Organic Motivations

CNN carried a story about a study concluding that organic produce does not contain more nutrients than the same five fruits and veggies (carrots, kale, mature peas, apples and potatoes) conventionally grown.

That is certainly a bummer for the organic food industry, which would no doubt like to make nutrition claims about the food. But, Michaeal Pollan, in The Omnivore's Dilemma, cites a similar 2003 UC Davis study that found corn, strawberries and blackberries grown organically had more vitamin C and polyphenols than conventionally grown ones in neighboring plots. So, does it vary from plant to plant, place to place, or is something else going on?

More to the point, I don't think most people buy organic food because they believe it has more vitamins. I think they do it because they don't want to risk eating food with any pesticide residues. They may also do it because they want to reduce the amount of pesticides and petrochemical fertilizer entering the environment, or because they want to support agricultural practices in which the workers aren't exposed to such chemicals.

As with so many things, though, organic farming is not an across-the-board win. Sigh. The CNN story mentions a 2006 report by the University of Manchester Business School investigating the environmental impacts of food. While organic food used less pesticide, the land requirements were often greater--presumably because the crop yield was reduced.

The energy requirements for organic milk were less than conventional, but the land use was greater, and the greenhouse gas emissions per gallon were higher for organic. And, according to the study summary, "organic wheat production has higher impact than non-organic," mainly because its eutrophying emissions are higher.

This is just one example of why shopping these days is such a paralyzing experience: when choosing which apple to buy becomes a trade off between deforming the local frogs or drowning the polar bears, it feels easier to go hungry.

Fortunately, Consumer Reports offers some advice on which fruits and veggies are worth buying organic--at least from a pesticide perspective.

(Image: Flickr user Scoobymoo. Some rights reserved.)

Comments

[Arrgyle]

I was curious if the Manchester Business School Report took into account the tendency of conventional farming methods to decrease the viability of the soil over time compared to organic farming methods.

[Arrgyle]

Similarly, did the Manchester report take into account the amount of energy used and amount of greenhouse gases emitted to develop and transport the pesticides and fertilizers used in the conventional farming / milking methods compared to the organic methods?