What does organic mean? Get the textbook definition, plus 14 facts the organic industry doesn’t want you to know. Use this information to make the best decisions for your family when it comes to buying organic products.
When my daughter was born, Mr. Crumbs and I committed to buying organic milk, chicken, and eggs. Shortly thereafter, we also decided to buy organic produce according to the Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen, as often as the budget allowed.
As the price of food continues to rise, we fight back by evaluating the food we buy. We consider what items we buy, the quality of what we buy, and whether our original decisions still fit into our real food mentality.
For example, we’ve noticed that the price of milk has gone up $1.50 since last year. We’ve been experimenting with dairy-free options, and have even considered forgoing all milk unless it has been cultured into yogurt or kefir. No definitive decision has been made yet, but we’re not sticking our heads in the sand and pretending the issue doesn’t exist.
So when a reader made the comment that she wasn’t going to buy organic produce anymore after doing some research for her own family, I started wondering about our own decision to buy organic produce too… especially since I’ve heard practically nothing but rave reviews about organic foods since day 1.
WHAT IS ORGANIC FOOD?
Why would a fellow real food eater purposely stop buying organic produce? What skeletons did she uncover in her research that I should know about? Were they really so bad that it warranted swearing off buying organic produce entirely?
I decided to do a little digging myself and as it turns out, there’s a plethora of “hidden” information on organic food and the organic industry as a whole. I say “hidden” loosely, because it’s not buried beneath links and PDF files to the point of no return.
It’s just that unless you choose to look, you won’t find anything.
After reading several books and articles and coming across enough little-known facts about organic food to make my head spin, I wasn’t so sure about our commitment to organic food anymore.
These 14 facts I’m sharing today are only a small glimpse into the organic industry – an industry that has grown at a rate that may not be sustainable for the long term.
I’m prefacing these facts with a disclaimer that I’m NOT calling organics bad or good, nor am I calling conventional bad or good. I firmly believe and will continue to encourage every family to make the best decisions that suit their needs.
But I also believe that your decisions should be well-informed.
With that said, here is some background information to set the stage.
WHAT DOES ORGANIC MEAN?
Many people don’t know the true meaning of the word “organic.” Some take it to mean natural, pesticide-free, and local. Others take it to mean certified to the utmost degree.
Here’s what it means to the United States Department of Agriculture, and for our purposes, the REAL definition of organic:
Organic is a labeling term that indicates that the food or other agricultural product has been produced according to the USDA organic standards. These methods integrate cultural, biological, and mechanical practices that foster cycling of resources, promote ecological balance and conserve biodiversity. Synthetic fertilizers, sewage sludge, irradiation and genetic engineering may not be used.
I know that language is somewhat ambiguous, so here are a few highlights to help explain what those “approved methods” include, in plain English:
- That irradiation, sewage sludge, synthetic fertilizers, prohibited pesticides, and genetically modified organisms (GMOs) were not used
- Pesticides, if used, must be derived from natural sources
- These pesticides must be applied using equipment that has not been used to apply any synthetic materials for the past three years
- The land being planted cannot have been treated with synthetic materials for three years either
- Producers met animal health and welfare standards, did not use antibiotics or growth hormones, used 100% organic feed, and provided animals with access to the outdoors.
Note: There is also a chemistry definition of organic, which has to do with chemical structure, where a chemical is considered organic if it has at least one carbon atom. That’s not the definition we are using today.
Another post that you might find helpful is one that I wrote on the labeling of foods in the supermarket. You’ll want to read that one too, if you haven’t already, so you can understand what all the stickers on our produce means.
14 FACTS THE ORGANIC INDUSTRY DOESN’T WANT YOU TO KNOW
I’ve gathered information on things in the organic industry that gives me pause, including pesticides, labeling with the ‘organic seal’, and the quality of the organic food. Use these as a stepping stone in your own research.
(1) Pesticides are allowed in organic production.
Organic advocates often leave the impression that organic farming eliminates the need for pesticides…if that were true, the Organic Materials Review Institute would have no need to list more than 40 pesticides allowed in organic production.
