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Great Reasons to Eat Organic Food

To maintain health. Organic food is nutritious and safe, because it does not use artificial chemicals, pesticides, fertilizers, antibiotics, GMOs, or other growth-promoting drugs. Children receive four times the exposure that adults do to at least eight widely used cancer-causing pesticides in food. The food choices you make now will impact your child's health in the future. Protect future generations and keep chemicals off your plate.

To protect farm workers' health. A Natural Cancer Institute study found that farmers exposed to herbicides had a six times greater risk of contracting cancer than non-farmers. In California, reported pesticide poisonings among farm workers have risen an average of 14 percent a year since 1973, and doubled between 1975 and 1985. Field workers suffer the highest rates of occupational illness. Farm worker health is also a serious problem in developing nations, where pesticide use can be poorly regulated. An estimated 1 million people are poisoned annually by pesticides. Some pesticides banned from use in the United States are still manufactured here for export to other countries.

To prevent soil erosion. Organic food is environmentally friendly. The Soil Conservation Service estimates that more than three billion tons of topsoil are eroded from United States croplands each year. That means soil is eroding seven times faster than it is built up naturally - the worst soil erosion in history. Soil is the foundation of the food chain in organic farming. But in conventional farming, the soil is seen as nothing more as a medium for holding plants in a vertical position so they can be chemically fertilized.

To save energy. Numerous large-scale factory farms waste a large amount of energy because they are highly dependent on fossil fuels.

The organic food movement places a great emphasis on animal welfare.

There have been no cases of BSE (Mad Cow Disease) in any herd which has been in full organic management since before 1985.

Organic farming relies on a modern and scientific understanding of ecology and soil science, while also depending on traditional methods of crop rotations to ensure fertility and weed and pest control.

For Better Flavor. There's a good reason many chefs use organic foods in their recipes. They taste better. Organic farming starts with the nutrients of the soil, which eventually leads to the nourishment of the plant and ultimately the delight of our palates.

To promote biodiversity. Mono-cropping is the practice of planting large plots of land with the same crop year after year. While this approach tripled farm production between 1950 and 1970, the lack of natural diversity of plant life has drained the soil of its natural minerals and nutrients. To replace the nutrients, chemical fertilizers are used, often in increasing amounts. By contrast, organic farming's crop diversity is more sustainable for the long term, because it both protects soil and promotes a more robust ecosystem.

Source

Organic Times, Spring 1992 Excerpted from an article by Sylvia Tawse Alfalfa's Markets, Boulder, CO