How your food is grown or raised can have a major impact on your mental and emotional health as well as the environment. Here are our top 10 reasons to go organic today!
1. GMO free:
Animals are not allowed to eat genetically modified foods. Farmers growing organic food are not allowed to use artificial means to grow crops faster or bigger and they are not allowed to use plant feed or sprays that contain GMO’s. Having the organic label guarantees GMO free.
2. Free of antibiotics and added hormones:
Animals raised organically are not allowed to be fed antibiotics, the bovine growth hormone (rbGH), or other artificial drugs. Also, animal products certified as organic can not have their genes modified. The animals are raised in a healthier environment, fed organic feed, and often eat a wider range of nutrients than those raised in factory farms (as would be the case of free-range chickens that are not organic).
3. Benefit from more nutrients:
Organically grown foods have more nutrients—vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, enzymes, and micronutrients than commercially grown foods because the soil is managed and nourished with sustainable practices by responsible standards. A review of 41 published studies comparing the nutritional value of organically grown and conventionally grown fruits, vegetables, and grains and concluded that there are significantly higher nutrients in organic foods crops.
On average, organically grown foods provide: 21.1% more iron, 27% more vitamin C; 29.3% more magnesium; 13.6% more phosphorus than their conventional counterparts.
4. Reduce pollution and chemical exposure:
Agricultural pesticides, chemicals and fertilizers that would normally contaminate our environment and destroy fertile land are not permitted in organic farming. Residues of persistent chemicals such as DDT, PCBs, dioxin and many pesticides concentrate in animal fat. Eating organic animal meat reduces your exposure to these chemicals. Organic agriculture works for a healthy balance of the soil, including using crop rotation and other techniques to improve soil fertility, instead of controlling the environment with chemicals.
5. Manure:
Small farms use it, industrial farms pollute with it. On small, diverse farms, manure is used to naturally fertilize soil. Industrial farms produce so much manure, on the other hand, that it is a human health risk. The overspill of manure can contaminate wells with E.coli and other pathogens. Sustainable farms use their manure productively as organic fertilizer. The manure is ‘pure’ coming from animals fed organic diets.
6. Reduce pollution and protect water and soil:
Agricultural chemicals, pesticides, and fertilizers are contaminating our environment, poisoning our precious water supplies, and destroying the value of fertile farmland. Certified organic standards do not permit the use of toxic chemicals in farming and require responsible management of healthy soil and biodiversity.
7. More humane, ethical treatment of animals:
Factory farms treat animals like commodities, and they are kept in tightly confined pens and often never more than a few feet their whole lives. Buy meat and eggs raised from chickens raised outdoors free ranging and grazing.
8. Agricultural diversity:
Industrial farms rely on just a few species of cattle, chickens, pigs, potatoes etc. whereas small sustainable farms tend to raise a wider variety of livestock and grow a wider selection of vegetables. Entire species of livestock and agricultural crops can die out if they are not raised on farms. Support diversity by supporting diversity on your local farms. Buy their organic fruits, vegetables, milk, eggs and meat.
9. Preserve our ecosystems and our children’s future:
Organic farming supports eco-sustenance, or farming in harmony with nature. Preservation of soil and crop rotation keep farmland healthy, and chemical abstinence preserves the ecosystem. Wildlife, insects, frogs, birds, and soil organisms are able to play their roles in the tapestry of ecology, and we are able to play ours, without interference or compromise.
10. Organic food tastes better:
Organically grown foods generally taste better when it is grown in nourished well balanced soil that produces healthy, strong plants. For example, heirloom varieties are cultivated for taste rather than appearance.
