My mom and her friends often times make a fuss about buying organic food and for the longest time I never gave it thought. I agreed that it tasted good and knew it was healthier for me but never understood why everybody didn’t buy it instead of artificial “food.” That was until I got to college and started shopping for myself and became appalled by prices on organic food. Why would I pay $5 on a small jar of peanut butter when I could pay $2.50 for twice as much?
It turns out there are lots of benefits to paying that extra buck. The food for the most part tastes the same (in my opinion) but studies have show that organic fruits and vegetables have high antioxidant levels. But did you know that purchasing organic foods also bring huge ecological benefits? There have been arguments claiming that there is not enough organic food to feed the world, but this Huffington Post article states that organic plots yielded 30% more than conventional plots. Furthermore, the process of farming organic crops is far more sustainable than conventional agriculture. Both methods need tractors and other equipment that run off of petroleum on conventional farms except 41% of the petroleum goes to nitrogen-based fertilizers which cannot be used in organic farming. The same study also showed that organic produce is cheaper to farm and are twice as profitable as conventional ones.
Take into consideration what we have read in class about a booming population and how much of a problem it will cause in the next years. Feeding the world is definitely one of those problems, especially when oil is necessary to get the farming done. If our population is to rise as Thom Hartmann predicted to 10 billion people by 2030 it will be hard to predict what problem will come first: the oil shortage or the food shortage. If food shortage comes first then it will surely be the conventional farming.
So my question to you all is, if you had the money, why wouldn’t you pay for organic foods?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/06/organic-agriculture-benefits_n_998214.html?ref=sustainability
Yes, and organic farming creates jobs--healthy jobs with sun and community--that is if the growers apply organic principles to their labor practices--which is not always the case. Plus how the Dept of Ag defines organic has changed to include large scale producers and distributors such as WalMart. Sometimes, buying local and at faremrs markets or through CSA is better than buying processed but organic foods.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I cringe as I spend 5-6 dollars on peanut butter but I can always tell the difference :)
I find it extremely interesting that organic food costs almost double commercial food. I personally do not eat a lot of organic food, so I did not know about all the benefits of purchasing and eating organic food. I was unaware that organic foods have higher antioxidant levels than non-organic food. It makes you wonder why large scale corporations do not try to sell or promote more organic foods in their stores. I would have guessed that conventional and organic plots would yield the same amount of food, so I found it shocking that organic plots yield 30% more. This once again takes me back to large grocery markets. If organic plots yield healthier and higher quantities of food, why do we not see more advertising for their products? Organic plots also use less petroleum gas, so doesn’t seem like there should be more organic than conventional plots. The government should take into account all of the benefits of organic farming and give land grants and stipends to farmers who “go organic”. Organic farming will lead to healthier people and a more sustainable environment for our country.
ReplyDeleteI worked for a woman's health blog this summer and had to do some research on organic fruits and vegetables. As much as everyone would like to buy organic and goods with less pesticides but the problem is the price. I would love for my mother to switch to only the farmer's market but unfortunately she is a Costco lover to the end. So when I did this research I found the fruits and vegetables that are the most and least affected by pesticides to compromise with my mom about buying the most important goods organic and the rest at jewel or what not. The foods that are most affected by pesticides are peaches, apples, sweet bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, pears, grapes (imported), spinach, lettuce, and potatoes. The foods that are least affected by pesticides are onions, avocado, sweet corn (frozen), pineapples, mango, asparagus, sweet peas (frozen), kiwi fruit, bananas, cabbage, broccoli and papaya. I think that although we can say that organic is too expensive, we can have a good compromise that can get us to start moving more towards organic but not give up the cheaper food completely.
ReplyDeleteThis post is especially interesting because I too was stunned by the price of organic foods since attending college. And I must laugh because like Jenny, my mom is also a Costco lover. However, she has been purchasing certain organic foods to add to our family's diet. I think that when most people purchase organic foods, they do so because of the health and diet benefits. I did not realize the economic benefits of purchasing organic foods. I also agree with Jenny that ones entire grocery shopping list does not have to be all organic but even a little bit helps and if everyone had that mentality it would go a long way. I believe that the idea of organic foods is catching on more so recently because I have witnessed a lot of my friends buying more organic products.
ReplyDelete-Melissa Worker
I actually prefer the taste of organic foods however there is a number of reasons I find as to why I do not purchase more of them. The number one reasons I can say that I do not purchase organic foods is because I do not know where to go to get them. Most of my life myself or my family has done shopping at the same location and has mostly not bought organic. Therefore, it may sound like a bad excuse,however I would say that most Americans would not even know where to begin if they had to buy organic. On top of that, as was mentioned in another post, now that I am in college I can get alot more for my dollar buy not buying organic than I do buying organic. It is a problem that I would like to turn around but when shopping in the moment, I find I always try to get more for my buck.
ReplyDeleteyour post brought up many great points. I really found the part explaining the cost of oil put into the growing of non-organic produce interesting. today the price of oil is on everyone's mind, we know there will be an and of it as a resource and the use of it to produce food when not necessary seems frivolous. Also the idea that it is being covered over the food we ingest is pretty sickening. I try to buy organic but as mentioned in a few other posts, getting the most for your money is a priority for many if not all. This is especially true as a college student, but I definitely see buying more organically as something in my future.
ReplyDeleteI am thrilled that my parents just started eating organic foods. As a college student, I lack the money to do so but I look forward to coming home and eating different organic foods. My mom has told me about several new organic foods that I would like to try. I agree with Daniel though in stating that I am not sure where to even buy organic foods on campus. I think that as a Champaign-Urbana community, they should make organic food options more well known.
ReplyDeleteI agree that if I could afford it buying organic is the way to go. I often times try to buy organic (or at least as much as I can) but it becomes too difficult living in a college town on a college budget. The fuels foods give off from having to be transported is absurd though and I wish there was something that could be done about it, like promoting buying organic but this is hard to do. In order to promote it the prices would have to go down. I hope that one day I can afford to buy more organic and locally grown food in order to help the environment and to eat better.
ReplyDeleteAlthough we all know that it's expensive to eat organically, the benefits are really so worth it that I really try to stay away from processed foods. While I was living in Italy, almost all of the food I ate was organic and grown within a few km of my town, and I honestly felt healthier as my stay increased. Coming back to the states, I had serious culture shock at walmart and seeing all of the foods with preservatives. It was unheard of to have food in your house last longer than a week in Italy because they really don't use preservatives. I think we should try to move towards that culture.
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