Facts About Organic Foods

In the past decade, sales of organic products have shown an annual increase of at least 20%, the fastest growing sector of agriculture.

• October 21, 2002 marked the official debut of the new USDA Organic seal on food. The culmination of a 12-year struggle by organic proponents, the new seal gives huge boosts to organic agriculture, and is a boon to consumers who prefer organic food.

• USDA and agribusiness groups have been trying to emphasize that organic food is no healthier than regular food. But that’s not true in regards to pesticide contamination. When persistent and systemic pesticides are sprayed directly on our food before it is harvested (and sometimes afterwards), it inevitably turns up in our soil, rivers, ground water, on our plates and in our livers.

Benefits of Organically Grown Food

• Organic farming delivers the highest quality, best-tasting food, produced without artificial chemicals or genetic modification, and with respect for animal welfare and the environment, while helping to maintain the landscape and rural communities.

• 100% Organic Certification for a product insures that there are no GMOs (Genetically Modified Foods) in that product.

• Conventional farmers use around 300 different pesticides to grow foods that are sold in supermarkets everyday.

• Not only do conventionally grown foods contain pesticides, they also have added chemicals used in many conventional processed foods.

• Currently about 500 such additives are used in the farming process, some of which have been linked to allergic reactions, headaches, asthma, growth retardation, hyperactivity in children, heart disease and osteoporosis. These food additives include preservatives, sweeteners, colorings, hydrogenated fat, aspartame (artificial sweetener) and monosodium glutamate (MSG).

• Under the New Organic Certification these additives are banned.

• UK Soil Association reported that 50 to 93 percent of pesticide residues remained on potatoes, apples and broccoli after washing.

• A US study in April 2001 quantified for the first time the difference in nutrient levels between organic and conventional food. It reviewed all the available comparative studies on crops produced with organic matter and inorganic fertilizers (41 studies) and found that organic crops had higher average levels of all 21 nutrients analyzed. The results were statistically significant for Vitamin C (27% more), magnesium (29%), iron (21%) and phosphorus (14%).

Cost Differences

• In the United States, it has been calculated that the total environmental and public health costs of pesticide use alone, are about $3-4 billion a year - equivalent to almost $1 in externality costs for every $1 of pesticide sold in the Country. Globally, pesticide externality costs are estimated to be as high as (US) $100-200 billion a year, equivalent to $5-10 for every $1 of pesticides sold.

• The off-site costs of soil erosion in the U.S. have been estimated at up to $20 billion a year, with more than one third of this blamed on agriculture. U.S. cropland loses at least three billion tons of topsoil every year, making agriculture the single largest non-point polluter. Organic food has lower water content and hence more concentrated nutrients: consumers are paying more for pesticide contaminated water in non-organic produce than organically grown produce.

• Organic Farming saves energy. Conventional farming uses more petroleum than any other single industry; consuming 12% of the country’s energy supply.

• A comparison of the full economic performance of organic and conventional farmers in Pennsylvania found that organic practices cut production costs by 25%, eliminated inorganic fertilizer and pesticide use, reduced soil erosion by more than 50%, and increased yields after the (five-year) transition from conventional systems had been completed.

Land, People and Animals

• Support small farms by buying organic ~ most organic farms are small, independently owned and operated. In the past decade the United States has lost 650,000 family farms due to the large scale conventional farms that are taking over. Organic farming is making it possible for the family farm to survive. Down to Earth buys organic produce from local farmers.

• Foods grown with conventional pesticides and fertilizers have a high environmental price hidden in the tax dollars used to clean up water contamination. As part of building healthy soil, organic agriculture uses conservation practices, such as planting cover crops or including buffer zones and wildlife areas. Those costs are an investment in the future.

• Organic Farming benefits everyone, including dairies. Dairies that feed their cows organic feed and graze them on organic fields experience healthier animals, less sickness, less disease, and a better tasting product that is worth more into today’s market than non organic milk (due to falling commodity prices).

• Antibiotic residues in milk result in the development of antibiotic resistance in bacteria that are prevalent in humans. This reduces the effectiveness of antibiotics used to treat human diseases.

• Organic farms support substantially higher levels of wildlife in lowland areas, particularly wildlife groups on the decline. In a three year study of 44 farms by the British Trust for Ornithology, 40% more birds, twice as many butterflies and five times as many wild arable plants were maintained. The study confirmed the organic sector’s observation that organic farming addresses the main causes of the current dramatic decline in farm wildlife as identified by conservationists.

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