I think it’s time to add the “Farmer” into this blog! This topic has been an interest of mine for quite some time now. I’ve often wondered why people spend the extra money on organic food and products. Is it healthier? Is it better for the environment? Is it just a ‘”buzz” topic? So I posed the same question on my Twitter and Facebook accounts last week and here are some of your responses:
And my blog’s Facebook page discussion:
I have to point out that I’m not here to say “organic is bad” or “organic is good”…it really doesn’t matter to me what you choose to buy, but I just wanted to educate myself…and share it with you! In all honesty, this falls along with my husband’s line of work and he knows the science behind organic vs. conventional food growing and we talk about this stuff all the time.
I asked my friend Lyndsey of RealAgriculture for her thoughts on this subject and here’s what she has to say:
“I believe conventionally grown and produced foods are safe — including those that may contain GMOs. I believe GMOs are safe, but if you disagree, it’s important to remember that nearly all unprocessed food is GMO free — stay away from bad-for-you processed food (as you should anyway) and ta da! You’ve avoided GMOs. (they are found only in corn, soy, canola, sugar beet, cotton, NOT in produce). It is false to say that GMOs are in all our food.
A few key points about organics: over 75% of organic food found in Canada does not come from Canada. There are 2 things to consider:
a) Is the country producing the food really producing it organically? Organic food brought into Canada is only randomly tested and only has to meet current maximum residue limits (MRLs) for substances. This means that organic food can have the exact same levels of pesticides and stilled be labeled organic. That said, our food is safe and MRLs must be maintained for ALL food (local or internationally produced, organic or conventional)
b) Is it better to support local vs. organic? Is organic better for the environment if your cucumbers or tomatoes traveled thousands of miles to reach you? Think of the overall environmental footprint, not just whether or not synthetic fertilizer was used, please.
Organic food is NOT more healthy — that has been proven. You may perceive a taste benefit, but it is nutritionally equivalent.
Organic production still uses fertilizer and even insecticides, they’re just different. What’s more, organic production often makes use of manure (a good thing!) but improperly composted or raw manure is a key cause of food contamination. Plus, tillage is used more frequently in organic production — that can be damaging to the soil. There are trade offs for every production practice. Organic is different, not necessarily better.
My biggest pet peeve is about dairy — rBST is used in the U.S. (but actually not that much) but is COMPLETELY ILLEGAL for use in Canada. What’s more, antibiotics are used in dairy cattle (ever had mastitis? You’d want antibiotics, too) but that milk is DUMPED. A dairy farmer who ships milk with antibiotic residues would be fined a value equivalent of the entire truckload of milk. Still not convinced? Visit a dairy farm — those cows are pampered and likely are better fed and cared for than we are, as a happy, resting cow makes more milk. Organic dairy is likely the biggest scam going. Save your money!
I could go on forever….but really more people should:
a) Grow their own food — learn how tough it is and how important it is to feed the soil
b) Buy local — this is far more constructive than demanding “organic” from CHINA (for crying out loud)
c) Get educated — organic is not synonymous with better. Question everything! Don’t assume!”
Thank you for that, Lyndsey! That’s a very important thing to note – is it more important to buy organic or local? For my family, I’d rather buy food that is local and non-organic to decrease my “food miles”. Sometimes we can eat a whole meal with only 1 food mile on it! Veggies from my own garden and beef from our neighbor! For me and my family, I definitely prefer fresh veggies and fruits, and love them from my own garden and we buy lots of fruit when we go to BC every summer. I honestly only buy organic if it’s the only option available (note: the spinach in the above picture!). I have found that certain fruits definitely taste better organic, but on the whole I can’t really tell a difference, especially for the price.
I feel like I have to be really clear here: I am not “anti-organic” food whatsoever. I know a lot of my friends and readers buy organic foods for their families, as evidenced by my social media questions, I just want to challenge you as to why you do buy organic. Did you do your research? Do you know where your organic food is grown and where it is imported from? That’s all!
A a bit about Lyndsey: She’s the editor of RealAgriculture.com, mama to Elliott (1 year) and Hannah (nearly 5). She loves cooking real food, wearing her babies, breastfeeding past a year, working as a doula, and believes very strongly that we need more midwives in this country [Canada]. She also totally love farmers, farming, agronomy, social media, racehorses, and coffee! If you have any questions you can connect with Lyndsey on Twitter and on Facebook or leave her a comment here. She also thinks you’ll enjoy this post on “4 Common Ag Myths and How to Dispel Them“.
Thanks again, Lyndsey! Stay tuned, Friends…another Organic vs. Non-Organic post is coming up from The Farmer next week where we’ll look more into the science of pesticides and how conventional farming differs from organic! I’m also looking for input from an organic growing so that I can get the full picture. If you know anyone please send them my way!
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[…] why not. I got a varied set of responses and asked my friend Lyndsey from RealAgriculture.com do a guest post for me as I knew the majority of my readers (moms of young kids) would be able to relate to her as […]
[…] why not. I got a varied set of responses and asked my friend Lyndsey from RealAgriculture.com do a guest post for me as I knew the majority of my readers (moms of young kids) would be able to relate to her as […]
[…] happy to have the farmer guest posting today! Awhile back my friend Lyndsey gave her perspective on Organic vs. Non-Organic Food and now I wanted Jay to give us […]
Hi Sarah, I found you through Kat @ Living Like the Kings. My husband and I are farmers in NW Kansas. This is an ongoing debate between me and my FB city folk friends. They can't understand why we aren't organic farmers and put us down because of it. I can't get them to understand just because organic farmers don't use the chemicals we use doesn't mean that the consumers aren't eating toxins. I read an article and some of the "natural" organic chemicals are even harsher on people than the ones that we use.
