Is organic food intended to ignorant customers?

Question

Ignorant customers = Victims of Greenpeace lies.

Answer 1

Rather a loaded question...

First of all, let's deal with the irrational term "organic".  Of course all life is organic, and many agricultural chemicals are organic in a scientific sense -- but we know how the term organic is used in real life.  None of us is logical all the time, least of all conventional farmers.  So let's stick with "organic", for lack of anything better.

Secondly, let's get rid of the idea that our world is short of food.  We have a ridiculous number of people, and many are hungry, but very large numbers of people have more than they can possibly eat.  30% of food in the UK is thrown away without being eaten, and we are in the middle of an obesity epidemic, in which very many people in the developed world (and increasing numbers elsewhere) are taking in twice the energy they need for a healthy diet (Americans use some 1.8 times more food energy than they need -- that's the mean, so some are using much more).

This is without taking into account the waste of a large proportion of the high-grade human food that we do produce (such as grain) by feeding it to animals, to stoke our insatiable desire for meat.  If starvation was the problem, it has long since been solved.  On the whole people nowadays starve because of wars and mis-government, not crop failure.

Most consumers of "organic" food probably are ignorant.  However, most consumers of "non-organic" food are probably even more ignorant.

The organic movement has not got it all right, but "conventional" farming is hardly weighed down with good sense either.

Conventional farming certainly does produce enormous amounts of food.  However, it does it by using enormous amounts of fossil energy, and causing enormous amounts of pollution, as well as by destroying a lot of biodiversity (both wild and domesticated).  It depends on mining the world's resources: energy, clean air, clean water, soil, genetics etc -- irreplaceable resources.  However you can't have something for nothing -- it is not sustainable.

If the hidden costs were taken into account, conventional farming would not be at all profitable.  How long can it go on before it collapses?  A century?  Two?  Then what?  Some technofix magic yet-to-be-dreamt-of?

Organic farming sets out to work sustainably.  Personally, I think it often fails -- commonly it farms nearly as intensively, just without using artificial chemicals.  It pollutes air and water less, but it damages biodiversity almost as much.  It is not helped by inconsistent rules, allowing chemicals such as copper for fungicide, or allowing some non-organic feed to be used for organic animals.

The most sustainable farming done nowadays is in fact in the developing world -- by traditional methods used for centuries.  These are the only methods proven to work over long time-scales (though there have of course been many mistakes).  The downside is that this type of subsistence agriculture is usually extremely hard work and produces little cash surplus, so most people living this way are extremely poor in modern terms.

So we have a choice: being poor in environmental terms, or poor in economic terms.  Why not do neither?  Let's be comfortably off in both.

We need to drop the old-fashioned idea that high technology is the solution to everything -- we are no longer living in the 1950s.  What is needed is two things:

-  Very many fewer people!

-  Modern sustainable farming.  This will not be entirely "organic", but will use the world's resources at a rate at which they can be replaced.  Meat will be produced using land which cannot produce other food, or by using waste products from other food.  We will use the traditional, sustainable methods which farmers have used over many centuries, but developed further with appropriate technology (perhaps very low-tech, or very high-tech, or both).  It will allow farming to be done everywhere without wasting resources or poisoning the planet.  Only this way will we be able to feed everyone, and lift everyone out of extreme poverty.

If we don't do this, humankind does not have a future -- and neither does our one planet.  If we do it now, we have a chance to plan our future rationally.  If we wait for conventional farming to collapse, it will be too late.

Edit -

In case anyone has not got this point...  "Organic" food is probably not much better in nutritional terms (if it is, it's probably largely because it's usually very much fresher).  In my view the benefit is more to the environment that to the individual consumer.  It is certainly possible to eat reasonably healthily from conventional food -- but it will undoubtedly harm the environment.  If consumers think organic is much more healthy, then yes, perhaps they're ignorant.  However, even if they're doing it for the wrong reasons, they are doing the right thing.

Answer 2

Foods that can be called "Organic" (as defined by the USDA) have some conitions that may be worthwhile and others that I doubt. For example, why is cow manure better than ammonium nitrate? Organic foods must be grown without chemical fertilizers, but natural fertilizers (animal waste) have to be broken down by the soil bacteria to yield inorganic compounds to be used by the plant.

"Organic" foods have to be grown without the use of insecticides and on land that has been insecticide free for a certain number of years. If people are very concerned about the possibility of minute traces of insecticides entering their food, then they will chose "organic" food.

Answer 3

no just people who dont like pesticides or poisins in the environment.  

pesticides=dying bugs=dying things that eat bugs=dying wild animals all the way up the food chain.  

also when it rains the pesticides get into water and stuff and kill fish and turtles etc...  maybe just fishermen not ignorant people lol

Answer 4

There are no government standards for "organic" foods. However organic foods are not some marketing scheme that we farmers cooked up. It is a market for people under the false presumption that high-tech farming methods make the food somehow less healthy or nutritious.

Answer 5

When buying food at the store if you want Organic the only way to be sure its organic is to be sure it carries the National Organic Program Seal (NOP).  Anyone can put orgnic on their label but if the product has certification from the NOP an unbiased third party is reviewing the farm to be sure it provide true organic products.  

