1. Protect Future Generations. Children receive four times the exposure of an adult (due to their small size) to at least eight widely used cancer-causing pesticides in food. The food choices you make now will impact your child’s health in the future.
2. Prevent Soil Erosion. The Soil Conservation Service estimates that more than three million tons of topsoil is eroded from our shores each year. That means soil is eroding seven times faster than it is built up naturally. Soil is the foundation of the food chain in organic farming. But in conventional farming the soil is used more as a medium for holding plants in a vertical position so they can be chemically fertilised. As a result, Australian farms are suffering from the worst soil erosion in history.
3. Protect Water Quality. Water makes up two-thirds of our body mass and covers three-fourths of the planet. Despite its importance, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates pesticides (some cancer-causing) contaminate the ground water in all states, polluting the primary source of drinking water for more than half the country’s population.
4. Save Energy. Farms have changed drastically in the last three generations, from the family based small businesses dependent on human energy to large-scale factory farms highly dependent on fossil fuels. Modern farming methods use more petroleum than any other single industry, consuming 12 percent of the country’s total energy supply. More energy is now used to produce synthetic fertilisers than to till, cultivate, and harvest all the crops in the Australia. Organic farming is still mainly based on labour-intensive practices such as weeding by hand and using green manures and crop covers rather than synthetic inputs. Organic produce also tends to travel a shorter distance from the farm to your plate.
5. Keep Chemicals off Your Plate. Many pesticides approved for use by the EPA were registered before extensive research linking these chemicals to cancer and other diseases had been established. Now the EPA considers that 60% of all herbicides, 90% of all fungicides and 30% insecticides are carcinogenic. Consider that the average conventionally grown apple has 20-30 artificial poisons on its skin, even after rinsing. The bottom line is that pesticides are poisons designed to kill living organisms and can also be harmful to humans.
6. Protect Farm Workers Health. A National Cancer Institute study found that farmers exposed to herbicides had a greater factor of six, than non-farmers of contracting cancer. Farm workers health is a serious problem in developing nations, where pesticides can be poorly regulated. An estimated 1 million people are poisoned annually by pesticides. There are several pesticides banned from use in Australia that are still manufactured here for export to developing countries.
7. Help Small Farmers. Although more large-scale farms are making the conversion to organic practices, most organic farms are small, independently owned and operated family farms of less than 100 acres. It’s estimated that Australia has lost more than 150,000 family farms in the past decade. With the Department of Agriculture predicting that half of this country’s farm production will come from 1% of farms by the year 2020. Organic farming could become one of the few hopes left for family farms.
8. Support a True Economy. Although organic food might seem more expensive than conventional foods, conventional food prices do not reflect the hidden cost borne by taxpayers, including nearly $4 billion in federal subsidies. Other hidden costs include pesticide regulation and testing, hazardous waste disposal and clean up and environmental damage.
9. Promote Bio-diversity. Mono cropping is the practice of planting large plots of land with the same crop year after year. While this approach tripled farm production between 1950 and 1970, the lack of natural diversity of plant life has left the soil lacking in natural minerals and nutrients. To replace the nutrients, chemical fertilisers are used, often in increasing amounts.
10. Taste Better Flavour. There’s a good reason many top chefs use organic foods in their recipes – they taste better. Organic farming starts with the nutrients of the soil that eventually leads to the nourishment of the plant and ultimately our palates.
Making the switch to organic can be difficult to justify when considered purely from a monetary point of view. To help you in making the decision ask yourself, “What is the real cost to my body of eating the foods I am eating now?” If you are not satisfied with your current level of health and wellbeing then maybe it is time to consider a change.
You don’t have to change everything all at once. Start by investigating the organic suppliers in your area. There are numerous organic sellers in Sydney including markets, health food shops, specialist organic stores and home delivery services. Compare prices at all of them and find what works for you. If you are going to do it in stages I recommend that meat & poultry are the first to become totally organic, followed by fruit & vegetables, dairy (as tolerated), and then fats & oils.
Remember once you are eating right for your type and consuming predominantly organic food you actually need less so the cost goes down.
What is the price you put on your health?
