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Top 10 Reasons to Buy
Organic Food
1. Protect Future Generations
"We have not inherited the Earth from our fathers,
we are borrowing it from our children."-Lester Brown
The average child receives four times more exposure than
an adult to at least eight widely cancer-causing pesticides
in food. Food choices you make now will impact your child's
future health.
2. Prevent Soil Erosion
The soil Conservation Service estimates more than 3
billion tons of topsoil are eroded from the United States'
croplands each year. That means soil erodes seven times faster
than it's built up naturally.
Soil is the foundation of the food chain in organic farming.
However, in conventional farming, the soil is used more as
a medium for holding plants in a vertical position so they
can be chemically fertilized. As a result, American farms
are suffering from the worst soil erosion in history.
3. Protect Water Quality
Water makes up two thirds of our body mass and covers
three-fourths of the planet. The Environmental Protection
Agency (LEPA) estimates pesticides- some cancer causing- contaminate
the groundwater in 38 states, polluting the primary source
of drinking water for more than half the country's population.
4. Save Energy
American farms have changed drastically in the last
three generations, from family-based small businesses dependent
on human energy to large-scale factory farms. Modern farming
uses more petroleum than any other single industry, consuming
12 percent of the country's total energy supply. More energy
is now used to produce synthetic fertilizers than to till,
cultivate and harvest all the crops in the United States.
Organic farming is still based on labor intensive practices
such as hand weeding and green manure and crop covers instead
of synthetic fertilizers to support soil.
5. Keep Chemicals Off Your Plate
Many pesticides approved for use by the EPA were registered
long before extensive research linking these chemicals to
cancer and other diseases had been established. Now the EPA
considers 60 percent of all herbicides, 90 percent of all
fungicides and 30 percent of all insecticides carcinogenic.
A 1987 National Academy of Sciences report estimated that
pesticides might cause an extra 4 million cancer cases among
Americans. The bottom line is that pesticides are poisons
designed to kill living organisms and can also harm humans.
In addition to cancer, pesticides are implicated in berth
defects, nerve damage and genetic mutations.
6. Protect Farm Workers
A National Cancer Institute study found that farmers
exposed to herbicides had six times more risk than non-farmers
of contracting cancer. In California, reported pesticide poisonings
among farm workers have risen and average of 14 percent a
year since 1973 and doubled between 1975 and 1985. Field workers
suffer the highest rates of occupational illness in the state.
Farm worker health is also a serious problem in developing
nations, where pesticide use can be poorly regulated. An estimated
1 million people are poisoned annually by pesticides.
7. Help Small Farmers
Although more and more large-scale farms are making
the conversion to organic practices, most organic farms are
small, independelntly owned family farms of fewer than 100
acres.
It's estimated than 650,000 family farms in the past decade.
And with the U.S. Department of Agriculture predicting that
half of this country's farm production will come from 1 percent
of farms by the year 2000, organic farming could be one of
the few survival tactics left for family farms.
8. Support A True Economy
Although organic foods might seem more expensive than
conventional foods, conventional food prices don't reflect
hidden costs borne by taxpayers, including nearly $74 billion
in federal subsidies in 1988. Other hidden costs include pesticide
regulation and testing, hazardous waste disposal and cleanup,
and environmental damage. For instance, if you add in the
environmental and social costs of irrigation to ah of lettuce,
its price would range between $2 and $3.
9. Promote Bio-diversity
Mono-cropping is the practice of planting large plots
of land with the same crop year after year. While this approach
tripled farm production between 1950 and 1970, the lack of
natural diversity of plant life has left the soil lacking
in natural mineral and nutrients. To replace the nutrients,
chemical fertilizers are use, often in increasing amounts.
Single crops are also much more susceptible to pest, making
farmers more reliant on pesticides. Despite a tenfold increase
in the use of pesticides between 1947 and 1974, crop losses
due to insects have doubled-partly because some insects have
become genetically resistant to certain pesticides.
10. Taste: Better Flavor
There's a good reason why many chefs use organic foods
in their recipes- they taste better. Organic farming starts
with the nourishment of the soil, which eventually leads to
the nourishment of the plant and, ultimately, our palates.
Excerpted from an Article by Sylvia Tawse, marketing coordinator
for Alfalfa's Markets in Boulder, Dever and Vail, Colorado.
For More information go to www.pioneerorganics.com
Lovejoy
Harvest
Shakti Chionis, Reiki Master/Teacher
Whole Foods Chef and Culinary Artist
P.O. Box 864
Coupeville, WA 98239
shakti@lovejoyharvest.com
By appointment only....360-678-5657
© Copyright 2006
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