Organic Schmorganic?

After recently seeing the film What’s Organic About Organic?, defining this term is not as easy as I thought. A criticism of the organic label is that it is merely a marketing strategy in the consumer world to make their product seem superior. Also, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has some guidelines that can be open to interpretation and create loopholes for the organic seal. Then there are foods in the mainstream organic market such as organic TV dinners, organic Twinkies, and other organic "junk food" that are incongruous with the “healthy” ideal the term is often associated with. So does this mean we give up on organic products all together? What about local foods that aren’t organic?

There are some clear benefits of eating organic, especially, when it comes to meat and dairy. Organic foods are grown without antibiotics that humans can become resistant to and without growth hormones that can negatively affect our bodies and metabolism. The abuse, mistreatment, and extremely unsanitary conditions of slaughter houses in conventional agriculture are horrifying and will surely change your outlook on meat. In addition to ruining our bodies, conventional agriculture greatly contributes to carbon emissions while organic agriculture can greatly reduce them by utilizing natural sources of energy to grow food.

Besides making your fruit look camera ready and perfectly shaped, pesticides sprayed on these crops were originally used as chemical warfare agents! Even though, they’re diluted, their cumulative effect is toxic and many farmers have died from overexposure. Washing your fruit with simple water is not going to cut it either, as they’re made to resist even harsh rain water. Even peeling the fruit is not a guarantee as they can seep into thin skinned fruits and vegetables.

Though shopping at the farmers’ market is environmentally friendly by reducing carbon emissions from foods that are otherwise flown from across the world, they do not always practice organic methods. Some farmers, however, cannot afford the organic label, but practice their farming in an equal, if not superior way to large farms that can afford the organic certification. Supporting local farmers is supporting food security as we will have to rely less and less on imports. In the event of food contamination, eating locally makes it easier to trace the source. Local farmers have an extremely hard time competing with cheap conventional products in the grocery stores and rely on selling their crops directly to live.

If you want the best of both worlds, ideally, you can ask the farmers at the market if they practice organic agriculture, but you will have to take their word for it if they are not formally certified. Whether you buy organic or local, even if it’s just one item, it’s surely more advantageous than conventional foods. The conventional food may cost less, but consider the hidden cost of your health, the cost of the underpaid workers, and the cost of our environment.

If you haven’t seen Food Inc. or What’s Organic About Organic? I encourage you to do so and see for yourself. I know it’s easier to look the other way and pretend our food isn’t tainted, when at the end of the day, we’re all just dollar signs to these huge, conventional food manufacturers.