Why Go Organic?

What is organic food: How can it benefit me?

When a fruit or vegetable is described as organic, that means that it’s been grown and processed without artificial ingredients, preservatives, or irradiation (sounds scary, but it’s actually a safety precaution and just means your food has been treated with ionizing radiation to help kill germs). With organic foods, everything from additives like hormones, pesticides and antibiotics to the type of soil in which the product is grown is regulated. Growers and producers of organic foods are inspected and certified to ensure that the product that reaches you is truly organic. So keep an eye out for the Organic sticker on your produce.

Eat your fruits and vegetables! The health benefits of a diet rich in fruits and vegetables out weighs the risk of pesticide exposure. Use Hope Farm Organics guide to reduce your exposures as much as possible, by eating organically grown produce.

You can lower your pesticide intake substantially by avoiding the 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables and eating organically grown produce.

The Dirty Dozen – highest in pesticides

Apples
Celery
Strawberries
Peaches
Spinach
Nectarines – Imported
Grapes – imported
Sweet bell peppers
Potatoes
Blueberries – domestic
Lettuce
Kale/collard greens

Consumers are paying too much for organic food?

This debate has grown since the days of comparing the price of an organic apple for a conventional apple. It seems that the ‘value’ of organic produce goes beyond its price tag.

Nutritionally and in relation to organic vegetables safety: In terms of dry weight and nutrients, organic food tends to have more in it. Why? Produce grown organically through modern methods of small organic farming must be done in enriched soil. The growth of a plant can be sped up by agrochemicals changing its structure to have more water in it. As a result, non-organic produce can sometimes shrink more on cooking as the water content dissipates.

Price: Average price difference can range from 10-20 per cent between organic and non-organic. However given that it can contain up to 26 percent more dry matter (less water) could it actually be cheaper to buy organic?

Conclusion: It may still look like an apple but you are actually buying less food if you don’t buy organic.

Organic Beliefs and Ideas

•  The average non-organic fruit contains more than 20 pesticides

•  Organic food producers must meet stringent standards

•  Organic food is much more rich in vitamins, minerals and fibre and retains the levels of nutrients for much longer

•  Your body will be more resistant to disease as it will have higher levels of the essential nutrients it needs to fight off infection

•  You will have more energy through consuming lower levels of toxins and chemicals that slow your body down

•  Organic farms respect our water resources and do not leach nitrogens and other pollutants from their soil

•  Organic food just tastes so much better!

Top reasons to buy organic

Protect Future Generations
“We have not inherited the Earth from our fathers, we are borrowing it from our children” — Lester Brown.
The average child receives four times more exposure than an adult to at least eight widely used cancer-causing pesticides in food. The food choices you make now will impact your child’s health in the future. Protect future generations – buy organic food.

Prevent Soil Erosion
The Soil Conservation service estimated that more than 3 billion tons of topsoil are eroded from croplands each year. This means that it is being built up naturally. Soil is the foundation of the food chain in organic farming. But in some conventional farming the soil is used more as a medium for holding plants in a vertical position so they can be chemically fertilized. Prevent soil erosion – buy organic food.

Protect Water Quality
Water makes up two-thirds of our body mass and covers three-fourths of the planet. Despite its importance, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimated pesticides and some cancer causing agents contaminate the ground water. This pollutes the primary source of drinking water for more than half the country’s population. Protect water quality – buy organic food.

Save Energy
Farms have changed drastically in the last three generations, from family-based small businesses dependent on human energy to large-scale factory farms highly dependent on fossil fuels. Modern farming uses more petroleum than any other single industry, consuming12 percent of the county’s total energy supply. More energy is now used to produce fertilizers than to till, cultivate and harvest all the crops in the UK. Organic farming is still mainly based on labour intensive practices such as weeding by hand and using green manures and crop covers rather than synthetic fertilizers to build up soil. Organic produce also tends to travel fewer miles from field to table. Save energy – buy organic food.

Keep Chemicals Off Your Plate
Many pesticides approved for use by the EA were registered long before extensive research linking these chemicals to cancer and other diseases had been established. Now the EA considers that 60 percent of all herbicides. 90 percent of all fungicides and 30 percent of all insecticides are carcinogenic. The bottom line is that pesticides are poisons designed to kill living organisms and can also be harmful to humans. In addition to cancer, pesticides are implicated in birth defects, nerve damage and genetic mutations. Keep chemicals off your plate – buy organic food.

 Support a True Economy
Although organic foods might seem more expensive than conventional foods; conventional food prices do not reflect hidden costs borne by tax payers, Other hidden costs include pesticide regulation and testing, hazardous waste disposal and clean-up and environmental damage. Support a true economy – buy organic food.

Promote Biodiversity
Mono-cropping is the practice of planting large plots of land with the same crop year after year. While this approach tripled farm production between 1950 and 1970, the lack of natural diversity of plant life has left the soil lacking in natural minerals and nutrients. To replace the nutrients, chemical fertilizers are used, often in increasing amounts. Single crops are also much more susceptible to pests, making farmers more reliant on pesticides. Despite a ten-fold increase in the use of pesticides between 1947 and 1974, crop losses due to insects have doubled partly because some insects have become genetically resistant to certain pesticides. Promote biodiversity – buy organic food.

Better Flavour
There’s a good reason why many chefs use organic foods in their recipes, they taste better! Organic farming starts with the nourishment of the soil, which eventually leads to the nourishment of the plant and, ultimately, our palates. Taste better flavour – buy organic food.