The True Nature of Organic Foods

Since the late 1990’s there has been a significant rise in the popularity of organic foods. The industry has risen from 3.7 billion dollars in 1997 to over 25.6 billion dollars in 2010. (Smith-Spangler, 2012, pp. 348-366)This increase is due to a market switch as more Americans look for healthier foods for their families. This shift in the market has built around a fear of harmful ingredients and chemicals in foods. The organic foods are built around this health factor as the industry heavily markets the benefits of their foods. What really is better about organic foods though? There are claims that the food has more vitamins and minerals as well as containing less contaminates and pesticides. This paper will take a look at the history of agriculture in the United States as well as the growth of the organic movement. Recent Consumer demand has been shifting the market for organics and the recent trends will be reviewed. The vitamin, mineral and nutritional content will be examined as well as organic farming regulations and the tainting of food through pesticides, contaminants and food borne illness. Dr. Walter J. Crinninon provides an opposing viewpoint on the state of organic foods and farming that is very supportive of the current state of organic foods and his article will be summarized and rebutted. Organic foods have no benefits today that are great enough to justify the additional cost.

Organic farming is not a new technique, since the dawn of time we have actually been farming organically. Farmers would have to tend to their crops daily to prevent them crops from being destroyed. Farmers had to worry about rain cycles, constant pests, disease among the crops, and had to use hard manual labor to sow their fields. Agri...

... middle of paper ...

...arket trends changing there is an increased demand for organic foods but these goods are at an increased cost. Organic farming and products are significantly more expensive and there are not any studies that support a significant difference in the vitamin, mineral, and nutritional content. Organic farm regulations are too loose and there is great variability in the maturity status of farms that is not recognized .Organic foods have a much lower rate of risk for pesticides due to organic farming techniques that exclude synthetic pesticides but a raised risk for E Coli contaminants through organic manure. Organic foods have no benefits today that are great enough to justify the additional cost. Consumers are often uninformed on where their food comes from or what is in it and this paper is intended to help them make better decisions about the foods they purchase.