In Today's throwaway society, there is absolutely no need to go out and purchase mulch material for your garden, unless it is for the particular aesthetic appearance, "The Look", sake of the mulch material.
Were you aware that there are a number of mulching materials that you can obtain from around your own community that are free, and some of which can even be even delivered to you for nothing as well.
Impossible you might say. Well I mulch my gardens fairly heavily, and I never pay a cent for the mulch material. As a matter of fact, most of the mulch is willingly delivered to my home for nothing. As the former owners are only too glad to see the back of it, as it would cost them money, time and effort to find other ways of getting rid of it.
I also combine these outside sources of mulch with my own compost, weeds and other organic matter mixed through to achieve a great result in my garden, and so all that it costs me is time and effort.
So what am I talking about? While some of the below list is delivered free, other items I pick up myself, depending on time, circumstances, importance etc.
Grass Clippings from other people in the area or from lawn-mowing contractors.
Wood shavings from local wood turners and carvers, ( Do not use shavings from treated timber).
Small amounts of solid fill from friends who are excavating. This is to assist in raising garden beds, in my heavy clay soil.
Light prunings from shrubs which is shredded by me or put whole into garden
Heavier sticks and logs, which are turned into trellis, garden stakes, garden edges, seats, frames, log planters etc. while they slowly decay.
Newspaper, cardboard, non-rubber carpet underlay, and even carpet and carpet squares. Which is put under other mulch to prevent grass and weed regrowth
Animal manures sometimes mixed with straw from places like Racetracks and Showgrounds, Pony Clubs, Stables etc. I contact them well beforehand to see if any is available.
To this I also add my own weeds, throwing away some which can still be a potential problem, or burying them below the bottom most layer of mulch material to stop them regrowing.
Another item I add is any old potting mix from deceased plants or when repotting plants.
Being a fairly lazy gardener, I throw the material around a bit at a time, as they are available, and let nature mix them for me. On a couple of occasions I have received a bit too much wood shavings so these became path material between some of the garden beds, with a heavy underlay of newspapers. People even tell me that it looks and feels good underfoot.
Never put a large amount of fresh animal manure on any garden, as it will burn any plant around it. Be extremely sparing or let it age first for a few months before applying it to the garden.
I have been living in my new house for about fifteen months, and the mulch layer in all my gardens (there were no gardens originally), is about 10 cm or 4 inches deep. None of which I have paid for and little that I have had to even pick up for myself.
People are even starting to comment on how fast the plants in my gardens are growing in the local heavy black clay soils, and they are surprised when I tell them that I have never bothered to fertilise the plants. The reason for this is that the earliest laid mulch material, is now broken down into plant nutrients and is now feeding my plants as a plant nutrient soup aided by the soil life which has suddenly started appearing in my gardens.
Another benefit that has started to appear in the last few months is the arrival of insect eating wildlife into my garden. Predatory insects and birds are now visiting my gardens on a regular basis, where I saw none this time last year. Bees and butterflies are also starting to visit many of the plants, which have come into flower for the first time this year.
So what can you do to start locating your own supplies of free mulch material, well here are a number of suggestions.
Put a little sign near your gate, something along the lines of ‘Organic mulch required', or ‘Lawn clipping wanted'. There are sure to be a number of local people who are currently throwing theirs away in your community or even local area. Never mulch solely with grass clippings as they form an impenetrable layer that air and water cannot get through. Always mix it with other things to stop it ‘thatching', just like a roof over the soil.
See if you can get into contact with local people who are into woodturning and carving, or even local sawmills. And come to some arrangement about unpreserved wood shavings.
Check the local phonebook for local showgrounds/racetracks/stables etc, to find out if any have stable or manure waste to give away, for people willing to pick them up
In other words, start talking around the place that you are after mulch materials and they will soon start coming to you.
The only caution with using other peoples waste material is the chance that you might also import other peoples pests and weeds. I have rarely found it a problem because of heavy mulch on mulch routines. But it is possible.
One point being that when you first start applying mulch to your garden you may see some nitrogen deficiencies occur in some plants. This is because the organisms that are breaking down the mulch material are using up all the available resources of it during the initial breakdown. Once you have gotten past this time the old composted material provide more than enough nitrogen for future processes.
