me to purchase organic, a lot of variabIes here in this. I find organic to be more expensive, but so is health care if I am not treating my body to natural, simple, non-chemical food. I feel more confident, in my own little world - to eat better food, mostly vegetables, grains, and Organic milk, etc. I can taste the difference in organic milk. Maybe it's me. I am not able to delve into an explanation of the possible dangers of altering seeds and making the plants grown from it compatible with certain fertilizers. Perhaps it does help the overpopulated world to genetically alter food. But there is and will be a price for changing the map of nature.
If organic is natural, and the animals are living better (dairy cows, goats, etc.) then the food is better. It is simply a fact that this is better for my body, and thus my brain and happiness. I can make a difference, for me.
Your shilling for the ag business didn't go unnoticed. This was a very biased, poorly researched broadcast. There is a large body of research showing that organic farming is more productive than the Ag business model, which is an extension of industrial methods of exploiting resources, labor, and environment--which is not sustainable. You have probably lost this listener permanently.
I purchase organic produce and meats almost entirely. Organic products and locally grown/raised products are much easier on the environment and so much healthier for us. Do you think it's some strange coincidence that cancer, diabetes and heart disease became such a huge phenomenon after the "food industrial revolution". We were not meant to consume all the garbage that is in our modern world of convenience. I think it's horrible what big companies that patent their seeds are doing to farmers. I know that many agree; there should not be a right to patent food, this only allows for a future monopolization of a basic human right-to grow food.
I buy organic. Both for my personal and family health but also for the health of the planet.
Even if the foods aren't part of the dirty dozen - or whatever it is - I feel that by supporting organic agriculture I am supporting a sustainable future that is free of pesticides and respects the land where agriculture is produced.
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