Going Green: Eating Organic verses shipped in foods.

In the article “Eating Food That’s Better for You, Organic or Not”, Mark Bittman says, in referring to organic food, “It seems to have become the magic cure-all, synonymous with eating well, healthfully, sanely, even enthusiastically.” In reality what was really needed was to just eat the proper foods, especially plant foods. The America public was eating too much junk food and as a result becoming obese. The organic movement brought this to the American public’s eyes.    

However, from the time they started the organic food movement there has been a lot of controversy over whether organic foods were healthy for us or not. Mark Bittman, of the New York Times, stated that “In the six-and-one-half years since the federal government began certifying food as “organic,” Americans have taken to the idea with considerable enthusiasm” I remember when foods were grown locally. The foods were fresher and tasted better. Fresh foods also kept their flavor better because they were brought to your local grocer straight from the farms. The farmer did not pick the food until it had ripened properly. If you like to cook you know the fresher the food the better the meal will be.

Of course going completely organic wasn’t a bad idea. People were concerned about all the chemicals being used to keep insects off the crops. They were afraid that these chemicals were harmful to humans. In order to be called organic food, it needed to be grown naturally, without any chemicals being added. The Federal Government set strict guidelines on what could be called organic. This means no insect repellants or chemical additives, like nitrogen, or other fertilizers, to enhance growth. You also had to use natural compost for fertilizer. Another reason for going organic was that all of the chemicals used to protect the crops from insects, or enhance growth, were polluting our rivers and streams and killing the fish.

Foods today are brought to you local grocer from as far away as 1200 miles. Some foods are shipped to you from other countries. The food loses flavor and nutrients in transport. They have to be picked before they are ripened in order to keep a longer shelf life. This is a very good reason why consumers should buy locally. Not only locally grown vegetables but milk as well. 

When I was a kid there were several local mom and pop dairies. You did not have to worry about old milk getting to your local grocer. Not too long ago the milk companies were worried about how sunlight depleted the calcium out of the milk and as a result put milk in containers that kept the sunlight out.  Now the farmers raise the cows organically without shots or chemicals in their food. Daniel Indiviglio of The Atlantic wrote “Opening an organic farm probably has a pretty high entry cost. The cows were raised on grass or hay out in the pasture. Most traditional farmers give the cattle shots with a lot of antibiotics. It was believed that these antibiotics would be consumed from eating these processed animals. As a result, humans were getting too many antibiotics into their system. The human body built up a resistance to these antibiotics which prevented humans from using antibiotics in order to fight off illnesses. But with organic milk, under strict government guidelines on organic foods, the farmers don’t give their cows these shots.  

Going organic helped bring the people’s attention to what we were doing to our world and to ourselves. But it came at a cost to the American public. It seems that every time someone wants to do something for the good of the consumer, it comes at a great cost. Everything that had an organic sticker on it increased in price at least twofold. Katie Zezima mentions in her article printed in the New York Times that “income has soared 20 percent, and supermarket orders were skyrocketing. But soon the price of organic feed shot up. Then the recession hit, and families looking to save on groceries found organic milk easy to do without”. This did not make much since to me because the cost of insecticides and chemical fertilizers was removed from the cost of growing the food. The food was grown locally verses being shipped in. This eliminated the cost of transportation.

Of course on the up side of the equation the farmer did better profit wise because of the higher prices for his farm products. But this only lasted for a short time. After the new wore off of this fad consumers got tired of paying the higher prices and went back to buying the less expensive foods. Another problem for the organic farmer was the downturn of the economy. The consumer couldn’t afford the higher priced organic foods and started to buy the less expensive foods grown by traditional farmers. 

Steven Gray, Organic Consumers Association, writes “because of the organic movement in the U.S. all of the major food chains have started to get on the band wagon with stocking their shelves with the organic foods. By doing this it should bring the cost of organic products down through competition. If this happens the consumer should go back to buying the healthier organic foods”. 

If you don’t want to buy from your local markets, you can always grow your own organic foods in your backyard. I grow several vegetables in my garden. I also use natural compost in order to grow these vegetables. I never use insecticides on my plants. I love to be able to eat these vegetables fresh out of my garden. This is my way of going green and cutting back on my carbon foot print. This is also my way of feeding my family fresh foods with all of their natural nutrients in them fresh from the garden. If more people were to grow small gardens in their own yards this would help in a big way in cleaning up our environment as well as becoming healthier.

Fresh foods grown locally, not only helps in promoting healthy bodies, but it also helps your local economy as well. You keep the money locally instead of sending it out of state or out of the country.  

In the long run going green and eating organic foods is healthier all around. Everyone should do their share to clean up their carbon footprint in order to have a cleaner healthier world for ourselves and our grandkids.

--Donald Hampton