Another thing to be careful of is not to bury or mulch up against the stems of wanted plants, as it may cause further problems for your plants in rot problems around the collar of the stems.
So get out there and talk around the community, find the contacts, believe it or not they will be as grateful as you to solve their particular problems of waste reduction. As well as that, you may start making some new friendships out of the deal; I know I have.
Bonsai Gardening Secrets. Discover Over 95 Pages Of Insider Secrets To Creating Stunning Bonsai Trees. Click Here!
Worlds Best Compost. Make The Worlds Ultimate Natural Fertilizer, Colloidal Humus, Without Bins, Turning Or Odor. Click Here!
The Complete Grape Growing System. A Complete System With E-book And Audio Book To Help You Grow Grapes The Correct Way. Click Here!
How To Start Beekeeping. Want To Start Beekeeping? This New EBook Reveals It All. Start Keeping Bees This Season! Click Here!
Orchid Care Expert - A Practical Guide. The Most Practical Guide To Orchid Care To Be Found On The Internet. Click Here!
Organic Food Gardening Beginners Manual. 87 Page Step-by-step Gardening Manual For Beginners To Learn How To Grow Their Own Healthy, Organic Food - Saving Money And Eating Chemical Free! Great Bonuses With This E-manual. Revised Edition Just Released.
Click Here!
Forceful Orchid Fertilizers: Homemade Recipes. Know How To Feed Your Orchids To Quickly Get Astonishing Results. Click Here!
The Hypertufa How-To Manual. 100 Page EBook On How To Make Garden Art Objects From Hypertufa. Easy To Follow Instructions & Expert Advice. Click Here!
Homemade Hydroponics. Hydroponics Secrets Shows You How To Grow The Plants, Fruits And Vegetables -even In Limited Space--without Using Soil. Pays 75% Commission With Excellent Conversion Rates. Click Here!
Bonsai Gardening Secrets. Discover Over 95 Pages Of Insider Secrets To Creating Stunning Bonsai Trees. Click Here!
Forceful Insecticides Home Made Formula. Discover Secret Informations That Big Multinationals Dont Want You To Know! Click Here!
Showing posts with label Environmental impact. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Environmental impact. Show all posts
Saturday, 27 December 2008
Sunday, 30 November 2008
Organic food
Organic foods are made according to certain production standards, meaning they are grown without the use of conventional pesticides and artificial fertilizers, free from contamination by human or industrial waste, and processed without ionizing radiation or food additives. If livestock are involved, they must be reared without the routine use of antibiotics and without the use of growth hormones, and generally fed a healthy diet. In most countries, organic produce may not be genetically modified.
Organic food production is a heavily regulated industry, distinct from private gardening for instance. Currently, the European Union, the United States, Canada, Japan and many other countries require producers to obtain special certification in order to market food as organic within their borders.
Historically, organic farms have been relatively small family-run farms — which is why organic food was once only available in small stores or farmers' markets. However, since the early 1990s organic food production has had growth rates of around 20% a year, far ahead of the rest of the food industry, in both developed and developing nations. As of April 2008, organic food accounts for 1-2% of food sales worldwide. Future growth is expected to range from 10-50% annually depending on the country
Organic Food Gardening Beginners Manual. 87 Page Step-by-step Gardening Manual For Beginners To Learn How To Grow Their Own Healthy, Organic Food - Saving Money And Eating Chemical Free! Great Bonuses With This E-manual. Revised Edition Just Released.
Click Here!
Identifying organic food
Mixed organic bean sproutsSee also: Organic farming for information on the production of organic food.
Processed organic food usually contains only organic ingredients. If non-organic ingredients are present, at least a certain percentage of the food's total plant and animal ingredients must be organic (95% in the United States and Australia) and any non-organically produced ingredients are subject to various agricultural requirements. Foods claiming to be organic must be free of artificial food additives, and are often processed with fewer artificial methods, materials and conditions, such as chemical ripening, food irradiation, and genetically modified ingredients.
They may also be required to be produced using energy-saving technologies and packaged using recyclable or biodegradable materials when possible.
