Is organic food worth the extra money?

People in society today have focused more and more of their attention on their health and improving their lifestyles. However, with the growing use of the internet and social media, people are also exposed to more and more inaccurate information. Often, a topic tends to gain popularity if it is associated with a “cure all” product, thus creating an economic benefit. This then creates more promotion from businesses to gain more profit. These trends can include release of new products, promoting a specific daily lifestyle, etc. One major topic that has gained vast popularity in society today is that organic food is healthier for the consumer as opposed to non-organic produce. 

Despite the term “organic farming” being coined by Lord Northbourne during the 1940s, growing demand for organic food has become more popular in recent years as more people have begun to research their benefits compared to non-organic products. According to a Harvard study, organic agriculture does have benefits, such as decreased synthetic pesticide residue found in food, along with less hormone and antibiotics being flooded into our grown produce. Organic products are often grown with the assistance of natural compost, nitrogen-fixing plants, or natural fertilizers made from produce residue. Aside from these few contributions, organic food does not seem to have greater nutritional values compared to non-organic foods. Researchers at Stanford University School of Medicinehave explained that there is just simply not enough evidence to determine that organic food is healthier. The organics industry is a growing $29 billion industry, which contributes to the rising demand for organic produce as businesses over-promote the few benefits organic produce has to humans.

Despite the lack of evidence for organics as a whole, a small percentage of foods have been shown to contain higher levels of certain vitamins and minerals, which has been associated with assuming all organic food has higher levels of vitamins and minerals. All agricultural produce is grown with independent genetic makeup and variables, and actually differ from each individual piece of produce. Studies that have compared organic food to non-organic food faces variables such as ripeness of the products picked, and whether or not the products even came from the same farm under the same exact conditions. 

The organics industry has grown tremendously due to the expense of producing and maintaining organic produce from organic farms. The cost of maintaining and organic farm has also increased profit and economic revenue, and therefore encourages other people to produce organic products, too. In fact, organic farm owner Roger Wassonexplains on a podcast with author Darryl Benjamin and chef Lyndon Virkler that some businesses and organizations have been caught promoting organic goods, when in fact they were non-organic goods and sometimes did not even come from an organic farm. This is known as false labeling and is a discouraging, common trend among growing farmers who claim to be organic. While organic farming has not been directly proven to be healthier for human consumption, it has been shown to be better for the environment by reducing polluted runoff and soil erosion, uses less energy, and has shown to have a positive effect on neighboring birds and animals as they ingest less pesticides.