This will come as a big shocker to those who buy organic products to avoid harmful pesticides. It’s true that each one of the 40+ pesticides on the “approved” list is individually reviewed and approved for use, but they’re still pesticides. They’ve been designed to do the same thing as all the other pesticides out there and there’s no guarantee that they’re any safer.
(2) Some “natural” chemicals used in organic farming are carcinogenic.
Until recently, nobody bothered to look at natural chemicals (such as organic pesticides and pest control), because it was assumed that they posed little risk. But when the studies were done…you found that about half of the natural chemicals studied are carcinogenic as well.
The organic industry has always been deemed “safer” than conventional, so very little attention has been given to testing the chemicals used in organic farming to see whether they really are safe. As it turns out, some of the approved chemicals may do just as much harm as some of the “dangerous” chemicals used often in conventional farming.
For families like my own, where we buy USDA organic foods to avoid harmful chemicals, this means that our money spent has essentially been wasted. In fact, we might be doing more harm than good since the “natural” chemicals haven’t been thoroughly tested.
(3) Organic pesticides aren’t always as effective as synthetic and may require more application in order to achieve the same protection.
A recent study compared the effectiveness of a rotenone-pyrethrin mixture versus a synthetic pesticide, imidan. Rotenone and pyrethrin are two common organic pesticides; imidan is considered a “soft” synthetic pesticide (i.e., designed to have a brief lifetime after application, and other traits that minimize unwanted effects). It was found that up to 7 applications of the rotenone-pyrethrin mixture were required to obtain the level of protection provided by 2 applications of imidan.
Building on the fact that many organic pesticides haven’t been tested for safety, now we see that farmers are having to use more because they’re not as effective as the chemicals used in conventional farming.
I’m not sure what’s more dangerous – consuming a larger quantity of chemicals that have NOT been tested for safety, or consuming a lesser quantity of chemicals that HAVE been tested for safety…
LABELING WHAT IS ORGANIC
(4) There are 35 non-synthetic, non-organic substances allowed as ingredients in or on processed foods labeled with the USDA Organic Seal.
When you buy organic food items, how often do you read the ingredients? Do you ever? Or do you just trust the organic label and feel better about what you’re buying?
Carrageenan is an ingredient found in dairy products that serves as an emulsifier, making ingredients creamy. It’s also a substance known so well for causing inflammation that it’s used to test anti-inflammatory drugs.
You’ll find this often in items like coconut milk and almond milk, and you’ll find it in both conventional AND organic ingredients because it’s on the list of approved non-organic substances allowed to be in foods labeled organic.
(5) There are 43 synthetic, non-organic substances allowed as ingredients in or on processed products labeled as organic ingredients
This is similar to point #4, except this time we’re talking about non-natural substances, like cellulose and ethylene.
Cellulose is most often found in packages of shredded cheese, to help keep it from clumping. Cellulose is also the fancy name for wood pulp.
Ethylene can be found as a natural plant hormone, and in nature, it’s what triggers the fruit to ripen. In farming, however, fruits are picked early so that they can be shipped to faraway places without going bad before arrival. Upon arrival, a synthetic variation of ethylene is sprayed on the fruits so that they look ripe on the shelf at the supermarket.
(6) Over 45 non-organically produced ingredients are allowed as ingredients in or on processed products labeled “organic” when the ingredient is not commercially available in organic form.
Basically, an organic food production facility simply has to say that the organic version of such-and-such ingredient isn’t available, and they’re allowed to use the conventional counterpart.
Included in this list is soy lecithin, the leftover sludge waste from processing soybean oil. Cornstarch is also on the list, which is produced from corn…and according to the FDA, 92% of corn is genetically modified. You’ll find these in a lot of processed foods.
(7) Only 95% of a food item is required to be organic in order to be USDA-certified organic.
The other 5% is supposed to come from a list of approved substances, but there are small loopholes that allow things like the casings of sausage to be made from prohibited substances, even if the sausage is marketed as USDA organic.
It’s also worth noting that some of the items allowed to be in organic foodstuffs aren’t even food. One example is the synthetic chemicals used in disinfecting washes. In my opinion, the guidelines are rather loose.