Early consumers interested in organic food would look for non-chemically treated, fresh or minimally processed food. They mostly had to buy directly from growers: "Know your farmer, know your food" was the motto. Personal definitions of what constituted "organic" were developed through firsthand experience: by talking to farmers, seeing farm conditions, and farming activities. Small farms grew vegetables (and raised livestock) using organic farming practices, with or without certification, and the individual consumer monitored. As demand for organic foods continues to increase, high volume sales through mass outlets such as supermarkets are rapidly replacing the direct farmer connection. However, for supermarket consumers, food production is not easily observable, and product labeling, like "certified organic", is relied on. Government regulations and third-party inspectors are looked to for assurance. A "certified organic" label is usually the only way for consumers to know that a processed product is "organic".
Organic Food Gardening Beginners Manual. 87 Page Step-by-step Gardening Manual For Beginners To Learn How To Grow Their Own Healthy, Organic Food - Saving Money And Eating Chemical Free! Great Bonuses With This E-manual. Revised Edition Just Released.
Click Here!
Legal definition
The National Organic Program (run by the USDA) is in charge of the legal definition of organic in the United States and does organic certification.Main article: Organic certification
See also: List of countries with organic agriculture regulation
To be certified organic, products must be grown and manufactured in a manner that adheres to standards set by the country they are sold in:
Australia: NASAA Organic Standard
Canada: Canada Gazette, Government of Canada
European Union: EU-Eco-regulation
Sweden: KRAV
United Kingdom: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)
India: NPOP, (National Program for Organic Production)
Japan: JAS Standards.
United States: National Organic Program (NOP) Standards
Environmental impact
Several surveys and studies have attempted to examine and compare conventional and organic systems of farming. The general consensus across these surveys is that, in the short term, organic farming is less damaging for the following reasons:
Organic farms do not consume or release synthetic pesticides into the environment — some of which have the potential to harm soil, water and local terrestrial and aquatic wildlife.
Organic farms are better than conventional farms at sustaining diverse ecosystems, i.e., populations of plants and insects, as well as animals.
When calculated either per unit area or per unit of yield, organic farms use less energy and produce less waste, e.g., waste such as packaging materials for chemicals.
However, critics of organic farming methods believe that the increased land needed to farm organic food could potentially destroy the rainforests and wipe out many ecosystems.
Yield
One study found a 20% smaller yield from organic farms using 50% less fertilizer and 97% less pesticide. Studies comparing yields have had mixed results. Supporters claim that organically managed soil has a higher quality and higher water retention. This may help increase yields for organic farms in drought years.
One study from the Danish Environmental Protection Agency found that, area-for-area, organic farms of potatoes, sugar beet and seed grass produce as little as half the output of conventional farming. Findings like these, and the dependence of organic food on manure from low-yield cattle, has prompted criticism from scientists that organic farming is environmentally unsound and incapable of feeding the world population. Among these critics are Norman Borlaug, father of the "green revolution," and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, who asserts that organic farming practices can at most feed 4 billion people, after expanding cropland dramatically and destroying ecosystems in the process. Michael Pollan responds to this by pointing out that average yield of world agriculture is substantially lower than modern sustainable farming yields. Bringing average world yields up to modern organic levels could increase the worlds food supply by 50 %
A 2007 study compiling research from 293 different comparisons into a single study to assess the overall efficiency of the two agricultural systems has concluded that
organic methods could produce enough food on a global per capita basis to sustain the current human population, and potentially an even larger population, without increasing the agricultural land base (from the abstract)
The researchers also found that while in developed countries, organic systems on average produce 92% of the yield produced by conventional agriculture, organic systems produce 80% more than conventional farms in developing countries, because the materials needed for organic farming are more accessible than synthetic farming materials to farmers in some poor countries. On the other hand, communities that lack sufficient manure to replenish soils would struggle with organic farming, and the soil would degrade rapidly .
Energy Efficiency
Some studies are also consistent in showing that organic farms are more energy efficient.
Organic Food Gardening Beginners Manual. 87 Page Step-by-step Gardening Manual For Beginners To Learn How To Grow Their Own Healthy, Organic Food - Saving Money And Eating Chemical Free! Great Bonuses With This E-manual. Revised Edition Just Released.
Click Here!
