Good question!

With all the talk about organic foods nowadays it is easy to look past the obvious question; “What is organic foods?”. Well, organic food is vegetables that have been grown without synthetic pesticides, herbicides, and other chemicals. That’s it in a nutshell.

So why is organic food such a big deal then and why does it cost more? Organic foods are only as big a deal as you make them out to be. Organic foods are no different than the vegetables that have been farmed for the past 5000 years, before the advent of modern chemistry. Some say that organic vegetables taste better and have higher concentrations of vitamins and minerals. Many critics disagree. Only in the last 60 years or so has corporations taken over mass farming and just like in fast food corporations attempts are made to cut costs anyway they can. Organics also cost more because the produce is usually grown on smaller Mom & Pop farms. Do you notice a difference in quality between Mom & Pop stores and Wal-Mart? They don’t get to save money by buying in bulk. Synthetic fertilizers and herbicides are also very cheap when compared to the natural non-synthetic options organic farming use, so that also add’s on to the price. It has been my experience that most of the organic farm’s usually sell their produce close to home usually within 500 miles or so, although, most are considerably closer than that so your money also stays in the local economy.

One age old lesson of organic farming is crop rotations. Organic farmers are forced out of necessity to rotate their crops throughout the growing seasons. This keeps the soil fresh and allows the vegetables to grow as best they can naturally. Speaking of soil, with organic farming methods you do not have to worry about all those synthetic chemicals running off and contaminating the water supply, causing algae blooms, and generally wreaking havoc on the ecosystems of ponds, streams, lakes, and oceans.

Another reason, and the one that resonates most with organic food shoppers, is that organic foods have not been processed or modified. Organic food is the same vegetables that would grow in the wild if mankind were never around. Some would say that the peace of mind alone is worth the premium of organic foods.

Your best bet to finding out more about organic food is to keep on researching. Read as much as you can about organic foods and then use all of those sources to make up your own mind. I also recommend watching the documentaries Food Inc. and Forks Over Knives. Both could be found on Netflix at the time I wrote this blog and both provide interesting insights into the current food supply system. By researching “What is Organic food” you will undoubtedly find many varied definitions but only YOU can decide if organic food is worth your money or not.