Is there a point to buying organic?

fugg

Over the past month, with the approaching date of the Copenhagen summit, several news and scientific articles have been prominently dedicated to various environmental issues, namely organic farming, the sustainability of keeping high levels of meat in our diets and its growth in developing countries, as well as the sustainability in general of feeding such a huge global population. There is of course also the question of developing alternative fuel sources for transport in the absence of oil security, and the controversial question of first generation biodiesels since they are all food crops whose environmental virtues have been thoroughly questioned.
This was a feature on Reuters http://www.reuters.com/article/domes...dChannel=11621 about GM crops vs organic farming.

The general public of course takes a better view of the old man who kindly tends to his naturally growing farm that doesn't significantly suffer from pests and diseases, than the supposedly more commercially oriented and 'heartless' GM crops that increase yields and potentially make farms more profitable.

The view that the scientific community seems to espouse is that organic farming, though nice in principle, is not sustainable beyond redeeming the conscience of the West's upper middle class.

So then, organic farming is not actually so virtuous, since all it does is apply a model that is by nature small scale to cater to a niche and rich market. There was also the recent research that concluded there was virtually no nutritional difference between organic and the rest. Although intensive farming may have side-effects for the soil, the main culprit here is not greedy farmers or evil scientists performing wicked experiments in a lab, but the sheer size of the population. If we're to make food prices affordable to feed the world, we need these methods.

I used to buy organic when it was on offer because I thought I might be doing something positive as a consumer with little difference to my wallet, but now I'm more reluctant to take such a simplistic view. Considering the above, is there really a point to buying organic, given the realities of the global scale social and economic conditions of both?

hypatia

I buy organic, because its a healthy choice for me. Fruits like peaches and strawberry's, along with veggies like spinach and celery, contain more pesticides then I feel safe to consume. It also helps the small farmers, who would other wise be eaten up by the large conglomerate farming companies.

At the farm market in Detroit, prices are better then the grocery stores. You tend to see a lot of lower income people taking advantage of that.

The small organic farmer can often pick his crop and bring it to market in less then 12 hours. I will continue to support locally grown foods. It is actually really neat to sit around a old farm house and talk to people who have 5 generations of family invested in the land, they really have a lot to offer.

turbo-1

I garden organically, using organically-grown seeds and NO chemical fertilizers or pesticides. There is a strong contingent of organic growers and farmers here in Maine, and we are under threat from the spread of GMO crops. Crops that are wind-pollinated or are pollinated by wide-ranging insects can be contaminated by GMO crops being grown nearby. That is not such a pressing problem for me, because I grow for consumption. It is a very serious problem for the consortium of organic farmers that supply FedCo Seeds with all of its organic seeds. They have to abide by some very stringent guidelines to retain their "organic" classification, and cross-pollination from GMO crops can ruin years and years of hard work.

Skyhunter

I volunteer with a non-profit, City Slicker Farms, helping urbanites grow food in the city.

I grow as much of my own food as I can, and the rest I buy from local organic farmers or in bulk from one of my local natural grocers.