Pesticides and farmers
There are studies detailing the effects and side effects of pesticides upon the health of farm workers. Even when pesticides are used correctly, they still end up in the air and bodies of farm workers. Through these studies, organophosphate pesticides have become associated with acute health problems such as abdominal pain, dizziness, headaches, nausea, vomiting, as well as skin and eye problems. In addition, there have been many other studies that have found pesticide exposure is associated with more severe health problems such as respiratory problems, memory disorders, dermatologic conditions, cancer, depression, neurologic deficits, miscarriages, and birth defects. Summaries of peer-reviewed research have examined the link between pesticide exposure and neurological outcomes and cancer in organophosphate-exposed workers.
Imported fruits and vegetables from South America are more likely to contain high level of pesticides, even pesticides banned for use in the United States.[29] Migratory birds, such as Swainson's hawks, have wintering grounds in Argentina where thousands of them were found dead from monocrotophos insecticide poisoning.
Pesticide residue
A study published in 2002 showed that "Organically grown foods consistently had about one-third as many residues as conventionally grown foods."
Monitoring of pesticide residues in the United States is carried out by the Pesticide Data Program (part of USDA, which was created in 1990. It has since tested over 60 different types of food for over 400 different types of pesticides - with samples collected close to the point of consumption. Their most recent results found in 2005 that:
“ These data indicate that 29.5 percent of all samples tested contained no detectable pesticides [parent compound and metabolite(s) combined], 30 percent contained 1 pesticide, and slightly over 40 percent contained more than 1 pesticide. ”
—USDA, Pesticide Data Program
Several studies corroborate this finding by having found that while 77 percent of conventional food carries synthetic pesticide residues, only about 25 percent of organic food does.
A study published by the National Research Council in 1993 determined that for infants and children, the major source of exposure to pesticides is through diet. A recent study in 2006 measured the levels of organophosphorus pesticide exposure in 23 schoolchildren before and after replacing their diet with organic food. In this study it was found that levels of organophosphorus pesticide exposure dropped dramatically and immediately when the children switched to an organic diet. Food residue limits established by law are set specifically with children in mind and consider a child's lifetime ingestion of each pesticide.
There are controversial data on the health implications of certain pesticides. For example, the herbicide Atrazine has been shown in some experiments to be a teratogen, causing demasculinization in male frogs exposed to small concentrations. Under the effects of Atrazine, male frogs were found to have greatly increased occurrencesof either malformed gonads, or testicular gonads which contain non-degenerate eggs Effects were however significantly reduced in high concentrations, as is consistent with other teratogens affecting the endocrine system, such as estradiol.
Organic farming standards do not allow the use of synthetic pesticides, but they do allow the use of specific pesticides derived from plants. The most common organic pesticides, accepted for restricted use by most organic standards, include Bt, pyrethrum, and rotenone. Some organic pesticides, such as rotenone, have high toxicity to fish and aquatic creatures with some toxicity to mammals. It causes Parkinson's disease if injected into rats.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency and state agencies periodically review the licensing of suspect pesticides, but the process of de-listing is slow. One example of this slow process is exemplified by the pesticide Dichlorvos, or DDVP, which as recently as the year 2006 the EPA proposed its continued sale. The EPA has almost banned this pesticide on several occasions since the 1970s, but it never did so despite considerable evidence that suggests DDVP is not only carcinogenic but dangerous to the human nervous system — especially in children. The EPA "has determined that risks do not exceed levels of concern", a study of longterm exposure to DDVP in rats showed no toxic effects.
These concerns over the particular impact of pesticides on children have not gone unheeded. Fio360, an eco early-care center in Atlanta, GA, has even gone so far as to prepare organic foods for its clients' children.
Taste and nutritional value
The biggest study ever of organic food was completed in 2007 and found that organic fruit and vegetables contain up to 40% more antioxidants than conventional equivalents, and that the figure was 60% for organic milk. The 4-year study was funded by the European Union and was the largest of its kind ever undertaken These results were simply announced to the popular press, and have not yet undergone the rigors of scientific peer review. However, antioxidants are not actually proven to be beneficial in such quantities. Only minute amounts of antioxidants are necessary and can be gained from any food.
Some studies have shown higher nutrient levels in organic fruit and vegetables compared with conventionally grown products.
A 2001 study by researchers at Washington State University concluded, under judgement by a panel of tasters, that organic apples were sweeter. Along with taste and sweetness, the texture as well as firmness of the apples were also rated higher than those grown conventionally. These differences are attributed to the greater soil quality resulting from organic farming techniques compared to those of conventional farming. Other research has found that there is no significant different between organic and normal food. Antibacterial and antifungal agents, as well as DNA modifications have never been known to be the cause of any problems, even after extensive testing.