ORGANIC PRODUCTS CERTIFICATION
(8) The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the National Organic Program (NOP) do not certify or inspect companies/foods for certification.
The USDA is the umbrella manager of the NOP.
The NOP creates the policies and regulations for certifying agencies to follow during the certification process.
Neither the USDA nor the NOP have specific responsibilities or hands in the day-to-day operations of the organic certification process. Instead, they are simply the managers overseeing that the organic certification is working as it’s supposed to…in the United States. Neither the USDA nor the NOP have any control or authority over farming methods or food produced in other countries.
(9) The company/brand seeking organic certification pays the accrediting company.
The accrediting company not only offers the original certification but also offers the annual re-certification of being organic.
To put this into perspective, it would be like paying a police officer to help you when they respond to a 911 call…or paying the officer as they patrol the neighborhood…or paying the officer when they arrest you.
While most companies are honest, this arrangement clearly creates a potential conflict of interest. Fraudulent certifications and under-the-table payments for signatures and accreditation can be easily obtained and forged.
(10) Two of the three major organic certifying companies are for-profit. Only one organization is non-profit.
Quality Assurance International (QAI) is the largest certifying company of USDA organic foods, and it is for-profit. California Certified Organic Farmers is also for-profit.
Oregon Tilth was founded as a non-profit company and still is.
Since the certifying companies are businesses seeking to obtain and maintain profit, it should be even more concerning that they’re being paid by the ones they certify.
(11) The actual certification to become organic, and follow-up inspections of companies certified organic, are often outsourced to a third party.
The major organic certifying companies usually do not have offices in faraway places, nor do they have the funds to travel to faraway locations to certify and/or inspect for themselves. As a result, these tasks are often outsourced to another third-party company.
If you’re following along, here’s an example of how far removed the farm can be from your fork:
- USDA/NOP certifies QAI (QAI pays USDA/NOP).
- QAI certifies Muir Glen as an organic tomato processing plant (Muir Glen pays QAI)
- QAI outsources the organic certification of the remote tomato farm to a third party (the tomato farm pays the third party, and the third party pays USDA/NOP)
- Your local grocery store buys organic tomatoes from Muir Glen and has no clue where the tomatoes truly came from (and to be honest, Muir Glen might not know either).
QUALITY OF THE FOOD
(12) Organic foods may be cross-contaminated with conventional versions of the same food.
Both organic and conventional avocados are grown in Mexico. These avocados are likely grown in neighboring fields and processed in the same facility. The risk of cross-contamination between conventional avocados and organic avocados, as well as any other food item, increases with each step away from the farm. The farm itself, shipment to a plant, during processing, during packaging, during shipment, and during the stocking of the shelves are all opportunities for cross-contamination.
Since the NOP doesn’t specify the width between organic fields and conventional fields (they simply state “sufficient to prevent contamination“), conventional and organic foods could grow – and go through the other steps in the food production process – right next door to each other with minimal interference.
Depending on how well each farmer/processor/shipper regards the rules for organic in their own country, the risk could be exponentially far greater. The U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention has a database containing several cases of where organic food items have been contaminated with their conventional counterpart. That database is HERE.
From the consumer’s standpoint, once the bin is full, the avocados will be labeled organic. We can’t really know, because you can’t judge whether an avocado is USDA organic or conventional by looks alone.
(13) Organic foods may be “watered down.”
Say we’re dealing with an almond grower that grows both organic and conventional almonds. The grower ships the harvested almonds to the processing plant, where the nuts are hulled, shelled, and pasteurized.
Conventional almonds may be mixed with organic almonds – intentionally or unintentionally – in order to produce a higher yield of “organic” almonds. While this is against NOP rules, it happens, nonetheless.
The NOP receives about 200 complaints of fraud each year. Harold Chase and his selling of conventional corn as organic corn is one of the recent ones happening in the U.S. You can view a list of other cases investigated and closed by the NOP HERE.
(14) Annual sales of organic food totals about $27 billion each year, yet there are only 27 employees in the NOP.
