Organic Food - Costs More - Better For You?

In our last post, we examined the declining nutritional value of the fruits and vegetables you find on the market shelves.  How a variety of factors, including the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, has led to modern produce that is anywhere from 5% to 40% less nutritious than the fruits and veggies grown thirty or so years ago.

What about fruits and veggies grown using organic farming techniques?  Are they more nutritious than the produce being grown using  conventional modern farming practices?  If so, is that difference worth the higher price tag typically attached to organic fruits and vegetables?

These days when you shop at your local grocer for produce, you have aisles of apples, carrots, broccoli, and other fruits and veggies.  Then you have that one section, typically small, labeled ‘Organic’ where you find carrots, broccoli, and tomatoes that look pretty much the same as their non-organic counterparts.

But they do cost more.

So, what’s the difference between organic and standard fruits and vegetables?

It all comes down to farming techniques.  The term ‘organic’ refers to the way farmers cultivate and process their agricultural products, including grains, meat, dairy, and fruits and vegetables.

Some key differences between conventional and organic farming include:

Fertilizers

Conventional farming utilizes chemical fertilizers to promote growth.  Organic is all about natural fertilization utilizing manure, compost, and other natural byproducts.

Pest Control

Conventional farmers use chemically based insecticides to control pests and disease.  Organic techniques avoid chemicals and rely on varmint traps and pest mating cycle disruption to manage destructive pests.

Weed Management

Conventional farming utilizes - you got it - chemical herbicides to control pesky weeds.  Organic farmers use crop rotation, mulch, and spending alot of time hand tilling the soil to control weeds.

Can you trust that organic label?

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has established a certification program that requires all organic foods to meet strict standards.  These standards revolve around growing techniques, handling practices, and processing steps.  So, if you see the USDA organic label, you can be pretty sure that apple was grown and processed in a chemical free environment.

But don’t confuse the USDA organic label with other labels you might see, such as “free range”, “hormone-free”, or “all natural”.  These labels may be important to you in choosing the foods you buy, but they are not regulated, or even necessarily accurate.

Okay, chemical free is great, but are organic fruits and vegetables more nutritious than their conventional counterparts?

The use of all natural growing and processing practices may be enough for you to justify the extra cost associated with organic produce.  Why the extra cost?  Because, when you take pesticides, chemical fertilizers, and preservatives out of the process, you end up with plants that require more manual attention and lower crop yields due to disease.  Couple this with the costs associated with obtaining the USDA organic standard, and you begin to see why those identical looking apples and carrots are more expensive.

But more nutritious?  No.  There is currently no authoritative evidence that indicates that organic produce is any more nutritious than the produce grown and processed in conventional environments.  The USDA, while certifying food as organic, makes no claims as to that food being safer or more nutritious.

So, if you are concerned about the use of chemicals on your fruits and vegetables, buy organic.  Do remember that most experts agree that the quantity of pesticides found on produce grown via conventional methods is miniscule and poses little to no health risks.

If you’re concerned about the environment, buy organic.  The chemical free organic growing practices do cut down on the world’s pollution footprint and encourage the replenishment of our growing soil.

But if you’re looking to beef up your nutritional intake, save your money and buy conventional fruits and vegetables.  Just eat more of them.

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