A 2002 meta-analysis (a review of all past studies on the subject) found no proof that organic food offers greater nutritional values, more consumer safety or any distinguishable difference in taste.
Some people argue that organic food is just a scam to get more money as no extra value can be obtained from the food.
Organic Food Gardening Beginners Manual. 87 Page Step-by-step Gardening Manual For Beginners To Learn How To Grow Their Own Healthy, Organic Food - Saving Money And Eating Chemical Free! Great Bonuses With This E-manual. Revised Edition Just Released.
Click Here!
Cost
Organic products typically cost 10 to 40% more than similar conventionally produced products. Processed organic foods vary in price when compared to their conventional counterparts. An Australian study by Choice magazine in 2004 found processed organic foods in supermarkets to be 65% more expensive, but noted this was not consistent. Prices may be higher because organic produce is produced on a smaller scale, and may need to be milled or processed separately. Furthermore, there is an increase in shipping costs from more centralized production in otherwise regional markets. In the case of dairy and eggs, the animal's requirements such as the number of animals that can be raised per acre, or the breed of animal and its feed conversion ratio affects the cost.
Related movements
Community-supported agriculture (CSA) is an approach were members prepurchase "shares" in a season's harvest, and pick up their weekly portions from distribution sites. Thus, consumers provide direct financing for farms, participate in the risks and rewards of annual growing conditions, and distribute food directly from the farm.
Local food is buying food that was produced geographicly closer to the consumer. Local food is seen as a way to get fresher food and invest in one's own community.
The fair trade movement, based on the principle that social and environmental sustainability are inextricably interdependent, is often linked to organic food.
Biodynamic agriculture, a method of organic farming, is closely related to the organic food movement.
Facts and statistics
Organic Seals
International
United States
France
Australia
While organic food accounts for 1–2% of total food sales worldwide, the organic food market is growing rapidly, far ahead of the rest of the food industry, in both developed and developing nations.
World organic food sales jumped from US $23 billion in 2002[60] to $40 billion in 2006.
The world organic market has been growing by 20% a year since the early 1990s, with future growth estimates ranging from 10%-50% annually depending on the country.
Organic Food Gardening Beginners Manual. 87 Page Step-by-step Gardening Manual For Beginners To Learn How To Grow Their Own Healthy, Organic Food - Saving Money And Eating Chemical Free! Great Bonuses With This E-manual. Revised Edition Just Released.
Click Here!
North America
United States:
Organic food is the fastest growing sector of the American food marketplace.
Organic food sales have grown by 17 to 20 percent a year for the past few years while sales of conventional food have grown at only about 2 to 3 percent a year.
In 2003 organic products were available in nearly 20,000 natural food stores and 73% of conventional grocery stores.
Organic products account for 2.6% of total food sales in the year 2005.
Two thirds of organic milk and cream and half of organic cheese and yogurt are sold through conventional supermarkets.
Canada:
Organic food sales surpassed $1 billion in 2006, accounting for 0.9% of food sales in Canada.
Organic food sales by grocery stores were 28% higher in 2006 than in 2005.
British Columbians account for 13% of the Canadian population, but purchased 26% of the organic food sold in Canada in 2006.
Europe
In the European Union (EU25) 3.9% of the total utilized agricultural area is used for organic production. The countries with the highest proportion of organic land are Austria (11%) and Italy (8.4), followed by Czech Republic and Greece (both 7.2%). The lowest figures are shown for Malta (0.1%), Poland (0.6%) and Ireland (0.8%)
Austria:
11.6% of all farmers produced organically in 2007.The government has created incentives to increase the figure to 20% by 2010.
4.9% of all food products sold in Austrian supermarkets (including discount stores) in 2006 were organic. 8000 different organic products were available in the same year.
Italy:
Since 2005 all school lunches must be organic by law.
Poland:
In 2005 168,000 ha of land were under organic management. 7 percent of Polish consumers buy food that was produced according to the EU-Eco-regulation. The value of the organic market is estimated at 50 million Euros (2006).
UK:
Organic food sales increased from just over £100 million in 1993/94 to £1.21 billion in 2004 (an 11% increase on 2003).