The NOP has no dealings with the day-to-day operations in the organic industry. In short, they’re responsible for creating the rules and enforcing the rules. They also handle complaints and disputes that arise from breaking the rules. Yet the NOP is severely understaffed to handle these issues.
With only one staff member for every $1 billion in sales each year, the NOP is forced to be a reactive organization, rather than a proactive organization for the organic industry.
Note: The $27 billion figure was as of 2011. Within a couple of years, the organic sales total yielded over $52 billion worldwide.
WHAT DOES ORGANIC MEAN TO YOU?
Since some of the government standards about organic farming listed above aren’t quite what we imagined, an alternative to “organic” labels is food labeled Certified Naturally Grown. They hold most organic porcesses but are peer-reviewed instead of government certified. You can find more about this program here.
Eating real food is truly a journey. Sometimes it feels like it would be easier to just cover our eyes with a blanket and stop asking so many questions. But knowing why we do the things we do is what keeps us on this journey. It helps us to continue making good, smart choices with the food we buy and the money we spend.
Do you buy USDA organic food? Is it to avoid pesticides or pesticide residue? Because it tastes better? Because it’s “healthier?”
Regardless of what you buy, make sure you know why. Understanding the quality of food and its importance to your family is one of the foundational lessons I teach in Grocery Budget Bootcamp. Enrollment is currently closed, but you can join my FREE 5-day Crush Inflation Challenge and start saving money on groceries tomorrow!
We look at food labels and ingredients and see natural, pure, organic, grass-fed, pastured, etc, and it can get very overwhelming to research them all. But digging into those terms and understanding them will help you make the best choices for your family.
WHAT’S YOUR STANCE ON ORGANIC FOODS AND THE ORGANIC INDUSTRY? HOW DOES ORGANIC FOOD FIT INTO YOUR GROCERY BUDGET?
Comments on this post are currently closed. We would like to thank all the readers and small farmers who have left positive feedback and expertise. You helped us correct and clarify a few of our points. If you have any questions or concerns about this post, feel free to email me directly!
I very much agree with the author as this considered every benefit which we can get by consuming organic food. I am also trying to farm organic fruits and chemical free fruits by myself on my land, to keep me and my family happy.
Hi Tiffany,
I’ve been following the comments section for the last week (and your blog for over a year:) ) and am surprised that this post received so much attention. For starters, I’m not sure why the OTA was so quick to respond to your article, if what you wrote about is “common knowledge”… or not that big of a deal. And secondly, their rebuttal to you pretty much confirmed the points you wrote about. They pretty much agreed with you, on most points!
I do appreciate the input that the small farmers have had in the comments section. They’ve definitely clarified a few of the regulations, helping us non-farmers understand how it works. Listening to them, and being willing to edit & change a few of your points in the article, really shows your true character (thank you)! Both sides of the argument seem to be well represented, and I can’t imagine the nightmare it must be to try and moderate this topic 🙂 I know the point of your article wasn’t to discredit organics, but it’s a touchy subject… one that can challenge personal beliefs.
I’m sure you aren’t through with your research. Thank you for sharing with us what you’ve learned, even if it’s not the most popular avenue! Thank you!
God Bless,
Mary Katherine
Thanks for the information. I was wondering if you came across the resource www.safefruitsandveggies.com in your research. It’s a site focused on sharing science-based information about pesticides residues on produce, and details why the dirty dozen list is not reliable.
I applaud your attempts to educate others with your research, but, as pointed out by quite a few very knowledgeable organic food insiders/farmers etc, your article, as written, is misleading (and verging on dishonest in a few spots.) Please edit this! For those looking for real advise, reading your translations of the loopholes does them a disservice. Which, with all of your hard work is something you clearly are Not trying to do 🙂 Clarify your mistakes or delete your post until you have had time to do so? Seems the only responsible thing to do…
Hi Jac,
All of my points have been cited, and we’ve even updated a few points based on the comments left on the post and added additional sources. We believe that the consumers who work hard to afford quality food should know the facts about the labels they trust, no matter how small or how big loopholes in the system may be. We know no system is perfect, and that they’re plenty of trust-worthy organic farmers out there. But we also know many people trust blindly and don’t have time to look into these issues on their own. That’s why I wrote this article.
