Why Buy Organic? Beyond the Health Benefits

People have heard that organic food is better for them because it contains more vitamins and minerals and fewer chemicals than traditional food; however, when people buy organic they don't think about the side benefits of their purchase such as their positive effect on the environment. Additionally, organic products put fewer pesticides, fertilizers and other dangerous chemicals into the environment which means they benefit your family, as well as other families now and in the future.

Organic farms also have better soil quality on organic farms, compared with soil on traditional farms, which proves it a major benefit of reducing chemical use in agriculture. Organic farming works to build the soil naturally through companion planting and crop rotations, another great reason to buy organic. By comparison, traditional agriculture uses fertilizers to enhance soil which fixes the immediate problem but doesn't repair the actual problem, nutrient deficient soil.

Where do all the chemicals used by farmers go? Unfortunately, water from rain and irrigation runs off into lakes, rivers and streams, taking all the chemicals used to farm the land with it. This water also seeps deep into the soil and enters underground water supplies. Sadly, even if you buy organic food, chemicals used in traditional farming could be infiltrating your local water supply and, while many places control the amount of these chemicals, others can't. In many rural areas, the only available water comes directly from the ground, modern filtration not included.

Pesticides also adversely affect wildlife in farming areas because if you kill off all the bugs, the birds have nothing to eat. If animals survive with chemicals in their systems, they can poison larger animals that eat them. One of the many negatives of pesticides is that they kill good insects and bad alike, which in turn kills beneficial wildlife.

Possibly traditional agriculture's worst sin, and the most harmful practice, bar none, is planting the same crop year after year because it can, and often does, make plants more susceptible to pests while depleting the soil, thus increasing the need for pesticides and fertilizers. To keep the soil from washing away, new soil requires more fertilizers so plants will grow. Unfortunately, traditional farmers are not trying to reduce their use of chemicals. In many cases they are simply trying to keep the family farm.

In addition to the benefits of chemical-free agriculture, organic farmers work with the environment as a system. They promote conservation of water and soil and strive to maintain the land so future generations can work, and benefit from, the land as well.