Caribbean
Cuba:
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990, agricultural inputs that had previously been purchased from Eastern bloc countries were no longer available in Cuba, and many Cuban farms converted to organic methods out of necessity. Consequently, organic agriculture is a mainstream practice in Cuba, while it remains an alternative practice in most other countries. Although some products called organic in Cuba would not satisfy certification requirements in other countries (crops may be genetically modified, for example, Cuba exports organic citrus and citrus juices to EU markets that meet EU organic standards. Cuba's forced conversion to organic methods may position the country to be a global supplier of organic products.
Bonsai Gardening Secrets. Discover Over 95 Pages Of Insider Secrets To Creating Stunning Bonsai Trees. Click Here!
Worlds Best Compost. Make The Worlds Ultimate Natural Fertilizer, Colloidal Humus, Without Bins, Turning Or Odor. Click Here!
The Complete Grape Growing System. A Complete System With E-book And Audio Book To Help You Grow Grapes The Correct Way. Click Here!
How To Start Beekeeping. Want To Start Beekeeping? This New EBook Reveals It All. Start Keeping Bees This Season! Click Here!
Orchid Care Expert - A Practical Guide. The Most Practical Guide To Orchid Care To Be Found On The Internet. Click Here!
Organic Food Gardening Beginners Manual. 87 Page Step-by-step Gardening Manual For Beginners To Learn How To Grow Their Own Healthy, Organic Food - Saving Money And Eating Chemical Free! Great Bonuses With This E-manual. Revised Edition Just Released.
Click Here!
Forceful Orchid Fertilizers: Homemade Recipes. Know How To Feed Your Orchids To Quickly Get Astonishing Results. Click Here!
The Hypertufa How-To Manual. 100 Page EBook On How To Make Garden Art Objects From Hypertufa. Easy To Follow Instructions & Expert Advice. Click Here!
Homemade Hydroponics. Hydroponics Secrets Shows You How To Grow The Plants, Fruits And Vegetables -even In Limited Space--without Using Soil. Pays 75% Commission With Excellent Conversion Rates. Click Here!
Bonsai Gardening Secrets. Discover Over 95 Pages Of Insider Secrets To Creating Stunning Bonsai Trees. Click Here!
Forceful Insecticides Home Made Formula. Discover Secret Informations That Big Multinationals Dont Want You To Know! Click Here!
Organic food production is a heavily regulated industry, distinct from private gardening for instance. Currently, the European Union, the United States, Canada, Japan and many other countries require producers to obtain special certification in order to market food as organic within their borders.
Historically, organic farms have been relatively small family-run farms — which is why organic food was once only available in small stores or farmers' markets. However, since the early 1990s organic food production has had growth rates of around 20% a year, far ahead of the rest of the food industry, in both developed and developing nations. As of April 2008, organic food accounts for 1-2% of food sales worldwide. Future growth is expected to range from 10-50% annually depending on the country
Organic Food Gardening Beginners Manual. 87 Page Step-by-step Gardening Manual For Beginners To Learn How To Grow Their Own Healthy, Organic Food - Saving Money And Eating Chemical Free! Great Bonuses With This E-manual. Revised Edition Just Released.
Click Here!
Identifying organic food
Mixed organic bean sproutsSee also: Organic farming for information on the production of organic food.
Processed organic food usually contains only organic ingredients. If non-organic ingredients are present, at least a certain percentage of the food's total plant and animal ingredients must be organic (95% in the United States and Australia) and any non-organically produced ingredients are subject to various agricultural requirements. Foods claiming to be organic must be free of artificial food additives, and are often processed with fewer artificial methods, materials and conditions, such as chemical ripening, food irradiation, and genetically modified ingredients.
They may also be required to be produced using energy-saving technologies and packaged using recyclable or biodegradable materials when possible.
Early consumers interested in organic food would look for non-chemically treated, fresh or minimally processed food. They mostly had to buy directly from growers: "Know your farmer, know your food" was the motto. Personal definitions of what constituted "organic" were developed through firsthand experience: by talking to farmers, seeing farm conditions, and farming activities. Small farms grew vegetables (and raised livestock) using organic farming practices, with or without certification, and the individual consumer monitored. As demand for organic foods continues to increase, high volume sales through mass outlets such as supermarkets are rapidly replacing the direct farmer connection. However, for supermarket consumers, food production is not easily observable, and product labeling, like "certified organic", is relied on. Government regulations and third-party inspectors are looked to for assurance. A "certified organic" label is usually the only way for consumers to know that a processed product is "organic".
