Organic food is seen as the protagonist at the grocery stores, free of synthetic chemicals and genetic modification. Consumers are willing to pay more for this so called clean food that also seems to come from ethical farms that treat plants, animals, and the planet with care. However, organic foods have a darker side that is not widely known.
It is important to first debunk the myth of organic foods being free of fertilizers and chemicals. While organic farmers do not use synthetic chemicals, they still use organic pesticides and fertilizers which experts have warned are not necessarily any less toxic than synthetic ones. An even larger issue is that the organic chemicals have to be used in greater amounts, and thus their environmental impact is much heavier. This article goes more into comparing synthetic versus organic fertilizers: https://www.fixr.com/comparisons/organic-vs-synthetic-fertilizer
This segues to another issue – the use of space. As a result of lower fertilizing power, more land is needed to produce the organic food compared to the same quantity of conventional food. This leads to more problems such as greater rates of deforestation. This also reduces the soil’s capacity to store carbon. Finally, it contributes to more greenhouse gas emissions. The Conversation Global contributor on the Huffington Post backs this: “Organic farming typically yields less product – about 19-25% less. Once we account for that efficiency difference and examine environmental performance per amount of food produced, the organic advantage becomes less certain (few studies have examined this question). Indeed, on some variables, such as water quality and greenhouse gas emissions, organic farms may perform worse than conventional farms, because lower yields per hectare can translate into more land-clearing.”
Consumers are also misled by companies that put on a show of being ethical and treating their animals with care. For example, brands put images of happy cows on milk products as a marketing gimmick. However, large organic farms treat animals with around the same as non-organic farms. Most cows on organic farms also live short, stressful lives with unhealthy milking schedules and limited grazing space. In addition, a lot of larger farms with these unsustainable practices are able to overshadow smaller businesses with lower prices, leaving potentially ethical products unable to compete.
There is also an issue of accountability and oversight when it comes to the organic farm industry. Farms are able to hire “accountability” firms to check their operations, but since these are private organizations, whose interest do they have in mind? This article goes more into holding the organic food industry https://ensia.com/voices/whos-keeping-organic-food-honest/.
As consumers, we can do research and find out what products are really worth buying organic. Certain foods are better to consume organic, but others can be purchased normally, saving both money on the consumer’s end and saving their money from going to unethical companies. Here is a cheat sheet for popular produce: https://www.onhealth.com/content/1/organic_food_nutrition.
I had no idea about the different issues with organic foods that you mentioned. While I assumed that the organic label was often slightly misleading and a way to make more money off of consumers that are trying to be health-conscious, I didn’t realize that organic foods were actively harming the environment with the practices you mentioned. It’s appalling to hear how much these “healthy” foods actually contribute to deforestation and environmental pollution. I also thought that your point about ethics was interesting. It reminded me of the controversy a year or so ago surrounding Fairlife milk (in which videos surfaced of animals being treated poorly at one of the farms that the company sourced its milk from). Fairlife isn’t organic, but it still has the same principle of the marketing of a product painting a much happier picture of animal treatment compared to the harsh reality. Good post!
Hi Su! When I hear about organic foods, I always think about food that is healthier, more fresh, and more “natural” (whatever that means) – at the cost of it being a more expensive option as well. Honestly, before this post, I did not truly know what it meant for food to be so-called “100% organic”. I definitely did not expect the industry to be as “sketchy” as it really is, but it seems that my eyes have now been opened in business. It seems to me that the issues involved within the realm of organic foods are more nuanced than I may have initially thought. Very informative post as always.