Is organic really that much better?

Organic food and sustainability Producing food without chemical pesticides has many benefits.

Organic

systems have been shown to produce 40% higher yields in times of drought, use 45% less energy and release 40% less carbon emissions than conventional cultivation methods (Rodale Institute).

Organic foods

are not healthier in and of themselves in terms of nutrients. You're still getting the same benefits from conventionally grown foods as from organic foods.

According to data from the USDA, organic foods have less pesticide residues than conventionally grown products. However, the quantities of both types of products are within the safe consumption level. And it's not clear if the pesticides used in organic agriculture are safer than the non-synthetic pesticides used in conventional agriculture. The verdict on pesticides and fertilizers in terms of the long-term impact on health has not yet been delivered on pesticides and fertilizers.

There are many other variables in the environment. It's hard to say that the peach pesticide was the root cause of a health problem, McManus says. In addition, there is no evidence of clinically relevant differences between organic and conventional milk. In addition, not only do organic foods have more nutrients, such as antioxidants and omega-3 fatty acids, but they are also considered to taste better.

While not all of these environmental factors can be directly compared in terms of their global contribution to environmental impacts (for example, energy is not that important in terms of environmental impact, because agriculture accounts for only about 2% of total energy use), there are a surprising number of cases where organic products perform worse than conventional products. Organic agriculture uses some synthetic pesticides (approved) and, for the most part, biopesticides, which are natural biochemical pesticides, such as neem oil extracted from a tree. The reason why organic food is much worse for the climate is that yields per hectare are much lower, mainly because no fertilizers are used. Organic principles and regulations are also designed to ensure that animals are treated humanely or, to be brutally honest, as humanely as possible.

When it comes to meat and dairy products, animals that are not raised organically are often given growth hormones that increase milk production and steroids that help promote growth and produce more meat. Check out the Environmental Working Group's Clean Fifteen list of foods you can buy normal and the Dirty Dozen list of foods you should spend more on to buy organic products. A study also reported that chickens fed an organic diet showed reduced weight gain and had a stronger immune system (2). In addition, a recent study found that, since organic agriculture is now mainly carried out by large corporations, not local producers, and lower yields, combined with the intensive use of machinery, mean that, in general, in terms of emissions and pollution, organic agriculture is often worse than conventional agriculture.

When the Soil Association, a major accreditation body for organic products in the United Kingdom, asked consumers why they bought organic food, 95% of them answered that their main reason was to avoid pesticides. In addition, since organic foods do not contain GMOs at all and, therefore, some plants are less resistant, in some cases more pesticides have to be used (organic pesticides, but they are still pesticides) and the difference between organic pesticides and common pesticides is not that big. Organic crops may have less nitrate and more of certain vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. The Dr.

Marco Springmann, a senior researcher at Oxford who has been studying the impact of the food system for years, explained to me that for organic agriculture, “the really important thing is that we just need more land. .