Organic Food Gardening Beginners Manual. 87 Page Step-by-step Gardening Manual For Beginners To Learn How To Grow Their Own Healthy, Organic Food - Saving Money And Eating Chemical Free! Great Bonuses With This E-manual. Revised Edition Just Released.
Click Here!
Legal definition
The National Organic Program (run by the USDA) is in charge of the legal definition of organic in the United States and does organic certification.Main article: Organic certification
See also: List of countries with organic agriculture regulation
To be certified organic, products must be grown and manufactured in a manner that adheres to standards set by the country they are sold in:
Australia: NASAA Organic Standard
Canada: Canada Gazette, Government of Canada
European Union: EU-Eco-regulation
Sweden: KRAV
United Kingdom: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)
India: NPOP, (National Program for Organic Production)
Japan: JAS Standards.
United States: National Organic Program (NOP) Standards
Environmental impact
Several surveys and studies have attempted to examine and compare conventional and organic systems of farming. The general consensus across these surveys is that, in the short term, organic farming is less damaging for the following reasons:
Organic farms do not consume or release synthetic pesticides into the environment — some of which have the potential to harm soil, water and local terrestrial and aquatic wildlife.
Organic farms are better than conventional farms at sustaining diverse ecosystems, i.e., populations of plants and insects, as well as animals.
When calculated either per unit area or per unit of yield, organic farms use less energy and produce less waste, e.g., waste such as packaging materials for chemicals.
However, critics of organic farming methods believe that the increased land needed to farm organic food could potentially destroy the rainforests and wipe out many ecosystems.
Yield
One study found a 20% smaller yield from organic farms using 50% less fertilizer and 97% less pesticide. Studies comparing yields have had mixed results. Supporters claim that organically managed soil has a higher quality and higher water retention. This may help increase yields for organic farms in drought years.
One study from the Danish Environmental Protection Agency found that, area-for-area, organic farms of potatoes, sugar beet and seed grass produce as little as half the output of conventional farming. Findings like these, and the dependence of organic food on manure from low-yield cattle, has prompted criticism from scientists that organic farming is environmentally unsound and incapable of feeding the world population. Among these critics are Norman Borlaug, father of the "green revolution," and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, who asserts that organic farming practices can at most feed 4 billion people, after expanding cropland dramatically and destroying ecosystems in the process. Michael Pollan responds to this by pointing out that average yield of world agriculture is substantially lower than modern sustainable farming yields. Bringing average world yields up to modern organic levels could increase the worlds food supply by 50 %
A 2007 study compiling research from 293 different comparisons into a single study to assess the overall efficiency of the two agricultural systems has concluded that
organic methods could produce enough food on a global per capita basis to sustain the current human population, and potentially an even larger population, without increasing the agricultural land base (from the abstract)
The researchers also found that while in developed countries, organic systems on average produce 92% of the yield produced by conventional agriculture, organic systems produce 80% more than conventional farms in developing countries, because the materials needed for organic farming are more accessible than synthetic farming materials to farmers in some poor countries. On the other hand, communities that lack sufficient manure to replenish soils would struggle with organic farming, and the soil would degrade rapidly .
Energy Efficiency
Some studies are also consistent in showing that organic farms are more energy efficient.
Organic Food Gardening Beginners Manual. 87 Page Step-by-step Gardening Manual For Beginners To Learn How To Grow Their Own Healthy, Organic Food - Saving Money And Eating Chemical Free! Great Bonuses With This E-manual. Revised Edition Just Released.
Click Here!
Pesticides and farmers
There are studies detailing the effects and side effects of pesticides upon the health of farm workers. Even when pesticides are used correctly, they still end up in the air and bodies of farm workers. Through these studies, organophosphate pesticides have become associated with acute health problems such as abdominal pain, dizziness, headaches, nausea, vomiting, as well as skin and eye problems. In addition, there have been many other studies that have found pesticide exposure is associated with more severe health problems such as respiratory problems, memory disorders, dermatologic conditions, cancer, depression, neurologic deficits, miscarriages, and birth defects. Summaries of peer-reviewed research have examined the link between pesticide exposure and neurological outcomes and cancer in organophosphate-exposed workers.
