Why is organic food so expensive? This is a question I get asked a lot and it’s an important one because many of us are forking over our hard-earned cash in the hope that we’re getting products that are healthier for us – but are they really?
So time for some answers: the main reason why organic food is more expensive is because of the hidden costs. A farmer who wants to switch to organic farming has to follow organic practices (no chemical fertilizers, pesticides, no GMO seeds, no sewage sludge or irradiation,) for 3 years before he can get certification. This means that for 3 years he probably can’t grow much, as he has to to clear his soil of the chemicals. During these fallow years, many farmers plant a ground cover called alfalfa or clover in order to fix nitrogen from the air into the soil – nitrogen being an essential plant nutrient. Expensive labor costs to deal with pest infestations and weeds, coupled with the more expensive non-chemical fertilizers that the farmer may have to use, begins to drive his costs up. Finally, organic farmers get a smaller yield per acre compared to conventional farming methods.
So what’s the pay-off for the farmer? What’s the pay-off for you and me? In a word – HEALTH! Toxic chemicals are removed from the air and the farm’s runoff water and groundwater. You may think- so what -that the farm’s thousands of miles away and that air and water doesn’t really affect me! I believe that everything that we do to the environment comes back to bite us in the butt. The groundwater of that farm that produced your conventional potatoes, may not affect your life today, but it’s important to regard the environment as a whole because our health and the health of the environment are inextricably linked.
Big agribusiness and factory farming provide us with cheap food – way cheaper than it actually should be because of the hidden costs that they’re not talking about. However, how long can we go on poisoning our ground water with this toxic-runoff? Someone has to pay in the end, and that someone will wind up being the consumer.
I believe that it’s a powerful and positive action to vote with our dollars for organic or sustainable farming. It doesn’t always have to be organic either. Many of your local farmers – the guys with small stalls at your farmer’s market, may not be able to afford that costly certification, however, they may be practicing all kinds of sustainable farming methods, in order to bring you pesticide-free food. Ask them or even better, take your kids to visit their farms. Whenever I visit an organic farm, it never ceases to amaze me the backbreaking work of a farmer. They labor from dawn to dusk and on farmer’s market days, get up while it’s still dark to prepare. I certainly don’t work that hard! When I see the whole operation in the cold light of day, I’m so very happy to pay those few extra dollars for a healthier food.
Are organic foods healthier or safer for us and our families? There have been conflicting studies about whether or not organic food has a higher nutritional value than conventional food – but for me, that’s not the point. The concern is that many conventional foods contain pesticide residue. A study was conducted in Seattle, where the blood and urine of a group of children aged 3-11 was tested after eating conventional food and then tested again after they were taken off conventional food and fed just organic food. Their blood and urine was found to contain shockingly high levels of pesticides that could cause brain and behavioral problems. The good news was that after just 36 hours of coming off these contaminated foods, the levels almost completely disappeared.
So it makes sense for all concerned to buy certain organic foods when you can. You don’t need to buy everything organic and watch for bogus labeling like, “made with organic ingredients” – this could mean that a few of the many ingredients in a food are organic and the rest aren’t. Here’s what I suggest:
If you have kids -follow this priority list:
1. Baby food – very important and should be top priority.
2. Meat: beef and chicken – You want to avoid factory-farmed meat at all costs. Look for “Certified Organic” meat. It’ll be much more expensive, but if you cut you meat-eating down to once or twice a week (which would be a very positive action!), you’ll be able to afford better quality.
3. Tomato Ketchup – 75% of tomatoes grown in the U.S. are used in processed foods. Tests have found that organic brands have up to 50% more nutrients.
4. Dairy Products and Eggs – I suggest making sure all your dairy is “rBGH-free” , which means the cows haven’t been given the growth hormone. I recommend making sure your eggs are “Certified Organic” – again more expensive, but we just eat less of them.
5. Grains: wheat, corn and oats – kids eat a lot of breakfast cereal, which has been found to contain a bunch of pesticide residue.
6. Rice and Rice Cereal – Rice crops rely on heavy pesticide use.
7. Peanut Butter – Avoid the fungicide and pesticide residue by buying organic.
8. Potatoes: A daily staple for many – they contain more pesticide than any other veggie
9. Strawberries: These berries are the most heavily contaminated produce item in the U.S.
10: Apples: If you eat a lot of them (apple sauce and juice as well,) it’d be prudent to switch to organic.
Here’s what you need to buy organic in the produce dept:
1. Strawberries
2. Peaches
3. Nectarines
4. Pears.
5. Apples
6. Celery
7. Sweet Bell Peppers
8. Potatoes
9. Spinach
10. Lettuce
About the Author
Sophie Uliano is a passionate environmentalist who has developed an earth-friendly lifestyle that appeals to women who don’t want to compromise their glamour and style. She is the New York Times Best Selling author of “Gorgeously Green”, “The Gorgeously Green Diet,” and the newly released “Do It Gorgeously
.”
Read more amazing tips from Sophie at GorgeouslyGreen.com
The Environmental Working Group has released it’s ranking of the “dirtiest” fruits and vegetables — and by dirty, they mean the most pesticide-laden — and topping the list is America’s favorite fruit: apples. So, what’s a fruit and veggie lover to do? For those appearing on the Dirty Dozen, it’s important to buy them organic. And before you freak out at thought of rising food bills because of the cost of organic produce, the EWG also provided a list of 15 of the “cleanest” fruits and vegetables to choose from — those that you don’t have to buy organic.
Those really annoying little stickers that you have to peel off your apples should be paid attention to, as they have a code on them, which tells you whether or not they are organic or genetically modified. With all the recent business about whether or not we should know if our food is genetically modified or not – hello…OF COURSE we have a right to know!! – it’s useful to at least be able to de-code produce stickers.
My dad always used to be very sniffy when it came to Organic food — “they just throw a bit of dirt on it and jack up the price,” he’d mutter as he tucked into a large pork pie. My dad also says (albeit with a smidge of humor) that vegetables are horribly over-rated and for the most part, extremely unpleasant to eat. Moreover, he’s a chocoholic and in remarkably good health at the tender age of 85!