Why Organic?
If you can afford it, you should buy organic!
In order of importance, here are five reasons why:
1. Organic management promotes biodiversity
Since we began transitioning our orchard to organic management in 2017-2020, we have seen a massive increase in the abundance and diversity of plants, fungi, and animals living on the orchard. At a time when biodiversity is plummeting worldwide, our organic farm has seen the opposite trend.
When you buy organic, you are supporting farms that function as biodiversity hotspots. (Don’t believe us? Send us your scientists! We will be happy to accommodate their research.)
2. Organic farming is better for the environment
Organic farmers do not use synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. We rely instead on materials like compost, feather meal, nutrient sprays, and seaweed sprays to deliver nutrients, and on low toxicity, non-systemic pesticides derived from natural substances. While conventional farming is becoming more like organic farming over time, it still has a long way to go. The list of substances permitted on organic farms can be found here.
When you buy organic, you are supporting a way of growing food that minimizes chemical pollution and reduces greenhouse gas emissions (which synthetic fertilizers are a major source of).
3. The organic movement is a social movement
The organic movement explicitly recognizes the importance of fair pay and good working conditions for farm employees, as well as for farmers themselves. Organic farmers have a long-standing reputation for paying the highest wages in the industry.
When you buy organic, you are supporting an industry that explicitly aims to pay its workers as much as it can — not as little as it can get away with.
4. Organic management is safer for farmers
All farmers are exposed to industrial chemicals to some degree. However, in organic agriculture, the overall toxicity of permitted sprays and cleaning agents is much lower than in conventional agriculture.
When you buy organic, you are supporting better health prospects for farmers like us.
5. Organic produce is healthier than conventional produce
According to the studies we have seen, this is why most people choose organic over conventional produce. In fact, while organic produce is healthier, it is not for the reasons most people think!
Most people think that pesticide residues are the main issue. In fact, while residues are, indeed, not awesome, most can be effectively washed off. The amount of residue allowed on produce is also heavily regulated in Canada, and is subject to some degree of testing.
The real reason that organic produce is healthier is that it is produced in an agricultural ecosystem which is intentionally engineered to be diverse. One way this diversity manifests is in the complex microbiological “film” that coats and permeates soil and the plants that grow in it. When you ingest fruits and vegetables coated in this diverse microbiological film, it promotes diversity within your gut flora. Your gut flora, in turn, influences your health in far-reaching ways that science is just beginning to understand. (Here is a link to a recent study, in which the authors establish that there is significantly greater microbial diversity in and on organic apples versus conventional ones.)
When you buy organic, you are making the best choice for your health.
Buy organic when you can! It does make a difference.
By Katie Sardinha
