We all pay the prime cost of a healthier lifestyle, that’s just the reality of the markets. If their is a healthier more cleaner choice, companies can upcharge the price. If you really take it into retrospect, food we buy that do not contain chemicals such as pesticides and is grown naturally not GMO (generically modified organisms) then we have to pay more money. This reality is insane and really offsetting to many people just realizing how badly food needs to be grown in an organic way. To be honest there are a lot of points and off points I can go off on.
For starters the basic definition of organic is this:
Food or farming methods produced or involving production without the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or other artificial agents. *Definition from Oxford Dictionary also known to Google Search Engine*
Right off the bat those two lines tell a lot. Especially naming all the bad stuff that goes into growing conventional foods. Clearly it tells how the whole process of growing conventional food uses chemicals every step of the way. From the fertilizers in the dirt to the sprays they use onto the crops. It is clear big food corporations needed to keep up with the demand in the food market so they used methods in which kept costs low & profits high.
This is where a little history comes in. After WWII, the population exploded, baby boomers, with this came more of a demand for produce. How did the US keep up with this new demand? Pesticides, many actually but most popular was DDT. This chemical was used in the military to control insects carrying typhus in many countries. In the 1970’s DDT was officially banned. Why you may wonder? Well mainly this chemical made people sick, when studied more closely the experiments conducted on animals showed signs of liver & reproduction failures. It is even considered to be a possible human carcinogen. Carcinogens are what basically damages cells and ultimately become cancer.
Organic foods promotes healthy, and clean farming practices. But unfortunately this takes time and is seen as taking money away from the corporations who are keen to gain profits. Usually farmers in the organic trade are paid a bit more fairly than those growing conventional foods. But with growing things naturally means less control. This could enable food shortages, and lack of ‘perfect’ foods worthy of pictures and displays.
We have to weigh both the cons and the pros of pesticides to see this in a more non bias way. America needed to be fed, and demand was very high, consumerism has been rising for years. With pesticides, markets were able to deliver pretty, large and plentiful foods at low prices. This kept food shortages almost non worrying since the farms were able to produce year round. But by doing this we enabled a flow of illnesses. Low income homes can afford more conventional produce because the price is low. Higher income homes are able to afford the organic produce thus leading to healthier bodies. But we should all wonder why so many more people around us have a peanut allergy than when are parents attended school. Why are the statics rising in shellfish allergies or any allergies in general. Think about what the air carries around those farms. When crops are sprayed with chemicals, the air carries the pesticides left over and through the surrounding environment such as schools and homes. How are the chemicals in food breaking down inside our bodies? How are we processing them? These are all the questions we need to know. If we all of a sudden stop buying conventional and ban the chemicals are we really ready for the lack of surplus that is so readily offered to us on the shelves?
My honest question? Yes we are, those of us with unused lawns or backyards would switch to growing our own produce in order to stray away from the prices that would rise in stores. We would rely on our local farmers to not suck the cost of transportations we usually pay for when we purchase from grocery stores. We would rely on more local products, more farmers markets, buy more ugly fruit. We would in my own opinion adapt and grow from what we as people are capable to do.
If we as a community read an article or a book on this subject we would find out more than we would like to know. Many people are outraged in the corruption and the consumerism involving conventional vs organic foods. Due more research, find out who exactly is getting paid in all this and I can 100% guarantee you farmers are not living large. In fact there are documentaries out there purposely explaining this. At the end of all this it is worth buying organic and LOCAL foods. It is worth us planting some herbs and vegetables so we don’t have to waste our hard earned money on big chain stores or rely on the food shortages if there were to have one in the future. When the pandemic hit I’m sure many found out the hard way, its best to be more self reliant when it came to food and toilet paper. There is an abundance of knowledge out their regarding growing food, how prices in grocery stores work and how they came to be. Knowledge is key!
