Organic Foods are Happy Foods
March 28, 2013
If we are what we eat, then wouldn’t it make sense to eat the highest quality, best tasting foods? How about taking it a leap further and eating food that is better for everyone and the world! Organic food is defined as plants and animals that grow without using harsh, man-made chemicals or genetically modified organisms (Valenzuela 21). Farmers use environmentally-friendly practices that use less energy and biological resources to grow the food. Specific farming methods include building the soil, rotating the crops, and naturally avoiding weeds and pests to achieve their results. There are also wonderful nutrition and taste benefits when choosing healthier foods. Organic food benefits the health of the environment and its people, ultimately, because of sound farming practices.
Farming was the very first job man held. For millennia, farmers have used traditional methods that work with the land – not manipulate the land to their liking – to tend crops and livestock. Only in the growing Industrial Revolution did another kind of chemical-intensive method of farming emerge, now labeled “conventional.” By definition, conventional means ordinary. “Conventional” or “corporate-style” farming employs the use of synthetic fertilizers, herbicides, fungicides, pesticides, antibiotics, growth hormones, and genetically modified organisms (GMOs) to make the process of growing food as cheap and quick as possible. This sort of farming is not ordinary. In the early 20th century, in opposition to this emerging style, concerned ecologists from around the world developed an alternative system that promoted healthy soil, plants, and animals. They went back to the natural way it was for “about 6000 years” (Pimentel et al. 573). The use of tried and true methods along with an ever creative spirit is what we now call organic farming. Organic food became wide-spread in the 70’s and 80’s, and is gaining momentum. “Sales grew 9.4% in 2011 to $29.2 billion in the US, up from $26.7 billion in 2010, according to the 2011 Organic Industry Survey by the Organic Trade Association” (Stein 16).
At the basis of healthy food is nitrogen-rich soil. Within that soil is organic matter, helpful bacteria and insects – the more there are, the healthier the foundation. “One teaspoon of compost-rich organic soil hosts 600 million to 1 billion helpful bacteria from 15,000 species. One teaspoon of chemically treated soil can host as few as 100 bacteria” (Meadows 53). Techniques used to build up the soil include composting and planting a cover crop, also called green manure. Clover or legume cover crops serve a triple function by enriching soil with nutrients, keeping soil from eroding, and suppressing weeds. Erosion occurs naturally from rain or wind. Though, conventional farms have more erosion than organic farms because they don’t use green manures. “A 1987 study that compared adjoining organic and chemically treated wheat fields in Washington State found that the organic fields had eight more inches of topsoil than their chemical neighbors and only one-third the erosion loss” (Meadows 53). Another must in organic farming is variety; too much of any one thing is not the greatest idea. “Alternating between crops that deplete the soil of nutrients (such as sweet corn or tomatoes) and soil builders (such as nitrogen-fixing legumes) promotes a healthy balance” (Overton 41). Farming organically takes some work and knowledge of the best methods to be effective.
Natural methods are used to deal with pests and weeds. “Neem leaves keep insects away. Some other techniques of organic farming control pests by using farmer-friendly insects” (“Organic Farming”). Although, forcing the hand of nature can produce bad results. Just as when a patient takes too many cycles of antibiotics and develops resistant bacteria strains that are more harmful, dependence on pesticides weakens the immune system of the plant and has produced pest resistance. Pesticides are dangerous as is, and with growing resistance there will be a need for stronger and more deadly chemicals. Recently, “conventional” farming has considered spraying Agent Orange on crops, a chemical used in the Vietnam War to make leaves fall off trees so soldiers could clear vegetation. “According to the World Health Organization there are an estimated 20,000 accidental deaths worldwide each year from pesticide exposure and poisoning” (Hamer and Anslow 43). Organic practices do not use any herbicides or pesticides and focuses instead on weed-suppression by rotating crops and employing helpful bugs.
Farmers that grow organically are respectful of Mother Nature. They allow seeds to sprout in harmony with one another and are skilled at knowing which plants play well together. This is in contrast to the “corporate-style” of mass producing one crop, which doesn’t support biodiversity. Plants will grow healthier if they have a variety of friends around to support the soil with different kinds of nutrients and attract helpful bugs. There are many plant combinations that aid the growth of each other. For example, Native Americans have grown “Three Sisters,” corn, squash, and beans together for generations. Organic farmers allow nature to take its course by saving seeds. This action ensures a variety of crops will live on for many years to come. In direct opposition, “conventional” farming has made it illegal to save seeds that are manufactured and provided by large agrochemical businesses such as Monsanto. Companies like this have the audacity to patent life. Farmers that grow “conventionally” must purchase their seeds directly from Monsanto, or a similar company which is a profit-driven scheme shunned by organic farmers. This is the wrong way of growing food and is harshly criticized for its lack of ethics.
