The conventional and the organic food
Billy I Ahmed | Saturday, 16 August 2008
SOMETIMES when buying at groceries, we are confused by the differences in price between food grown organically and food grown conventionally. Usually, the organic loses the price war argument in comparison to what is called "conventional" food.
Of course, we are all mostly aware that organic means grown and processed without chemical fertilizers, antibiotics, hormones, toxic pesticides, sewage sludge, irradiation and genetic manipulation.
But, what does "conventional" mean? Is food called "conventional" grown and processed with chemical fertilizers, antibiotics, hormones, toxic pesticides, sewage sludge, irradiation and genetic manipulation?
Yes, it is. And, this is one reason why the price war argument should be reframed. Instead of comparing the price of organic food with "conventional" foods, let's compare organic food prices with the food price of toxic or poisonous food, which is what "conventional" food is.
The vegetables, fruits and grains that grocers and agribusiness giants label "conventional" are actually loaded with systemic chemicals, which you cannot wash off.
The meat is laced with hormones, antibiotics, and multiple resistant bacteria that are difficult or impossible to cook out of beef, lamb, and chicken.
Clearly, something in our food system has gone amiss since most of the food is loaded with poisonous pesticides, laced with antibiotics and hormones and infused with genetically modified growth hormones or genes from rats, bacteria, viruses and antibiotics and then -- through some bizarre logic -- labelled "conventional." Once one realizes how toxic "conventional" food is, it doesn't look that cheap.
Besides the food safety dangers, there are three extra costs that consumers pay for "conventional" food.
Estimates are that about half of all the food that the US citizens eat is processed. This includes breakfast cereals, breads, flour, tofu, cheese, chicken pot pies, Lean Cuisine and thousands of other products.
Most of the ingredients that make up the processed foods come from soy, cotton, corn, rice, canola and wheat.
More than 75 per cent of these processed foods have genetically modified ingredients. Soy (96 per cent), corn (74 per cent), cotton (95 per cent) and canola (98 per cent) are the most genetically manipulated crops.
When faced with judgments against them, the chemical giants always find a loophole, stall the procedure with whatever tactic that works, and spend enormous sums on legal defence teams.
More often than not they escape with no punishment or merely a slap on the wrist for the most egregious crimes, including wilful groundwater and soil pollution, poisoned food, widespread illnesses, and death. Unfortunately, both "conventional" and organic consumers will foot this bill.
One of the worst examples of chemical corporations' irresponsibility occurred in Bhopal, India in 1984. A chemical plant that produced cotton pesticides leaked a nerve gas; more than 28,000 people were killed and 250,000 blinded and seriously injured.
The plant was owned by the chemical and battery giant Union Carbide. When its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) offered to pay reparations to families of the deceased and to the injured, the corporation decided that such a move, though laudable and charitable, was not in the best interests of the stockholders, so no compensation was paid by the corporation.
The other payment for "conventional" food is often made at the doctor's office to treat obesity, diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol, cancer, birth defects, Parkinson's and a hundred other ailments related to pesticides or poisoned food.
Pundits and scientific hacks will say anything to protect big chemical and factory farming, refusing to discuss these "irrelevant" external costs of our modern food system, including subsidies, environmental cleanup, and skyrocketing medical bills. Instead, they argue that we need cheap food to feed starving people around the world.
Beyond the external costs of "conventional" cheap food, an important aspect of the real price of organic food is the care and commitment to balanced soil health that is a major requirement when transitioning to organic farm management.
In organic, the goal is to restore and feed soil life. That needs applying composted manures or vegetables to inoculate the soil with micro-organisms. It also means providing organic (vegetable) matter so the soil micro-organisms have plenty to eat.
To effect this balancing act, organic farmers add lime, compost, fertilizer crops, gypsum, a bit of phosphorous and some potash.
The fertilizer crops are the hardest element for new organic growers to include because they must take land out of production to grow the fertilizer crops. This is good for the next crop but hard for the farmer to adjust to growing a crop that he or she ploughs in.
Instead of using pesticides, organic farmers closely watch their crops and release helpful insects, plant trap or companion crops to confuse the pests, or plant when pests are not such a scourge.
While "conventional" food is usually cheaper in the supermarket, and is easier to manage on the farm, it comes with a dangerous load of pesticide and fertilizer residues that are causing cancers, illness and death.
When we analysed pesticide and fertilizer data for the book "The War on Bugs," we concluded the corporations call chemical food "conventional" to hide the fact the food they produce is grown with the most toxic chemicals on the planet.
If the question about the real price of food was rephrased to ask what the difference is between the price of toxic and organic foods, we would not be marvelling about the high cost of organic food, nor recommending sending toxic "conventional" surplus food to the starving millions.
