Why Organics?

I believe that eating "organic" labeled foods is a good idea. After all, do I want to risk eating vegetable skins contaminated with pesticides? I recently became aware of a wider range of reasons why: for my family's health and the planet's health. In the "old days" smaller farms grew a variety of crops and farm animals were a part of the fertilization and rejuvenation of the land. Due to the diversity and frequent rotation of crops, nutrients were kept in balance and the vegetables harvested tasted as they were supposed to and were rich in their nutrients. Ever notice the difference between carrots and tomatoes from your garden and those bought in the supermarket? Soils long ago depleted of nutrient, and fruit picked very unripe so as to ripen on its long journey to the supermarket often result in tasteless and nutrient-deficient produce.

Further to this and somewhat more of a concern, is that the produce may have been grown from genetically modified (GM) seeds. These seeds have within their make up the genetic background of chemicals used to keep insects and pests off the plants. The involuntary trend away from small sustainable farms, using Heritage Seeds, to the large agribusinesses using GM seeds has frightening consequences. These large companies grow strains of crops that yield the highest amount for market values. What we lose is the genetic variation that is present in nature. In times of disease the entire strain is at risk. For example in Asia in 1970 the rice crops on which hundreds of millions of people depend, was threatened by a virus. After searching through 47,000 varieties of rice they found only one type, in India, that could resist this disease. Shortly after this crucial discovery the valley in India where this particular rice was grown was flooded for a hydroelectric project. Fortunately the outbreak happened when it did. Had this virus occurred one year later Asia would have had no rice crops!

In North America a few very large multinational corporations are taking over farmland. These companies - Monsanto, Dupont and Dow, to name a few - are also buying up seed companies in an effort to patent the world seeds. In January 2005 Seminis, the world's leading seed company, was bought up by Monsanto who is now called "Lord of the Seeds". World leaders are pressured to cooperate with multinational corporations using unsustainable and potentially dangerous agriculture practices. Creating new markets in the developing world for their agricultural technology, these large companies produce food at low cost, often using slave labour and then turn around and sell it at huge profits to the developed world. Ever notice how, over the past ten years, products such as prawns have dropped significantly in price? Check where they are coming from. Farm-raised prawns are dependent on heavy use of growth hormones and antibiotics. Farmed prawns from China, Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan and Indonesia have been found to contain cancer-causing chloramphenicol and nitrofuran antibiotics. A better buy for your health are organic Tiger Prawns from Iceland or wild caught shrimp both local and imported.

Another warning signal regarding GM crops is that animals have an instinctive aversion to them. Wild geese avoid genetically altered Canola fields while raccoons frequently raid organic cornfields and avoid GM crops which may be planted across the road. Cows turn up their noses at GM corn and deer have been recorded decimating an organic farmers tofu beans while leaving the neighbouring Monsanto's Round Up Ready soy crop untouched! Lab rats and mice, who love tomatoes, refuse to eat GM ones or GM grain. Rats fed GM potatoes suffered weakened immune systems and damage to thymus and spleen, while some developed enlarged pancreases and intestines.

If this isn't enough encouragement to think "organic", the fact that every calorie of food we are provided with from our high-travel supermarket food has already burned ten times the calories of fossil fuel before it reaches our plate. Shopping for locally-grown or as close to it as we can, makes sense. Even with organics, some are now in the hands of big business and the organic "factory farms" where acres of monocrops are grown, relying on enormous amounts of subsidized water and fossil fuel, are supporting a weak system. Although they do not use chemical fertilizers, they may be cutting down invaluable rainforest to grow a limited number of crops before the value of the soil is depleted and they move on.

"Deep Organics" are committed to raising a diverse variety of plants and animals, enriching their soil and rotating fields, ensuring against disease and pest outbreaks. The natural resources in deep organics are respected and replenished, preserving a self sustaining ecosystem. The wastes in this type of farming don't contaminate watersheds. An example: if your coffee reads "Organic" vs "Shade Grown / Fair Trade / Organic" you may be buying from an industrial organic farm where the rainforest has been cut to mass-produce coffee on increasingly depleted soil and harvested by underpaid workers.

For your health, the following are "must have" organics, due to the amount of chemical residues in the non-organics: tomatoes, potatoes, winter squash, spinach, celery, green beans, apples, peaches, grapes, cherries, raspberries and strawberries. Whenever possible, buy local ,sustainable foods. Sometimes it may mean we eat or drink a little less, but the more people like you and I buy "organics" the more sustainable farming is encouraged. For more information on which suppliers provide non-GM foods try www.truefoodnow.org. For an incredible eye opener, read Harvest For Hope: A Guide For Mindful Eating by Jane Goodall.

- Marg Evans, Coordinator, Cariboo Chilcotin Conservation Society

About Us • Public Education • Species at Risk • Projects • Other Activities • Membership

Marg Evans

About Us • Public Education • Species at Risk • Projects • Other Activities • Membership