Myths about Organic Agriculture

Three Most Interesting Points:

1.       Organic farming doesn’t necessarily mean that no pesticides were used in the growing of the food, or that it is more environmentally friendly. I profess myself to be part of the 95% who would, if pressed to give a reason for supporting organic foods, default to saying that they use less pesticides. It was quite interesting to learn that that is not the case. I feel like there’s been some miscommunication and bad marketing about what exactly “organic” means here.

2.       Despite the claims of my mother, organic foods do not inherently taste better. This is a pretty big disappointment for me, seeing that I’ve always maintained that our fruits and vegetables seem to taste bland. I always thought that was because of the pesticides and fertilizers they use in conventional farms, but apparently it’s because of some other reason.

3.       Organic foods are more dangerous than conventionally farmed food because they have higher levels of potential pathogens. There’s an 8% difference in the amount of E. coli between organic and conventional foods, and that’s a pretty marked difference if you happen to the be the one getting sick!

Question: The author really doesn’t seem to think that the organic foods movement is anything worthy of praise, and given the evidence provided, it seems justified, if nothing else. But it does lead one to wonder, after that beat down, what one can actually do in order to support sustainable agriculture and healthy food? There’s a lot of exasperation, but no real solutions proposed.

To Look For: What sorts of pesticides we use, if any.