Check out the following website for more info

http://www.ams.usda.gov/nop/indexIE.htm

Answer 6

One can't know everything. For those of us that know how to grow food plants and raise food animals, we know the impact of chemicals on food and also on the environment and we also know what is B.S. and what is valid. For those that live in a country where strict laws protect food and the land (with a strong force to police those laws) we can feel comfortable for the most part, that whatever we purchase to eat and whatever we choose as a criteria for that purchase, that we are protected even when our knowledge of food production practices is lacking. Food is clearly and properly labeled and with whatever we know about the food we eat, or choose to know, we can be comfortable with that. I read an article yesterday about street vendors in China whose recipe for a favorite biscuit like pork food consisted of old cardboard picked up from a dirty floor, soaked in chemicals used to loosen the cellulose fibers, mixed with old pork fat leftovers, and sold on the street. In Mexico and South America, D.D.T is still used and to this day shipments of produce are refused entrance into the U.S. market when it is caught threw testing the products. There are a million horror stories. Point is, there is value and quality in organic food in general, as a level of protection, both in that food and in how the land is cared for. Insecticides came into being from the work in chemical warfare. It does stay in the food and it is not good for you. I won't eat it knowingly. A lot of chemicals stay in the food and on the food. Regardless of plant or animal foods, getting back to natural and sustainable agriculture is important. For those who choose meat products and choose to buy them as opposed to raising them (we all can't have the land and time to raise our meat and dairy) many of us won't willingly support the factory farm horror.

We all eat and the goal has always been to keep people knowledgeable about foods in these complicated times when we have such huge populations to feed. It is important that we all know about our foods and where they come from, and that takes the sales pitch out of the picture. As was written in an earlier response, buying local products in season is a great way to get a quality product that is more in keeping with environmental protection and community support. Knowledge is key to know what is a scam product and what is good food. But it is unfair and wrong to shoot down organic food as much of it are good products that keep us healthy and promote especially the health of the land and the water which is priority.

Answer 7

Maybe it makes them feel better and makes them feel more in control when they purchase "organic" food. Some say it is all about choice.

The term "organic" can mean almost anything one wants it to mean.

Answer 8

All foods are organic in nature.  The current craze for "organic" is misguided.  "Organic" food is lower in quality, less nutritious, has a shorter shelf life, and is more expensive.  (It has to be because the grower gets lower yields.)  "Organic" growers have a list of approved fertilizers they can use.  included on that list are several inorganic chemical fertilizers.  They are allowed to use manures and composts which may contain pathogenic organisms.  The spinach and lettuce scars of the past year were "organic"

Answer 9

"Organic" food is lower in quality, less nutritious, has a shorter shelf life, and is more expensive.

let me just say that this statement, listed above is ludicrous.

Because a food isn't sprayed with chemicals does NOT make it less nutritous. Most of people who eat organic food are educated, and well informed about pesticides. I spent thousands of hours researching because I was skeptical or "organic" food due to the higher cost. Now I live on a small organically run farm and I am heading back to college for a degree with a double major in botany and entomology.

Have you ever heard about the book called

The China Project by T. Colin Campbell, PhD?

I would suggest you read that.

In the meantime try the carrot test. Buy organic carrots, and regular carrots. Eat the organic first. Then try to regular. Does your tongue tingle? Does it taste like bug spray compared to the other carrots? We survived for thousands of years without chemical intervention and we certainly don't need it know.

Answer 10

Bumper, I can tell by your questions and some of your answers that you are not on here to make friends, but telling it like you see it.  Keep it up.  There are too many people jumping on the Greenpeace, global warming, and animal right wackos bandwagons without knowing what they are talking about.  Farmers are not the bad guys.  Most are more concerned with the environment, animal rights, and keeping the air and water clean then the people that are visible and raising all of the controversy.

Answer 11

LOL, my brother in law and I had a huge conversation about this recently.  Doesn't anyone realize that all vegetation is organic.  I believe the way the way it was first marketed was as "organically grown" meaning not using any chemicals.  It is also PC that stores decided that can sell it for more money... personally I buy all local product and meats whenever possible.. also realizing a lot more foods out there are organically grown or raised but it just isn't on the label.

Answer 12

This is an odd question, and this answer may seem a bit round a bout... (first off, I think the organic craze is bollocks).

The general public has a reverent fear of scientific chemicals.  Both drugs, and those used to produce food.  One big one was DDT, and the scare it caused.

By a few people playing off of those fears, they created an industry where lower yield, higher prices, and lower satisfaction were actually a good thing.

So maybe not so much direct and utter ignorance, but rather, a more 'learn from the past mistakes' feel that has ignorance as more of a side note.

Answer 13

You want to find foods produced naturally...  That means without pesticides or synthetic fertilizers when you speak of plant foods...

When it comes to meat and other animal foods you would want to find animals raised "naturally"... This means without being fed unnatural chemical laced feeds, etc..

Organic definately is BETTER than not being organic but it's not what the general public thinks it is.

Your best bet is to find a small farmer and visit their farm. Let them show you how they raise their produce and animals for consumption. See if it's natural or not....

A farmer rasing animals naturally will only use an antibiotic if necessary and only for a specific reason (ie; rid infection due to laceration a cow may have recieved, pink eye infection) They won't feed it continuously in the daily diet as commercial farmers have to.

A natural farmer won't use chemical pesticides on their produce. Instead they'll use ladybugs to eat aphids off the tomatoes for example.... Or use companion planting to assist in staving off certain insects....

Etc.. Etc...

Answer 14

Pretty much.. yes. Organic does not mean safe. Although that is the popular concensus. Any pesticide residue is extremely minimal if not long gone by the time it reaches the consumer. Even then a simple rinse under the faucet clears up any concern.  Pesticides and fungicides have been a God send for Agriculture. They allow for much greater production of food with less expenditure of money and time.

And for the record, bugs and fungus can be extremely toxic to humans. Organic does not necessarily make that threat go away.  If you get a chance to actually look at the difference between organic and regular produce... the organic stuff is smaller, less colorful and not nearly as appealing. Thanx for letting me rant.  I like your avitar.