Organic Mania - Is it worth the hype?

Since the advent of the green movement, no other topic has elicited quite such controversy and concern as the frenzy for organic food.  Long gone are the days when grocery shopping was a simple matter of grab-and-go.  Rather, today, a visit to your local grocery store presents the daunting dilemma of determining what foods are safe to eat and whether or not their higher price tag is worth the supposed benefits. 

Consumers are now bombarded with findings condemning conventional farming practices as unnatural, unnecessary and most of all, unsafe.  And like a villain that needs vanquishing, the public turned to organic food as their champion of wellness and defender of health.  Celebrated for being free of toxins commonly found in conventional farming aids, food that has been organically-produced offers the assurance that what you’re eating is delicious, nutritious and most importantly, safe.  Yet for all the outstanding claims of the organic movement, is it really worth the hype? 

The term “organic” paints a picture of lush green fields, succulent-looking fruits and vegetables and happy, free-ranging livestock.  It represents a return to how farming once was, when farmers contested the challenges of production with naturally-occurring solutions.   As expected, organic farming techniques mirror this mindset.  Beneficial insects and birds are introduced to eliminate pests, manure and compost are used as natural fertilizer to promote healthy plant growth, and fields are frequently tilled and mulched to manage weeds.  Livestock are also raised with sufficient room to move and develop naturally, so that heavy doses of growth hormones are unnecessary, and preventative measures such as rotational grazing, a balanced diet and clean housing conditions are implemented to avoid disease.

Conventional farming methods, on the other hand, involve the use of synthetic chemicals, hormones and even antibiotics to get our food to the dinner table.  Produce is administered a variety of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides to encourage a superior crop yield.  Livestock are often confined to an area so small they can’t even turn around, which in turn requires the use of growth hormones to ensure normal development and often reside in housing that’s hardly, if ever, cleaned, calling for antibiotics to stave off disease.  In fact, seventy percent of antibiotics produced in the United States are fed to animals. Unsurprisingly, such significant amounts of chemicals and obvious oversight of adequate sanitation have risen more than a few eyebrows as to whether or not such methods are safe.  For many advocates of organic food, it’s this uncertainty that ultimately drives their desire to give conventionally-produced products a wide berth.  

In spite of the fact that conventionally-grown food is bolstered by a variety of chemical farming aids, it’s not without strict regulation.  Just ask the vendors of the Raleigh’s Farmer’s Market.  If anyone would know about the inner workings of the agriculture industry, it’s the farmers themselves.  Says Michele of Michele’s Fresh Fruit, a conventionally-grown producer: “We’re constantly inspected.  A member of the North Carolina Department of Agriculture takes several samples of our produce and tests it to make sure there’s nothing’s there that shouldn’t be.  And we’re talking about this happening every month or so.” And contrary to the assumed excessive use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers by many pro-organic consumers, Michele swears that pesticides and other chemical aids are only used when absolutely necessary: “A lot of people think conventionally-grown produce is dumped with chemicals, but that’s just not the case.  We only use what we really need; pesticides and fertilizer aren’t just arbitrarily dumped when we feel like it.”   

And it’s not just Michele who adheres to this practice.  Jeff Allen, another local grower, says: “I use the least amount of product I can.  And I’m inspected something like five times a year to make sure what I’m growing is alright.”  Even so, even limited applications of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers will leave residue – one of the primary concerns of the organic movement.  When asked of the general unease regarding traces of chemical residue left behind, Jeff offers this simple piece of advice: “Really all you need to do to avoid chemical residue is to wash your produce.  That’s all it takes.”  

Indeed, with such seemingly simple solutions to the issues surrounding conventionally-grown food, growers of the Farmer’s Market find little merit in the organic movement.  For them, conventional farming practices are perfectly safe, or at least no more dangerous than organic farming.  Moreover, Michele even goes so far as to accuse organic farming practices as being more risky than conventional: “What people don’t understand is that organic farms aren’t checked up on like conventional farms are.  They think ‘Oh, they’re using natural stuff, they don’t need regulating.’  All it takes to call yourself an organic farmer is a form that says you are, and the $10,000 it costs to become certified.  After that, you can do whatever you want.”  

For a movement that emphasizes the prevailing safety of its products, such assertions are unsettling.  Likewise, Allen continues this line of thinking with the revelation that the manure applied as fertilizer in organic farming often comes from turkeys pumped full of steroids, and having worked on a turkey farm himself, explains that most turkeys are fed nothing but steroids for the last six to seven weeks of its life.  “People don’t think twice about where these ‘natural’ alternatives come from,” says Jeff, “but you can bet there will be traces of steroids and whatever else they feed animals in its manure.  And that’s what’s going straight onto crops.” 

Despite Jeff and Michele’s claims, organic produce has been proven time and time again to contain fewer traces of residue than their conventionally-grown counterparts, which is often the chief concern of organic advocates.  The question of whether or not such small traces may, over years and decades, lead to increased health risks down the line is currently of great debate.  Unfortunately, with so many contributing factors to an individual’s health, it’s likely we’ll never know conclusively whether chemicals found throughout conventional farming practices are a source of significant health problems.  And in light of such startling charges against organic farming, it may be that health-conscious consumers think twice before placing their wholehearted faith in the organic movement.  At the very least, it should prompt further investigation.  

Says Jeff, “You can’t trust everyone’s hearsay.  You have to do a little digging yourself to find out what’s best for you.”  For something as commonplace as deciding what foods to eat, it certainly wouldn’t hurt.