Instead, we should be asking: "How cheap would poisonous food have to be to be a good deal?"
.............................................
The writer is a tea planter,
columnist and researcher
Of course, we are all mostly aware that organic means grown and processed without chemical fertilizers, antibiotics, hormones, toxic pesticides, sewage sludge, irradiation and genetic manipulation.
But, what does "conventional" mean? Is food called "conventional" grown and processed with chemical fertilizers, antibiotics, hormones, toxic pesticides, sewage sludge, irradiation and genetic manipulation?
Yes, it is. And, this is one reason why the price war argument should be reframed. Instead of comparing the price of organic food with "conventional" foods, let's compare organic food prices with the food price of toxic or poisonous food, which is what "conventional" food is.
The vegetables, fruits and grains that grocers and agribusiness giants label "conventional" are actually loaded with systemic chemicals, which you cannot wash off.
The meat is laced with hormones, antibiotics, and multiple resistant bacteria that are difficult or impossible to cook out of beef, lamb, and chicken.
Clearly, something in our food system has gone amiss since most of the food is loaded with poisonous pesticides, laced with antibiotics and hormones and infused with genetically modified growth hormones or genes from rats, bacteria, viruses and antibiotics and then -- through some bizarre logic -- labelled "conventional." Once one realizes how toxic "conventional" food is, it doesn't look that cheap.
Besides the food safety dangers, there are three extra costs that consumers pay for "conventional" food.
Estimates are that about half of all the food that the US citizens eat is processed. This includes breakfast cereals, breads, flour, tofu, cheese, chicken pot pies, Lean Cuisine and thousands of other products.
Most of the ingredients that make up the processed foods come from soy, cotton, corn, rice, canola and wheat.
More than 75 per cent of these processed foods have genetically modified ingredients. Soy (96 per cent), corn (74 per cent), cotton (95 per cent) and canola (98 per cent) are the most genetically manipulated crops.
When faced with judgments against them, the chemical giants always find a loophole, stall the procedure with whatever tactic that works, and spend enormous sums on legal defence teams.
More often than not they escape with no punishment or merely a slap on the wrist for the most egregious crimes, including wilful groundwater and soil pollution, poisoned food, widespread illnesses, and death. Unfortunately, both "conventional" and organic consumers will foot this bill.
One of the worst examples of chemical corporations' irresponsibility occurred in Bhopal, India in 1984. A chemical plant that produced cotton pesticides leaked a nerve gas; more than 28,000 people were killed and 250,000 blinded and seriously injured.
The plant was owned by the chemical and battery giant Union Carbide. When its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) offered to pay reparations to families of the deceased and to the injured, the corporation decided that such a move, though laudable and charitable, was not in the best interests of the stockholders, so no compensation was paid by the corporation.
The other payment for "conventional" food is often made at the doctor's office to treat obesity, diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol, cancer, birth defects, Parkinson's and a hundred other ailments related to pesticides or poisoned food.
Pundits and scientific hacks will say anything to protect big chemical and factory farming, refusing to discuss these "irrelevant" external costs of our modern food system, including subsidies, environmental cleanup, and skyrocketing medical bills. Instead, they argue that we need cheap food to feed starving people around the world.
Beyond the external costs of "conventional" cheap food, an important aspect of the real price of organic food is the care and commitment to balanced soil health that is a major requirement when transitioning to organic farm management.
In organic, the goal is to restore and feed soil life. That needs applying composted manures or vegetables to inoculate the soil with micro-organisms. It also means providing organic (vegetable) matter so the soil micro-organisms have plenty to eat.
To effect this balancing act, organic farmers add lime, compost, fertilizer crops, gypsum, a bit of phosphorous and some potash.
The fertilizer crops are the hardest element for new organic growers to include because they must take land out of production to grow the fertilizer crops. This is good for the next crop but hard for the farmer to adjust to growing a crop that he or she ploughs in.
Instead of using pesticides, organic farmers closely watch their crops and release helpful insects, plant trap or companion crops to confuse the pests, or plant when pests are not such a scourge.
While "conventional" food is usually cheaper in the supermarket, and is easier to manage on the farm, it comes with a dangerous load of pesticide and fertilizer residues that are causing cancers, illness and death.
When we analysed pesticide and fertilizer data for the book "The War on Bugs," we concluded the corporations call chemical food "conventional" to hide the fact the food they produce is grown with the most toxic chemicals on the planet.
If the question about the real price of food was rephrased to ask what the difference is between the price of toxic and organic foods, we would not be marvelling about the high cost of organic food, nor recommending sending toxic "conventional" surplus food to the starving millions.
Instead, we should be asking: "How cheap would poisonous food have to be to be a good deal?"
.............................................
The writer is a tea planter,
columnist and researcher