If you believe one of my points is wrong, or source is incorrect, I welcome you to offer a more updated source!
Tiffany. You just inspired a blog post… To add to the growing collection I’m sure are popping up as a result of reading your article 🙂 Thank you for inspiring me!
I saw Kristy, and a big huge thanks for sharing your support of this topic (and my post) with your readers! I just left a comment over there – it’s a great read, and one of my favorites so far!! 🙂
Isn’t cellulose simply a natural substance found in the cell walls of all plant cells and part of a healthy diet? My mother used to call it roughage but we also call it fibre. Not just wood pulp.
Thankyou to all organic farmers, throughout the world, for tying and giving us options. Being from outside the US some of the comments seemed to imply organic certification unless by US would be substandard. Don’t make such assumptions read about overseas guidance first, it may be equal to or even stricter than your own.
Nicky, while originating from wood, cellulose is processed in order to be used as a filler in wood and our bodies lack the enzymes to properly digest it. It’s not the same as naturally-occurring fiber in foods.
Tiffany,
You are doing an important job for families, we all try to do our best on a budget, all want not to feel guilty and would all want to clearly know: is Organic apple truly better than Non-Organic?
However, as we have seen from your research and all the comments, it gets pretty impossible to tell real quickly. To add more issues to this discussion… 1) Organic certification is of the PROCESS not the product – testing is done by random unannounced sampling. This means the product you are buying was most likely not tested or certified by anyone. The process was, and there are many ways to do that, like you mention. 2) I have seen many items in the Organic produce aisle change from “Certified Organic” to “Organically Grown” – this alone tells me that risks introduced by all the transporters, handlers and supermarkets were too high to continue to label the product as Organic, and probably deemed as a misrepresentation to the consumer. 3) our family will often use other methods… like – does it taste better? I have found some mangoes, strawberries and other produce that was superior in taste so we went for organic while I have seen blemishes from warms on apples that were not certified organic to hint that may be they are naturally grown. 4) packaged/processed food that’s “organic” is likely no better than conventional. Processed = unhealthy most of the time.
[This comment has been edited in order to maintain the positive environment we strive to maintain. While readers are encourage readers to share their opinion, personal attacks or discussions that do not further the mission of Crumbs – which is help people eat real food and live healthier lives, on a real budget – are not tolerated.]
Once again, not trying to be hard or mean, I just like the TRUTH.
Julie – I appreciate you seeking the truth, have enjoyed hearing your viewpoints and always welcome constructive feedback, but much of this comment is encouraging the tit-for-tat arguments that we do not tolerate so I’ve edited your comment. If you believe my sources are incorrect, we can discuss this via email and I will update my post if errors are found.
It’s my mission to provide accurate information to our readers, and as you’ve noticed, I’ve added additional verbiage and links to the original post to further clarify and support our points. If new or updated information regarding our points becomes available (both supporting or contradictory), feel free to email as we’d love to review it and determine if any changes need to be made to our original post.
I didnt intend to be argumentative and I personally dont think i was but, since we dont know each other you cant really read it in “my voice.” So sorry, i can be more careful. I wish you wouldnt delete the whole thing though because i was trying to be thorough. If others think I went too far, I am willing to accept the heat.
Why did you edit Julie’s post? I received it in my email and was able to read it. She simply went through each of the your points and countered anything that she didn’t believe was factual. Probably the most argumentative sentence is the one that you left there. I didn’t find the rest of her comment argumentative at all.
Laura – as the site owner, I reserve the right to edit comments. As I’ve mentioned in other comments, readers are encouraged to share their opinion, but personal attacks or discussions that encourage tit-for-tat arguments are not tolerated. If you have concerns about this policy, I encourage you to email me directly.
