Green Sin: Never Buy Organic Food
May 28, 2008 by Peggy
Never buying organic food probably isn’t one of the 7 Deadly Green Sins, but it’s an important one. And it’s something we talk about a lot at Tree Hugging Family.
Ease into organic. If you never buy organic food, try adding at least one organic item per shopping trip. I’ve noticed that many popular brands are starting to go organic, so it’s not something just confined to the health food store or produce section anymore. For instance, you even find Kraft organic Macaroni & Cheese!
I understand how challenging it is to spend more on organic products, but if you build up to it slowly and avoid as many convenience foods as possible, you can do it without totally breaking your food budget. You may also find that if you seriously dedicate yourself to eating out less, you’ll have more cash to spend on groceries.
But why is organic food important?
•You can reduce health risks associated with exposure to pesticide residue.
•If demand for organic food increases, more farmers will convert to organic farming, which has been shown to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions when compared to conventional farming.
•Pesticides used in conventional farming contaminate groundwater and negatively affect beneficial insects like bees.
•According to a 15-year study, organic farming uses 50% less energy than conventional farming.
•Conventional farming is hard on wildlife. For example, nearly 70 million birds die from pesticide exposure each year in the US.
Keep going after the jump to see a round-up of posts about organic food at Tree Hugging Family, including “Best Foods to Buy Organic.”
11 Ways to Save Money on Organic Food
How What You Eat Affects the Environment
What’s Missing from the 12 Items You Should Always Buy Green List?
Tree Hugging Website Spotlight: Organic Guide
Planning an Organic or Vegetarian Wedding Menu?
Why Choose Organic Cotton Clothing
If you haven’t taken our green sins poll in the sidebar, please do before it’s taken down this week! Also, visit soon for a round-up of green sin posts and a look at the poll results.
Image via USDA.
Peggy- one of the most important reasons to go organic is genetically modified foods, in my opinion. You would be amazed at how much GMOs you ingest on a regular basis. Food companies are not required to indicate genetically modified foods. FOr example, nearly all non-organic cake mixes are GMO because nearly all non-organic canola oil is! Even baby formula is full of GMOs even though they have not been proven safe. I wrote an article on this, it is an important issue, so I hope you and Jennifer will forgive the shameless self promotion:
http://hubpages.com/hub/Genetically-Modified-Foods
I’m not paying more to go organic.
Sorry. I just can’t afford it. There is no reason for organic to cost more than the other food you buy. It costs less to grow organic. Of course someone will come along and say I’m wrong, but on this, I can say I am NOT.
I grew up farming and a shovel full of cow poop cost us nothing. A bag full of fertilizer cost our neighbors more than our shovel of crap.
I’ll buy from local farmers, put money into a co-op and come off cheaper than the junk labeled organic in the grocery store. Not all things labeled organic truly are, anyway. And my local farmers aren’t ripping me off.
Julie, farmers do have to pay to become certified organic — it’s a process. However, a farmer can follow all the rules of organic and not become certified and be able to charge a little less. You might find some farmers like this at the market.
Organic farmers also have to weed by hand. Labor costs a lot! Plus, manure on a large scale can be expensive since not many people have enough cows around. Some farmers use fish oil instead.
Here’s an article that gives a few reasons organic may cost more:
http://www.enn.com/top_stories/article/13887
Another thing to keep in mind — it’s not always that much more expensive. Sometimes the organic goes on sale too.
I think that the prices on organic will go down as the demand increases. That’s my opinion though and I could be wrong!
Marye,
I need to read up on GMOs. Thanks for the link. I heard that term so much when I was proofreading for a farm company, but I’m still fuzzy on whether it’s been proven that GMO is bad for you. It’s not natural, obviously.
Peggy, that’s why I prefer locals. I know about hand weeding, my grandmother swore I was too young to have backaches, but she was wrong!
Here in New York (at least my little nook) it is hard to find organics cheap. I just can’t afford it.
As for labor, it isn’t as expensive as many would have you believe, at least not back in the south it wasn’t. Migrant workers from Mexico were lucky to earn near minimum wage and that was on tobacco farms. These tobacco farmers had huge houses, tons of land, fancy cars and such, but took advantage of these workers.
Other areas could be different, though. You just sortof go by what you grew up with when you compare things.
Julie, I grew up on a farm in the South. My parents still farm as their only source of income and they sell at the local farmer’s market.
So, I agree that buying local is best. The big factory farms are putting small farms out of business since they can’t compete.
As far as price of labor, that isn’t the issue as much as just finding someone willing do to field work! It’s difficult and out in the full sun. If you go through legal programs to bring workers from Mexico, you must house them, provide transportation for them, and pay them much more than minimum wage. My parent’s did that one year, but it didn’t work out that well. Turns out, it’s hotter in the South than parts of Mexico! I think now they hire teenagers, not sure.
They are trying the organic route this year, so I can ask them at the end of the year if it did cost more.
Eh, I don’t think these guys were legal. I know the roofers weren’t. I can’t blame them for coming here to work and get money to take care of their families, though. I can find out if they’re truly legal by checking with my stepdad, he doesn’t farm tobacco now, but most of his neighbors do.
I’ve been trying to talk him into using manure instead of chemicals. It’s hard to get some to change.
well…WOW!~ I must say I am surprised….for a website that seems to “know it all” when it comes to green, you’ve failed to mention that more than 80% of ecoli cases come from people eating “organic” foods…why, because when you spread enough manure on crops (enough to compete with such a small insignificant amount of chemical) you are also spreading ecoli. And it isn’t, only because they yeild so much less than a “chemical” crop…but you have to weigh out what your paying for, do you know how much of the chemical stays on the crop? Nearly everything washes off with in the first rain! And as far as GMO’s go…hmm thanks to Golden Rise, millions of children in third world countries could actually eat and keep their sight, but green peace and other ‘do nothing’ uneducated organizations are trying to block those shipments…because they are GMO…are you kidding me?? These kids are starving and nearly half a million kids every year go blind due to lack of vitamin A…which golden rice provides. There is NOTHING harmful in GMO…it is just simply a way of speeding up nature. Would you believe that once upon a time carrots were white or purple? Orange-coloured carrots are the product of a mutation selected by a Dutch horticulturist a few hundred years ago because it was the colour of the Dutch Royal House of Orange-Nassau! I wonder if you use a crank phone or a cell? My personal opinion is that “organic” is a scam…the vegitables are not any healthier, they contain no more vitamins, and if you wash you good old cheap 89 cent bag of carrots you are as well off, and a dollar richer!!
You’ll have to excuse me know, I have to go buy a new bathing suit, thanks to this whole global warming thing!~
PS I have some barely used carbon credits (only used on sundays and every forth tuesday) to sell you if your interested!
Courtney, Just where are you getting your info? Please show me a reputable source for your 80% stat.
And please don’t think that “everything washes off with in the first rain”! That’s very naive. Chemicals don’t just disappear. They continue to affect ecosystems.
Also, I never claimed that organic foods contain more vitamins. There are certain foods you need to buy organic, like lettuce. You can’t peel lettuce and you’re being exposed to chemicals if you eat conventionally grown lettuce.
As you may know, I’m not currently blogging here, but I couldn’t ignore your mean-spirited comment.