- Hey there, I'm Merle.
I work in the world of wellness,
so I know as well as anyone that it has its benefits.
But like all major industries,
it also has its fair share of chicanery,
and I'm here to find the truth.
Today our topic is organic food.
Ever heard of it?
My relationship with organic food
is similar to my relationship with eye cream.
It touts many benefits, it's expensive,
and I buy it because people tell me to.
But what does organic really mean?
What am I paying for?
And does it justify the cost?
I'm gonna get to the bottom of it,
with the help from some experts.
So what does organic mean?
Produce can only be considered USDA organic certified
if the soil it was grown in, had not come into contact
with any prohibited substances in the last three years,
such as, synthetic fertilizers or pesticides.
- To use the organic label,
a farm must undergo a three-year transition period,
and receive an annual inspection
from a certification agency.
Today, only 1% of farmland is certified organic.
- One of the things people have
a strong misconception about with organic farming
is that organic is some kind of thing
that exists in nature,
and that organic standards
are enforcing that way of farming,
or of growing food.
- As organic fetches a higher price premium for farmers,
there's been issues with fraud in the organic community.
There have also been large corporations
entering the organic space
that are less stringent about soil health
and animal welfare,
compared to the vast majority of organic farmers.
- Let's take a look at the history of the organic movement.
First of all, organic is nothing new or trendy.
- Humans have been farming for more than 10,000 years.
The vast majority of that time,
we were farming with natural methods
that would be considered organic today.
It wasn't until the 1940's that we started to introduce
synthetic pesticides, like DDT, into farming.
Today's organic movement really formed in response
to those synthetic chemicals
being introduced to agriculture.
You have to remember
that chemical industrial agriculture
is a brand new experiment.
It's only been around for a short blip of human history.
In the short time it's been around,
it's been rapidly degrading soils,
eradicating biodiversity,
and releasing alarming amounts of greenhouse gas emissions.
So why is organic food more expensive?
According to Consumer Reports,
organic foods and beverages can cost
nearly 50% more than non-organic alternatives.
Much of it can be attributed to the higher production costs,
for actually growing and raising the food.
Some of these costs include building soil fertility,
or avoiding synthetic additives and pesticides,
higher standards of care for livestock,
while also ensuring fair hiring practices
to producers and laborers.
- Organic farming tends to be more expensive
because the main way many people access organic food
is through conventional grocery stores,
which was set up for conventional agricultural markets.
So one thing that conventional agriculture has
that organic farming does not have
is a much more reliant supply chain.
So there are synthetic inputs that allow
crop yield to be far more consistent
in conventional agriculture,
than they are in organic agriculture,
particularly when we start talking about
smaller scale organic farms,
such as community-supported agricultural programs,
where in those instances,
you're really just at the whims of the elements.
So if there's a particularly low yield year,
then to recuperate the losses
organic farmers will tend to increase the price
for their goods.
Despite that fact,
depending on where you live and the time of year,
there are instances in which organic food
is actually cheaper than conventional food.
- Now that we know why it's more expensive,
let's see if it's actually worth the extra money.
According to the Mayo Clinic,
studies have shown some differences
between organic and conventionally grown food,
but there's not enough information yet to tell
if these differences add to any real health benefits.
Liz Applegate says,
"My advice is to buy organic when affordable,
but for a consumer trying to feed a family
in as healthy way as possible,
the cost probably isn't worth it.
What's more important is simply eating
fruits and vegetables,
no matter how they were grown.
- Some studies have come out recently
showing that the nutrient levels in organic food
versus industrially-grown, chemically-grown food,
are about the same.
My response to those studies is,
whose organic food are you comparing?
There's big companies, big organic ag,
where all they try to do is just meet the standards.
And so that food will probably not be much more nutritious
than conventionally-grown food,
but there's other small farmers
who really take a lot of care and attention
in the way that they practice,
and their food might be significantly more nutritious
than conventional farmers.
- Today, we're using more than a billion pounds
of pesticides just in the US every year,
and that number's on the rise.
Pesticides are harmful because they decrease biodiversity,
as they reduce the numbers of pollinators,
birds, and other species.
They run off into waterways.
Today, Roundup alone, is found in 70% of rainwater samples.
And of course they're harming the health of farm workers,
who apply them, and work in the fields where they're used.
Pesticide exposure may increase the risk of cancer,
Alzheimer's, immune system damage,
kidney and liver damage, and more.
If organic farmers do use pesticides,
they can only use chemicals
from the National Organic Program's approved materials list.
These pesticides tend to be naturally occurring,
rather than synthetic, and break down quickly.
So is organic food better for the environment?
There's not a simple answer to this one.
And experts still seem to be in disagreement
for a few reasons.
Smaller organic farms tend to have a more positive impact
on the environment than large scale organic farms.
And they especially have a better impact
on the ecosystems directly around them.