You don’t have it quite right with the 95% thing. Yes, a product can be labeled as organic if 95% of the ingredients are organic, but there are many restrictions about what the other 5% can be. Your example of 95% organic oats with 5% conventional oats isn’t correct, because the ingredients allowed in the remaining 5% are allowed only if there is no organic alternative commercially available (salt for example). Furthermore, the remaining 5% cannot be genetically modified ingredients, been produced with antibiotics if animal-based ingredients, and cannot be produced using a long list of prohibited substances. I certainly agree that it’s hard to buy organic food 100% of the time, but there are certain foods where purchasing organic means you are avoiding a huge chemical burden. Presenting inaccurate information in this way is irresponsible. Let people do their own research by reading the national organic standards, http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/NOPPetitionedSubstancesDatabase, and decide for themselves, rather than try to paraphrase the standards inaccurately.
M – I’ve edited that portion of the post to more accurately reflect that fact. My apologies for confusion over the 95/5 rule!
Celeste,
#7 does not refer only to processed foods, although it’s easy to think that. Here’s the verbiage from the NOP:
“A raw or processed agricultural product sold, labeled, or represented as “organic” must contain (by weight or fluid volume, excluding water and salt) not less than 95 percent organically produced raw or processed agricultural products.”
http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=6f623e1de5457587ccdfec12bc34ed1c&rgn=div5&view=text&node=7:3.1.1.9.32&idno=7
In order to keep the site readable, I’ve removed your copy/paste from the NOP and instead provided a link.
Cross-contamination and watering down may not be allowed but it’s happening. I know many of these points may seem wrong from the small farmer’s point of view, but they’re entirely in-line when you look at the organic business as a whole. Again, no finger pointing here. Just stating that the process across the board, and as a whole, isn’t “sainthood” as so many people think it is. I highly recommend reading this book for more insight into organic foods and the issues with the process on global level:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0762790717/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0762790717&linkCode=as2&tag=dontwasthecru-20&linkId=5P5FO4Y5WNIBI7SH
I also never mentioned GMO’s in the original post, and I’d like to keep that topic on the side table since this really wasn’t the intended platform. Rest assure, we’ll cover that in the future too. If you want to discuss any of these topics further, I encourage you to email me directly. 🙂
Hey Celeste, I live in rural Eastern WA too! Ha! I agree the title really didn’t set me up in a good state of mind for reading the article.
Hi Celeste!
Point #7 was previously modified per M’s response, since the oat example, was not appropriate. Additionally, we will be sending an email to the NOP for further clarification on the 95/5 rule, since there is potential for gray area as the consumer. I will update this point if needed.
I understand your stance as a farmer, and this article was not meant to offend you. However, a lot of consumers blindly trust a label, and it’s important that they they learn to think critically. There is a minefield of information available and everyone is going to have a different opinion.
Thank you for all of your input. You have blessed the Crumbs community greatly, and I want to thank you for sharing!
Thanks for the great article.
Another reason to choose organic:
The most widely used herbicide on conventional crops (Roundup/Glyphosate) has just been deemed a probable carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. This is huge news!
Please read this: http://www.forbes.com/sites/henrymiller/2015/03/02/4400/
Thanks for the great read. As a pp said organic is infact non GMO. I have a daughter who was born with a very sensitive allergy to GMO. Even normal table salt will set it off because there is gmo in the iodine used in it. I have been cooking and buying 100% organic everything( even down to the spices in my cupboard) for 3 yrs now (since she’s been born). Now I’m not one to buy prepackaged foods that are labled organic like dinner meals etc, I make everything from scratch. I also read all of my food, buy as much local or usa organic as possible. i do understand though that it’s very time consuming to live this way and very pricy that most people are not in a place where this is possible but when it’s your child’s health like this you look at things differently and find places you can pinch n cut back to make it work. I have 6 kids now, my oldest is 7 and I have seen LOTS of health and skin issues disappear from the diet change so as bad as the pricing is, it is something I have seen a noticeable enough change in my family to bit the bullet. I’m a believer that everyone spends money on what they think is important – thier kids being in name brand clothes, on electronics n phone plans, on memberships to the gym, on home Decore, etc. we are all passionate about something and spend in unnessasary ways. Ours just happens to be in what we consume.
Thanks for sharing Anna!
Thanks for the post/information…..I’d like to know which chemicals can be washed off – and which are absorbed right into the produce…. Is there a website or place that someone could find out things like this. Also I was wondering if any of the organic pesticides are harmful to the BEES…..
