Mad cow disease. Food and water-related cancers. Food poisoning epidemics.
It's no wonder more and more people are buying organic food these days. Due to environmental and health problems caused by traditional foods, a rapidly growing number of people in the US are turning to organic produce and processed foods. As the "hidden" costs of cheap, industrial farming and food processing are realized, so too is the importance of going "organic." Not long ago, people were classified as "hippies" for eating organic foods. Today, however, you might be classified as a "yuppie" if you can actually afford to buy organic groceries.
Organic food is among the fastest growing sectors of the US economy (20 percent per year since 1990), and is currently a booming $7.8 billion business. Last month, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the first uniform national organic food standards for the US. The standards had been in the works since 1990, when Congress mandated that the USDA set a uniform national standard for organic food. The former Secretary of Agriculture, Dan Glickman in a Jan. 13 Associated Press article, touts them as "the strictest and most comprehensive organic standards in the world." The new federally mandated standards will ease the concerns of some organic fans. "If something is USDA Certified Organic, I have a tendency to trust that product," sophomore Louis Bennett said.
Organic agriculture, as defined by the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), the official advisory board for the USDA on organic food, "is an ecological production management system that promotes and enhances biodiversity, biological cycles, and soil biological activity. It is based on minimal use of off-farm inputs and on-management practices that restore, maintain, and enhance ecological harmony."
Why do people go organic?
With increasing numbers of international food, chemical, and biotech corporations dominating the global agriculture industry, consumers are less confident about the safety of their food. Some are willing to pay a premium for them for what they perceive as safer organic foods."I think that organic foods are somehow healthier, or taste better than non-organic foods. Regardless of whether or not this is true, I do know that they are much more expensive," Bennett said.
Advocates of organic farming claim that conventional factory farming destroys the environment, impoverishes rural communities (due to the predominance of large corporate agricultural businesses), and contaminates the water supply. They also believe that conventional products are contaminated by antibiotics, animal drug residues, chemical additives, and irradiation-derived radiolytic chemical by-products.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), an estimated 911 million pounds of synthetic pesticides are used in conventional agricultural crops throughout the US each year. Furthermore, 71 known carcinogenic pesticides are currently sprayed on food crops today. In 1998, the EPA reported that agriculture is the biggest polluter of America's rivers and streams, contaminating more than 173,000 miles of waterways with chemicals, erosion, and animal waste from livestock production. This water pollution has caused 1,000 deaths each year in the US.
But eliminating fruits and vegetables from your diet presents a far greater risk for cancer and heart disease than do pesticide residues on produce. However, pesticides may pose more of a health risk to children, who weigh less and do not have the proper enzymes to ward off the toxic chemicals.
The hallmark benefit of organic farming is its effect on the environment. Organic products are less likely to pollute or damage air, soil, or water. In organic farming, no synthetic chemicals or toxins are used.
Advocates of conventional farming argue that organic farms use much more land than do conventional farms to produce a similar crop yield. But improved farming techniques and distribution systems are decreasing the amount of land required for crop growth on organic farms.
An additional benefit of organic farming is its use of crop rotation. Organic farmers grow just one crop each season, which helps to conserve the soil's nutrients. The rotation process is also a form of pest control, because a pest that reproduces for one crop may not be interested in next season's crop.
When all is said and done, organic produce has not been proven healthier than its conventional counterparts, but is certainly much better for the environment. The next time you're at your local grocer, reach for a bag of organic carrots and some organic mushrooms to throw in your salad for dinner - it could be the best thing you've done for the environment since recycling.
