Why I Eat (mostly) Organic

My wife and I are members at the Marquette Food Co-op, and we love going to the farmer's market.  We really try to eat as organic and unprocessed as possible.  We're not nutcases about it (at least not our definition of nutcase), because sometimes you just need a Butterburger from Culver's or something good from Frosty Treats. But these are the exceptions, not the rule.  So, in the spirit of working out my thoughts in my blog, I'm going to list the reasons why I choose to feed my family this way, and counter some of the reasons against it.  Despite my media background, I'm not going to cite my sources and I'm going to make some generalizations, but the information that backs this stuff is readily available in a quick Google search. OK, here we go!

1. It was one of our first commands.  We were commanded to care for and rule the world with respect for the one who created it.  He made things to work optimally a certain way, which I believe is not the way modern commercial agriculture goes about raising crops and livestock.

2. Modern commercial farming is driven primarily by money.  This will inevitably lead to every decision being evaluated by reducing costs and increasing profits.  Local, organic farming is driven by maintaining the natural ecosystems that work together to produce a good harvest.

3. You are what you eat.  The old adage "garbage in, garbage out" is true with what we eat, too.  It goes a little deeper than that, too, because the food we eat is what it eats, too.  Modern commercial farming depletes the soil of it's natural resources, and it's replenished with artificial fertilizers that aren't as nutritious to the plants as their natural setting is, which in turn produces a less nutritious product.  Organic farming keeps the soil rich by crop rotation and using natural fertilizers optimal to each plant's diet.
    This also goes for pesticides, too.  I read an excerpt from a speech Prince Charles gave that stated the average person on a Western (Europe, US, Canada) diet consumes around a gallon of diesel a day in pesticides.  Not literally, but it's referring to the amount of petroleum-based pesticides needed to produce the fruits and vegetables in that diet.  And we do consume some of those residual pesticides left on the fruits and veggies.  Remember, they are oil-based, they don't just rinse off.  Organic farming only uses natural pesticides, if at all.  They also use natural pest repellents, like strategically planting certain plants near others to drive certain pests away.
   Let's talk livestock, hormones, and genetically modified stuff.  Organically, livestock is fed a healthy diet free of growth hormones, antibiotics, and that is full of nutrition specific to that animal.  Plants are not genetically modified in any way, but are grown and cared for like they were originally intended, because again, organic farming is not driven primarily by money.  Sure, the apples from a commercial farm might be gigantic, but they are less nutrient-dense then their organic counterparts, and contain traces of all kinds of junk I don't want to feed my family.
   Summing up a long #3, organic farming doesn't try to "improve" on God's original design.  There is a lot of research starting to emerge linking artificial fertilizers, pesticides, growth hormones, antibiotics, and genetic modifications to cancer and other diseases and conditions.  Search for it, you'll find it.

4. "But it costs so much!"  You're right.  It is more expensive.  There is a cost, for sure.  But to me, it's totally worth it.  It's worth knowing that I'm feeding my family the best quality, healthiest stuff I can get.  The benefits are that we, in turn, are more healthy, can fight off diseases better, and overall just "feel" better.  Not to mention the fact that it tastes better, too!
   Also, it is really important to me to sow into the local community.  I know the amount of extra work required to farm and raise livestock this way, and I'm all for supporting it.  Money is just a tool to advance the kingdom, and I totally see it as a worthwhile investment to sow into the lives of local farmers, and not into a greed machine (whoa Phil, little bit of strong language there).

5. "But it can't feed the world's growing population!"  Baloney!  Why else is it called "sustainable" agriculture. Another excerpt from the Prince's speech (I think it was to a university in Georgia recently) stated that the local, organic farm is the most productive food-producing engine in the world.


Alright, I think that's enough for now.  I'm going to keep writing about it, as it's something I'm passionate about and want to educate others about.  It's not just the farming itself, but I'm starting to see the wonder of the harmony God built into these natural ecosystems that is capable of sustaining incredible amounts of food for us, without our needing to modify any part of it.  It's designed in a way that works best, why not cooperate with that?

Right?

PB