However, space and lower yields
can become a concern in organic farming.
In 2017, the US imported
at least $2 billion worth of organic food
to try to keep up with the demand.
Needless to say, this is not more eco-friendly.
But when it comes to actual farming practices,
and building healthier soil,
which does help fight climate change,
organic farming wins out big time over conventional farming.
Organic farms build soil health.
There's actually more living things in one teaspoon
of healthy soil than there are people on the planet.
Not only does it allow us to grow
the plants and food we need to survive,
but it keeps carbon, a powerful greenhouse gas,
locked underground,
rather than releasing it into the atmosphere.
Sequestering this carbon in our soils
is one key to getting a handle on the climate crisis.
Industrial agriculture has been
incredibly damaging to our soils.
Practices like monocropping,
synthetic fertilizers and pesticides,
and intensive tillage,
have severely degraded one third of our soils globally.
The US is exporting billions of dollars
of conventional farm products.
And then, we're importing organic food
to feed our own citizens.
- If you're talking about the general
fertility of the soil, and the ecosystems
that are in direct contact with organic farms,
then yes, organic farms
tend to be better for the environment.
But now, if you're talking about
large scale human impacts from agriculture,
such as aquatic dead zones,
and climate change,
despite the fact that organic farms,
on average, tend to contribute less to those issues,
they have not put any substantial dent
into reducing climate change or water pollution.
And in fact, some studies have found
that they actually increase these problems,
because of the symbiotic relationship they have
with conventional agriculture.
When I say symbiotic relationship,
what I mean is that organic farming
has risen to prominence in many respects
as a reaction to conventional agriculture.
So one example of that,
is something we used to sometimes call the Manure Paradox,
which is that a lot of organic farms
will apply manure based fertilizers
that come from livestock
that were produced on conventional farms.
And so a lot of the growth in those industries
are tethered together,
and as a result, organic's growth
has been increasingly reliant
on pre-existing infrastructure,
and the conventional agricultural industry.
- On top of organic food's expense,
which makes it inaccessible to many,
food deserts are also a huge issue
when it comes to obtaining fresh, healthy,
and affordable food at all.
- Main reason why organic is a privilege,
is because the main mechanism
through which people access organic food,
is from grocery stores and farmers markets.
And so in grocery stores,
because organic tends to be more expensive,
just the basic economics of the scenario are,
if you have a higher disposable income,
it's more accessible.
And because farmers markets have historically
been more accessible in wealthier white communities,
it tends to then be more accessible
to people who live in those communities.
Despite that though, many practices that we call organic,
are actually implemented in urban agricultural settings
that actively resist gentrification
and create resilient communities.
So we see black and brown people getting together
and repurposing urban land,
to produce what we would consider to be
organically produced food,
in order to create a more robust resilient community.
- The vast majority of organic farms in our country
are still small family-owned farms.
And one of our biggest challenges in organic,
is scaling up the production to meet the demand.
- So is organic farming better?
In some ways, yes.
I think that depends
on what organic farm you're looking at,
and who you're asking,
because not all organic farms are created equal.
Supporting organic local farmers is great.
You can know that your dollar
went a little bit further that day,
and you can know where your food came from.
But I think the real root,
of the issue, is our relationship with food.
We've grown accustomed to having any type
of food at any time of year,
without having to think about how it got to our plate.
I think in order for organic to succeed and improve,
we need more smaller, community-driven,
regenerative organic farms,
and less large farming facilities
that are simply following organic protocols.
- Ultimately, farming is at its best
when it's regenerative and organic,
a system that's not using chemical inputs,
but focused on healthy soil.
- Our whole society is based
on this current form of farming that we have.
And so to shift to another system,
requires not just a shift in our farming practices,
but a shift in our whole conception
of how we relate to Earth,
how we conceptualize our relationship with land.
- If you can, finding better pathways
to have relationships with your farmers.
And in addition to that,
creating community around your relationship to food.
So the cornerstone of any vibrant community
is a relationship to food.
And right now we have a very disassociated
relationship to food.
We make choices in grocery stores.
We make choices at restaurants.
When in fact we could be making choices
about how our food is produced,
and how we prepare our food.
- For those of you at home who just want to implement
some simple best practices
when you go to the grocery store,
check out the dirty dozen list.
The list includes fruits and vegetables
that are found to have the highest pesticide residue.
- To me, organic farming is a great first step in, you know,
people starting to remember that their relationship
with the Earth, isn't one of inherent toxicity.
Like you don't have to destroy
everything around you to feed yourself,
which is great and amazing,
but that's not where this conversation ends.
- So what if instead of the highest yields,
we demanded healthy food,
an equitable food system,
farming that improves our resources,
rather than degrading them.
We need agriculture that can be sustained for generations.
We need regenerative organic agriculture for the future.
(light orchestral music)