Learning Center > Why Organic

"Conventional" farmers use synthetic or chemical methods to fertilize soil, control weeds and insects, prevent livestock disease, and enhance yields. These methods include many health and environmental hazards.

"Organic" farming has been widely accepted as a way of farming without man-made chemicals, and with great respect for the health of consumers, livestock, and the environment for current and future generations.

Integral to the spirit of organic farming are the following principles:

• Improve the quality and fertility of the soil
• Protect water quality
• Conserve water (reduce irrigation waste)
• Provide ethical treatment of livestock with minimal stress conditions
• Reduce soil erosion
• Use natural biological systems for pest and weed control
• Reduce the impact of agriculture on our environment, use renewable resources
• Produce high quality, safe food and products

In 2002, many companies capitalized on the growing number of people who were willing to pay more for organic, safe and ethically produced products.

The USDA (US Department of Agriculture) issued rules around the use of the term "organic" because of widespread misuse by companies trying to market their conventionally produced products as organic.

The USDA established a national definition of the term "organic" which encompasses a set of standards that governs the production, labeling, and marketing of organic foods.

For fruits, vegetables, grains and fibers, organic means the following:

• Safe soil: No synthetic pesticides, herbicides and soil fumigants; free of sewage sludge; no lead salts and potassium chloride, among many other substances, for at least three years prior to the first organic harvest
• No modification: GMOs, irradiation and additives are prohibited, no biotechnology enhancements
• Separate storage: handlers, food processors and food manufacturers must separate organic products from non-organic products and take steps to ensure that organic foods don't come into contact with forbidden chemicals or substances.

For meat, milk, eggs and other animal products, organic means the following:

• Timing: animals must be raised organically from the last third of gestation (for livestock) or no later than the second day of life (for poultry).
• Organic feed: livestock feed products must be 100 percent organically grown. Hormone- and antibiotic-free: no growth hormones, no antibiotics (sick animals must be treated-but if an animal has been treated with a prohibited medication, it can't be labeled and sold as organic.)
• Outdoor access for animals that graze: Each animal must have shade, shelter, fresh air, direct sunlight and room to exercise appropriate for its species.
• No commingling: Organic animal products must be separated from non-organic products. Organic animal products must not come into contact with prohibited chemicals or substances.
• No genetic engineering

Organic farmers avoid toxic practices that are used by conventional farmers by engaging in some of the following beneficial practices:

• Crop-rotation: alternating the types of crops grown in each field, which in turn prevents the depletion of soil. Pests are managed this way by eliminating breeding grounds that build up year after year with a continuous crop.
• Planting cover crops: clover, for example, adds nutrients, prevents weeds and increases organic matter in the soil; organic matter resists erosion and helps hold water better, requiring less irrigation.
• Releasing beneficial insects: beneficial insects prey on pests and eliminate the need for dangerous pesticides that harm consumers and leach into the soil and water for years after use.
• Composting manure: composting replenishes the soil, helps it retain moisture and returns more nutrients to it.
• Preventing disease: by giving livestock good nutrition, ample outdoor access and minimal stress, animals are stronger and more resistant to disease, and the need for antibiotics is reduced.

Room for improvement in the organic standards:

Currently, the organic standards are only regulated with regard to food, not to cosmetics or personal care items; for instance, a personal care company can market its "lavender body oil" as organic, whether or not that is true.

"Access to outdoors" for livestock is not defined, and many large-scale corporations are taking advantage of the ambiguity. Outdoors can mean feed-lots, or not on pasture. Access can mean 5 minutes.

Many large scale companies are taking advantage of the livestock timing windows with dairy cows; maintaining pregnant cows conventionally up until the last 3rd of gestation will still legally result in an organic calf, though its mother may have been subjected to toxic conventional methods.

Up to 5% pesticide residues are permitted in organic foods.

Beneficial methods not yet required by the current organic standards: bio-dynamic farming, energy efficiency, regional or country of origin labeling and social standards like fair wages for workers, family farm-identification, and fair prices for the farmer.

Manufactures may use the term organic on labels as follows:

USDA Certified Organic: All of the product's content is certified organic. Meets strict guidelines, set up by government approved certifying associations, when grown, processed and handled. These products may display the USDA Organic seal on the label.

100% organic: Product contains only organically produced raw or processed ingredients, with the exception of water and salt.

Organic: 95% of the ingredients are organically produced.

Made with organic ingredients: At least 70% of the ingredients in the product are organic.

Which popular fruits and vegetables have the highest pesticide use?

The non-profit Environmental Working Group (EWG) reviewed the results of nearly 51,000 tests for pesticides on produce collected by the USDA and the FDA between 2000 and 2005. Based on this review, the EWG came up with a list of the 12 popular fresh fruits and vegetables that are consistently the most contaminated with pesticides, and the 12 that consistently have the lowest levels of pesticides.

What are the advantages of organic?

Using organically produced products has many benefits including the following:

• Higher nutritional value in organic produce: Due to many decades of conventional farming, America's soil has been stripped of vital minerals. This fact has been known since 1936 when Congress stated: "99% of the American people are deficient in minerals... foods, fruits, vegetables, and grains now being raised on millions of acres of land no longer contain enough certain needed minerals and are starving us, no matter how much of them we eat." Organic foods contain higher levels of vitamins and minerals, because organically farmed soil maintains its richness in minerals through the rotation of crops, and other farming practices that allow the soil to regenerate and re-mineralize itself. This maintains the nutritional content of the soil.
• Organic Produce Fights Cancer Better: Fruits and vegetables grown organically show about 60% higher levels of cancer-fighting antioxidants than conventionally grown foods, according to research at University of California, Davis. The research shows that pesticides and herbicides actually thwart the production of phenolics chemicals that act as a plant's natural defense and also happen to have potent antioxidant activity.
• Organic is Non-Toxic: The toxic burden our bodies experience from pesticide exposure in conventional farming may be responsible for many modern day diseases. When veteran journalist Bill Moyers had his blood and urine tested as part of a study of pollutant loads in the human body conducted by Mount Sinai School of Medicine, 84 distinct chemicals were found-including some that had been banned more than a quarter of a century before. This toxic load is part of what cleansing seeks to eliminate from the body.
• Organic Reduces Exposure to Organophosphates: Organophosphates are persistent pesticides that remain in the environment and in the human body for many years, and can be passed from mother to child in the womb, as well as through breast milk. Most children today are born with pesticide build-up in their bodies. In animal studies organophosphate exposure has been linked to developmental delays, behavioral disorders, and motor dysfunction.
• Organic means no-GMO: The true environmental impact and long-term health effects of Genetic Modification of crops (i.e., Genetically Modified Organisms, GMO) is not known. Using certified 100 percent organic products is one way to keep genetic engineering out of your food because the use of biotechnology is not allowed in organic crops or livestock. It should be noted, however, that because of the reality of occasional pollen drift from conventional crops to organic ones, the USDA organic regulations allow up to five percent of unavoidable, unintentional contamination levels for certain prohibited substances, including GMOs, in organic crops.
• Organic is More Ethical to Animals: The livestock subjected to conventional farming methods are suffering tremendously. It is difficult to grasp this concept because their suffering is well hidden from the every-day awareness of grocery shoppers and users of animal products. Buying certified organic animal products helps protect livestock from horrendous conditions, though there is still much room for improvement especially as organic farming grows into large-scale mass productions.