In terms of energy, organic methods use less fossil fuel to grow food. We live in a world with finite resources, which means when our minerals, oil, gas, and even water (if destroyed by toxic chemicals) are used up, they are gone for good. The “corporate-style” agriculture industry uses massive amounts of these resources for transporting food across the country, operating heavy farming machinery, and mechanically processing synthetic fertilizers and pest-killers (“Energy”). It is well known that a lot of produce that populate our supermarkets in the US travel from California. “Trucking 21,400 metric tons (24,000 t) of broccoli from California to New York each year uses 3.8 million liters (1 million gal) of gasoline” (“Energy”). By voting with our dollar, we can help demand the type of world we want to live in. Buying organic, locally grown food or growing vegetable gardens and fruit trees is a conscious way of doing just that. Doesn’t it make sense to use fewer resources to achieve even tastier and healthier results? Looking at meticulous studies done encompassing all the energy it takes to grow, process, package, prepare, and transport food, organic methods “would lead to an approximate 50 percent reduction of energy inputs in agricultural production” (— 92). This fact poses a question. Could organic farming be one solution to climate change?
Organic farming does emit less greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than “conventional” farming. The main principle that organic farmers live by is as follows, nourishing the soil will, in turn, nourish the food. This caring attitude has its benefits for the climate as well. Carbon is stored, rather than released into the air, in soil that is established with deeper roots and nutrient-rich organic matter. Rushing the growth process with artificial means such as an oil-based fertilizer and spraying chemicals kills the soil. This act of stripping the soil by process of chemical death readily releases carbon into the atmosphere, aiding in global warming. “Research by the Rodale Institute shows that if the US were to convert all its corn and soybean fields to organic methods, the amount of carbon that could be stored in the soil would equal 73 per cent of the country’s Kyoto targets for CO2 reduction” (Hamer and Anslow 43). Yet, an even worse greenhouse gas offender is produced by using synthetic fertilizers – nitrous oxide – which is destroying the ozone layer at rates about 320 times greater than CO2! The ozone layer is already lacking an area the size of North America over the Antarctic, so we must take the necessary steps to ensure it does not become any larger and mend it if we still can. Seeing as how organic farming doesn’t use dangerous, synthetic fertilizers, that is a step in the right direction.
Also, organic farming uses less water to grow food. Water usage and pollution is a serious issue in the agricultural business, which takes up the most H2O of any commerce world-wide. Agriculture accounts for a shocking “72 per cent of all global freshwater” for irrigation and livestock (Hamer and Anslow 43). This is an extremely wasteful use of resources at a time when there are water shortages, severe droughts, and fear of a not-so-distant war over H2O. Anytime crops are grown in arid climates, there is an obvious need for irrigation which require vast quantities of water and fossil energy for “pumping and applying the irrigation water” (— 92). Luckily, there is a better way. Organic farming practices use less water because the healthy soil is able to hold more moisture. A higher percentage of soil organic matter helps to keep soil and water resources intact (Pimentel et al. 573). The amount of organic matter in “conventional” soil is 3 to 4 percent, while the amount for organically-tended soil is 5 to 6 percent. “Organic corn and soybeans with levels of soil organic matter of nearly 6 percent, had corn yields 33 percent higher than those of conventional corn, and soybean yields 50 percent higher than those of conventional soybeans” (— 92). Crops that are grown organically also have higher yields in droughts than “conventional” farms.
