Organic Food

Chances are that within the last month, you have purchased at least one organic food item from the grocery store or consumed an organic beverage such as juice, tea or coffee from a café or restaurant. Several years ago, the average person would have been much less likely to purchase organic foods, in part because such items were harder to find and often not as fresh as the conventional produce surrounding it. Largely due to consumer demand, and subsequent buy-in of major corporations such as Kraft, ConAgra, and General Mills, however, the sector has emerged from the margins and expanded into the mainstream, commanding a market share of approximately $12 billion. Of course, in comparison to the value of the entire $500 billion food industry, organics are still considered a niche market. Nevertheless, with an annual growth of nearly 20% over the last few years in an otherwise stagnant industry, organics continue to generate great interest and investment into sector development.

What is an organic food product?
Organic food and agricultural products differ from conventionally produced goods in the way it is grown, handled, and processed. According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), organic food cannot be produced with the following products or production techniques if it is to be eligible for certification:
- Antibiotics or chemical growth hormones (used in meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products);
- Most conventional pesticides (a few are still allowed);
- Fertilizers made with synthetic ingredients or sewage sludge;
- Bioengineering (or genetic modification); and
- Ionizing radiation.

In addition, farmers producing organic products emphasize the use of renewable resources and the conservation of soil and water to enhance environmental quality for future generations. To qualify as organic, the product must also be produced on land that has been cultivated according to organic standards for at least three years.

Organic labels
Depending on where you live, your government may or may not be regulating the organic market. In countries like Canada, for instance, the market is not federally regulated and organic products need only comply with voluntary standards. In the US and UK, however, the government both creates the standards and approves the certifying bodies before a product (domestic or foreign) gets labeled with the USDA Organic Seal. In fact, the companies that handle or process organic food before it gets to your local supermarket or restaurant must be certified, too.

But is organic food really healthier and better for the environment?
On one hand, proponents of organic food claim that consumption of food produced without toxic chemicals is obviously a good thing for human health and for the environment. First, there are the field workers that might otherwise be exposed to pesticides and experience negative health effects such as skin and respiratory problems, as well as higher rates of cancer and birth defects. Second, there are the consumers of the products. Even small concentrations of pesticides present on conventionally produced food products may have a number of detrimental effects on health over the course of a lifetime. Furthermore, these synthetic pesticides and herbicides can wash off the fields, entering local water systems and affecting wildlife. By way of contrast, advocates of organic production contend that organic production actually improves the land and results in less energy use and waste production compared to conventional systems.

Critics of organic production, on the other hand, argue that the system of production as controlled by large corporations is not as earth friendly as it appears. The problem is with the heavy consumption of fossil fuels required for transportation of goods within the conventional sourcing and distribution structure of industrial agriculture. Is an organic apple shipped thousands of miles from Chile more environmentally friendly than one conventionally produced from your local farmers market? What is more, these products shipped around the world may not even be pesticide free!

Contrary to popular belief, pesticides can be used in organic production but of the hundreds available, there are only a few approved for organic use. However, this does not mean that the approved pesticides are necessarily environmentally friendly and some are even toxic like ryania, Sabadilla, and rotenone. Other non-toxic chemicals can cause different problems such as those including inorganic copper that cannot biodegrade in the soil or those containing copper salts or sulfur that must be applied at high levels or pyrethrin that must be applied frequently. Finally, critics worry that the standards of organic production are becoming progressively weaker to the extent that organic labels may one day be meaningless.

Sources:
USDA Organic Standards. Available http://www.ams.usda.gov/nop
Melanie Warner, “What Is Organic? Powerful Players Want a Say”, New York Times, November 1, 2005.
The Idaho Association of Soil Conservation Districts. 2004. Organic Pest Control: Approved Materials and Practices. 2004. Available http://www.oneplan.org/Crop/OrganicPestCtrl.shtml.

For additional information on organic standards:
Australia: NASAA Organic Standard. Available http://www.nasaa.com.au/steps1.html
Britain: Organic Farmers and Growers Organic Standards. http://www.organicfarmers.uk.com/licensees/controlmanual/index.php
United States: NOP Program Standards. http://www.ams.usda.gov/nop/NOP/standards.html