1. No chemicals= more labor

The Organic Farming Research Foundation explained it well: “The organic price tag more closely reflects the true cost of growing the food: substituting labor and intensive management for chemicals, the health and environmental costs of which are borne by society.”

2. The rules of supply vs demand.

There is a greater demand for organic than is currently available.

3. Higher cost of fertilizer for organic crops

“Sewage sludge and chemical fertilizers might not be something you want in your food, but conventional farmers use them because they don’t cost much and are cheap to transport.”

(I find that disgusting.)

Organic farmi

ng uses a more natural fertilizer that is more expensive to ship.

4. Weeding by hand

Organic farming does not use all of the chemicals that kill the weeds around their crops.

5. Crop rotation

This prevents soil erosion, maintains soil fertility, and prevents pest infestations.

6. Longer growth cycle

Organic produce often takes longer to grow, because they use no enhancers to speed up the process.

7. Smaller volume makes farm to market more expensive

It also needs to be kept separate, which adds to the cost of transportation.

8. Organic certification

There is a fee to get USDA certified, and there are additional fees involved to comply with the USDA standards.  It is more labor intensive to keep strict records that must be available for inspection at any

time.

9. Cost of covering higher loss

There is expensive crop insurance.  Since organic farming does not use synthetic pesticide, herbicides or fungicides, they are more susceptible to crop loss.

10. Better living conditions for livestock

Organic livestock eats their natural diet, and organic farmers have higher standards that they need to comply with when the animal comes from organic farms.  Organic feed is much more expensive than conventional feed.  Benefit is healthier animals. No hormones, no GMOs.

11. Organic food spoils more rapidly

There are no chemicals in the food to slow down the natural process of spoiling. The life span is in tune with the way Mother Nature intended.  This is a strong reason to buy organic as local as possible to ensure the plant is as fresh as possible. Farm to table.

12. Subsidies

“Production-oriented government subsidies reduce the overall cost of crops. In 2008, mandatory spending on conventional farm subsidies was $7.5 billion while programs for organic and local foods only received $15 million, according to the House Appropriations Committee.”

What your take-away about organic food should be:

• Food grown organically is closer to the way that Mother Nature intended
• Food grown organically is NOT using synthetic chemicals on the crops. It would be difficult for anyone to convince me that eating pesticides and herbicides could possibly be good for me.  ( More on this later)
• The soil is more fertile- more minerals and nutrients
• No chemical run off into our ground water and streams and rivers (and oceans)
• Organic food is ironically, more controlled by the US government than conventional farming. This is a good news, bad news scenario.  It is good news that the government enforces organic regulations to protect us.  The bad news is where the heck are they in protecting us from conventional food chemicals?

 

Excerpt taken from video course Why Food Quality Matters by Cheryl M Health Muse