Beside less water usage, organic practices do not produce polluted water run-off. When harmful chemicals are added to the mix, as in “corporate-style” farming, the soil begins to die, erode, and polluted water run-off infiltrates groundwater and surface water. This is caused by synthetic fertilizer, herbicide, fungicide, and pesticide contamination. A large-scale example of surface water pollution is the “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico. It had been determined by Dr. Nancy Rabalais, who traced the source of destruction, that “basins draining agricultural land in the Midwest” are causing the hypoxic conditions (Sisk 27). That agricultural land is also known as America’s “Corn Belt.” The pollution has caused “fish kills due to oxygen depletion; loss of important and sensitive coastal habitats, such as seagrasses; excessive and sometimes toxic algal blooms; changes in marine biodiversity; increases in incidents of human illness; and reduction in tourism” (Sisk 27). Groundwater that people depend upon for drinking can also be contaminated by these agrochemicals. “Nitrate from fertilizer is one of the most common contaminants in drinking water” (Meadows 53). Organic farming, on the bright side, does not use these synthetic chemicals which kills the soil and produces polluted water run-off. In Germany, “Munich pays farmers in the watershed that supplies its municipal water to farm organically. It is cheaper for the city to pay farmers to use sustainable organic practices than it is to build a treatment plant to take agricultural chemicals out of its drinking water” (Meadows 53).
Organic foods are void of the man-made chemicals used to kill organisms on a small scale. As biologist, Jonas Salk said “If all insects were to disappear from the earth, within 50 years all life on Earth would end.” Because all life on Earth is connected, spraying toxins that kill weeds and bugs has health impacts for humans as well. Let us not forget that drenching the land with poisons, as “corporate-style” farms do, is taken up by the crops we eat. A study done by scientists in 2006 shows a direct link between the diets of children and levels of pesticides in their bodies. The scientists took samples of urine before and after introducing organic foods into the children’s conventional diets. The results found, “specific metabolites for malathion and chlorpyrifos decreased to the nondetect levels immediately after the introduction of organic diets and remained nondetectable until the conventional diets were reintroduced” (Lu et al. 260). Malathion and chlorpyrifos are toxic insecticides. They concluded, “An organic diet provides a dramatic and immediate protective effect against exposures to organophosphorus pesticides that are commonly used in agricultural production” (Lu et al. 260). Besides pesticides, the human population has another worry in the form of genetically modified organisms. GMO corn variations are proven to be, not only less nutritious, but outright harmful by containing chemical poisons, formaldehyde, and glyphosate – the main ingredient in RoundUp. The amounts of these toxins found in the GMO cord exceed what is safe in drinking water by the EPA. Clearly, if we are to defend ourselves and the environment, organic farming is the safer choice.
“Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food.”
-Hippocrates
Hippocrates said, “Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food.” There are major health benefits when switching to organics. “Journal of Complementary Medicine found that organic crops contained higher levels of 21 essential nutrients than their conventionally grown counterparts, including iron, magnesium, phosphorus and vitamin C” (Hamer and Anslow 43). Starting with a healthy soil which contains more trace minerals allows the plant’s immune system to be more vibrant. So, when you bite into an organic fruit, the levels of antioxidants are higher. Hence, organic foods are happy foods. “Milk from organically fed cows has been found to contain higher levels of nutrients in six separate studies, including omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin E, and beta-carotene, all of which can help prevent cancer” (Drinkwater et al. 1109). Another disease preventer can be found in lettuce. And yet again, scientists found organic farming methods were better at providing our bodies with essential nutrients. “Organic management practices increase the chicoric acid content by nearly 2-fold compared to conventional management practices” (Rajashekar 1296). Chicoric acid in lettuce is a formidable force against HIV and AIDS.
If you haven’t noticed, organic foods simply taste better. Have you ever passed by strawberries at the supermarket and took in the aroma? There is a distinct difference between the organic and “conventionally” grown varieties. Common sense prevails, “Consumers realize the food is healthier and better for them if it’s free of pesticides, herbicides or fungicides. They also find it tastes better too.” (Matzek 32). The famous activist/chef of Chez Panisse, Alice Waters, has said “I wasn’t looking for organic farmers at first, I was looking for flavor, and happened to find the farmers as a result.” Consider why heirloom crops are valued for their superiority in taste; they are grown in soil established for generations, which gives them their complex nature.
Good soil = good food. Organic foods are grown with careful consideration, in an environmentally-conscious way that uses less energy, emits less greenhouse gases, and uses less water than conventional methods. Growing food minus toxic chemicals and GMOs results in more flavorful and nutrient-dense goods. Finding certified organics or non-sprayed crops is easy nowadays with nearby Farmers Markets offering fresh goods on a weekly basis and grocery stores expanding their sections to meet the rising demand. Switching to organic foods is all around beneficial for the health of the consumer, farmer, and Mother Nature.
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