Arlene – check out the website called “What’s On My Food”. If I post a link, I’m not sure if my comment will post, but you can find their website in Google. It’s an awesome resource that I use.
Great article. I would also add a #15: organic produce has not been proven to be healthier or safer than conventional. http://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2012/09/little-evidence-of-health-benefits-from-organic-foods-study-finds.html
Thanks Kristine!!
LOL, I think that if you asked 10 people what “organic” and “natural” meant, you’d get 10 different answers!
Hi Samsara! I appreciate you sharing this with your friends with the effort to help them, like you said, so that they’re well-informed. That’s the whole point of the post!! 🙂
This article did everything right except for the title. The conspiratorial “Here’s Some Info They Don’t Want You To Know” thing is often a red flag that what you are about to read is nonsense. It might be good title for clickbait, but it could ultimately undermine your message. Otherwise the article is fantastic. I love that there is an actual list of sources at the end, and the info is spot on. I run into a lot of people who do believe that organic means that they used no pesticides.
Thank you Mark, for both the compliment and the constructive criticism!! 🙂
Thank you for the article! For a long time I purchased only organic/natural/local when possible/etc for my family of four. I’ve really begun looking into the practices of organic farming since it feels more like “Big Business” than ever before. I appreciate your work on this article. My only question comes when GMOs are discussed. Can you point me in the direction of one– just one– peer reviewed, scientifically valid study that shows GMOs are harmful to humans? There’s a lot of hype around GMOs and I’ve found most of it to be inaccurate. Humans have been genetically modifying food/crops since the dawn of agriculture; doing it in a lab is just speeding the process up. If we think we’re going to keep up with food demand as the human population grows through organic farming methods, a lot of people are going to starve. We will *have* to turn to science to provide us with safe, plentiful food. Please consider researching GMOs for a future post. Thank you again!
Thanks Luna! I’ve read a great book on GMO’s, and you can find my recommendation in this post:
https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/2014/06/whats-cheaper-fresh-corn-frozen-corn-canned-corn/
I will definitely consider researching GMO’s for another post!!
I respectfully disagree that the ebook you reference in the blog post is a peer-reviewed source. It appears that Loriel is another layperson/non-scientific source of information. By peer-reviewed source, I mean something that an expert in the field has submitted to an academic journal and other scientists have vetted the process and information. Natural News, EWG, and the Food Babe are not peer-reviewed sources, and neither is Loriel. I respect that you are looking more closely at organics, but information must come from expert, reputable sources.
Totally understand! I haven’t done much research on GMO. One heavy topic at a time 🙂 If you find any good books, please let me know – I know the pickings are slim!
I recommend the book, “The GMO Deception”.
Also, the new book “Altered Genes, Twisted Truth” just came out this week and I’ve only read the foreward so far, but it looks good and very interesting. The foreward is written by Jane Goodall.
You make a good point Elisa, one that my husband and I have discussed too. Organic food is a product of the system, and will only be as good as the system allows. Unfortunately, there are loopholes and some people who don’t follow the system as they should be, and we’re left with the rotten apple.
I wish that just because a business is for profit it wouldnt automatically through it in a catagory with coke and mcdonalds.. everything is for profit because we all have to have money to live. I run a for profit business trying to make a big impact. I sell products to have money to sustain the work i do.. non profit or for profit shouldnt decide whether a company or business is trying to do go or is evil. Im sure this blog is for profit.. in this blog there was a lot of jugment of things we as consumers dont understand and arnt suppose to know.. less cancer causing ingrediants is less cancer .. its wrong that we have to pay more for that and its wrong that most of the organic marketing system isnt transparent. But it started in a good place and many many small local farmers are doing wonderful things to provide organic food in a sustainable way. And feel like time would be better spent promoting the good that these small farmers are doing than trashing a whole industry and giving up on finding a solution to the food crisis we are dealing with.
Hi Tidy Betty – I think you missed the point of the article. I clearly wrote at the beginning that I wasn’t “trashing” the organic industry, and while I support local farmers, that wasn’t the specific topic of this post. Perhaps it may be in a future one!