Another point that many don't get is these crops are our pay checks. If we have an infestation of weevils/bores, etc and we can't spray we don't have a crop. Which means NO PAYCHECK!! I don't know about you but we have to have a crop every single year to pay not only our land payments, implement payments, maintenance on equipment, but also our health insurance, heat in our homes and food on our table. So we need to make as much money as possible every harvest. And to accomplish that we have to use chemicals and irrigation. It's just the way it is.
And in all honesty no one really knows if what the organic products in the store are really in fact organic. Sure they can be labeled that way, but unless you grow your own food and know exactly what goes into your food you never really know. Growing up we butchered our own beef, pork and chickens, I was raised on fresh farm eggs and yes those products are better. But it's not because of no antibiotics, it's because all those animals were farm raised on grass. You want to eat animals that have no antibiotics in their system? That's great but then isn't the animal the one to suffer then? Wouldn't you rather eat an animal that was treated well and given the right meds when it was sick?
I could go on and on but I won't.
Hi! I love meeting fellow farm folk from around the world, I'm so glad you made your way over here. In my true, honest opinion, I think that "organic" is simply a buzz term and people automatically think organic=better=healthier. I bet more than 1/2 of the people that spout off "GMO" don't even know what a GMO is. It's not even in our foods up here. Our cattle is fed wheat and barley vs. corn like in the States (for the most part). I 100% agree with you that these pro-organic and anti-conventional people do NOT think of the farmers. Farmers aren't evil people that spray crops with "harsh chemicals" for fun…we do it to protect our crops and to sustain our livelihood!
You're absolutely right – we don't reeeeeeeeeeally know if the organic stuff is really organic. You'll only know for sure if you grow it yourself. Our world could not be sustained on organic farming alone. I just hate how people tweet that all meat is "pumped full of antibiotics". Really? Can you show me a peer reviewed study that says that? Cuz honestly, if I was sick and had an infection…I would want antibiotics too.
Please feel free to go on and on! 🙂
I think it is everyone's personal choice for what they decide to eat. But here is a link to an article I wrote for a website that explains why I choose organic a bit more. http://2ndgreenrevolution.com/2012/10/01/my-argum…
I don't think it is fair to say GMOs are not harmful because I don't feel that enough research has been done. They haven't been around long enough to know if there are impacts on human health. To me that is an issue so I avoid them. It is also not fair to say you can avoid them by eating real food. Bread often contains oil, that oil will most likely be soybean oil or canola oil, both are GMOs unless otherwise stated. Rice is also another big GMO, that I would consider real unprocessed food. Also there is produce that are GMOs we just don't know because labeling is not required yet. Tomatoes are a very common GMO. http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/5-common-genetic…
Sometimes companies do label their food being non-GMO but since it is not required yet, you don't really know.
There are also additives to food that are going to be there no matter what, like ascorbic acid in canned fruits, etc. This is often derived from corn, so unless it says it is organic it is going to be GMO. http://foodbabe.com/2012/09/02/how-to-avoid-genet…
I think this is a great topic to talk about because there is lots of information out there. But you really have to do your own research and come up with your own conclusions. I know organic is not always best. I prefer to buy local when possible hands down. But when I know I am not buying local, I will almost always choose organic over the conventional. I also only try to buy produce and products from North America, I hate buying produce out of season. It isn't efficient to transport and it doesn't taste good.
Sorry for the long comment, maybe I should have just made this a post itself 🙂
I have done a lot of reading about food because it is a very big interest to me, it is what I did my graduate thesis on and what I often write about on 2nd Green Revolution. So for me, organic is the often the best option, but not always.
You would think, but I haven't seen any research on people. I have seen research on rats and that it is more likely to cause tumors. I am wondering if no research has been doen on people because they don't want to see bad results- if that is what happens.
I don't know if it's because they're scared, but here's an article my hubby forwarded to me on the rat study:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2012/09/2…
The more research I've done, it's unethical to test on humans. The 3 trillion meals served over 20 years about sums it up.
Great info. It's always hard to believe what you read so I am all about hearing all viewpoints. I wonder how different it is in the US and Canada, besides the rBST in milk. I am surprised most organic food in Canada doesn't come from Canada. I would assume that is different in the US but honestly I never thought about it. Thanks for making me think. 🙂
Thanks, Jen! I think it\’s so important to educate ourselves as best we can on all our parenting decisions!
Thanks, Sarah! I should also note that I am not, by any means, anti-organic and I'm glad we have the choice. I buy organic apples because they're smaller and thus waste less (waste is also a huge environmental drain!). I encourage mamas to meet real farmers, ask them questions about how they grow their food — knowledge and connecting with the people who grow our food is very important. Cheers!
I love this post, and I so agree with you too! It\’s important to educate ourselves with all of our choices, especially about what we eat!