Imported fruits and vegetables from South America are more likely to contain high level of pesticides, even pesticides banned for use in the United States.[29] Migratory birds, such as Swainson's hawks, have wintering grounds in Argentina where thousands of them were found dead from monocrotophos insecticide poisoning.
Pesticide residue
A study published in 2002 showed that "Organically grown foods consistently had about one-third as many residues as conventionally grown foods."
Monitoring of pesticide residues in the United States is carried out by the Pesticide Data Program (part of USDA, which was created in 1990. It has since tested over 60 different types of food for over 400 different types of pesticides - with samples collected close to the point of consumption. Their most recent results found in 2005 that:
“ These data indicate that 29.5 percent of all samples tested contained no detectable pesticides [parent compound and metabolite(s) combined], 30 percent contained 1 pesticide, and slightly over 40 percent contained more than 1 pesticide. ”
—USDA, Pesticide Data Program
Several studies corroborate this finding by having found that while 77 percent of conventional food carries synthetic pesticide residues, only about 25 percent of organic food does.
A study published by the National Research Council in 1993 determined that for infants and children, the major source of exposure to pesticides is through diet. A recent study in 2006 measured the levels of organophosphorus pesticide exposure in 23 schoolchildren before and after replacing their diet with organic food. In this study it was found that levels of organophosphorus pesticide exposure dropped dramatically and immediately when the children switched to an organic diet. Food residue limits established by law are set specifically with children in mind and consider a child's lifetime ingestion of each pesticide.
There are controversial data on the health implications of certain pesticides. For example, the herbicide Atrazine has been shown in some experiments to be a teratogen, causing demasculinization in male frogs exposed to small concentrations. Under the effects of Atrazine, male frogs were found to have greatly increased occurrencesof either malformed gonads, or testicular gonads which contain non-degenerate eggs Effects were however significantly reduced in high concentrations, as is consistent with other teratogens affecting the endocrine system, such as estradiol.
Organic farming standards do not allow the use of synthetic pesticides, but they do allow the use of specific pesticides derived from plants. The most common organic pesticides, accepted for restricted use by most organic standards, include Bt, pyrethrum, and rotenone. Some organic pesticides, such as rotenone, have high toxicity to fish and aquatic creatures with some toxicity to mammals. It causes Parkinson's disease if injected into rats.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency and state agencies periodically review the licensing of suspect pesticides, but the process of de-listing is slow. One example of this slow process is exemplified by the pesticide Dichlorvos, or DDVP, which as recently as the year 2006 the EPA proposed its continued sale. The EPA has almost banned this pesticide on several occasions since the 1970s, but it never did so despite considerable evidence that suggests DDVP is not only carcinogenic but dangerous to the human nervous system — especially in children. The EPA "has determined that risks do not exceed levels of concern", a study of longterm exposure to DDVP in rats showed no toxic effects.
These concerns over the particular impact of pesticides on children have not gone unheeded. Fio360, an eco early-care center in Atlanta, GA, has even gone so far as to prepare organic foods for its clients' children.
Taste and nutritional value
The biggest study ever of organic food was completed in 2007 and found that organic fruit and vegetables contain up to 40% more antioxidants than conventional equivalents, and that the figure was 60% for organic milk. The 4-year study was funded by the European Union and was the largest of its kind ever undertaken These results were simply announced to the popular press, and have not yet undergone the rigors of scientific peer review. However, antioxidants are not actually proven to be beneficial in such quantities. Only minute amounts of antioxidants are necessary and can be gained from any food.
Some studies have shown higher nutrient levels in organic fruit and vegetables compared with conventionally grown products.
A 2001 study by researchers at Washington State University concluded, under judgement by a panel of tasters, that organic apples were sweeter. Along with taste and sweetness, the texture as well as firmness of the apples were also rated higher than those grown conventionally. These differences are attributed to the greater soil quality resulting from organic farming techniques compared to those of conventional farming. Other research has found that there is no significant different between organic and normal food. Antibacterial and antifungal agents, as well as DNA modifications have never been known to be the cause of any problems, even after extensive testing.
A 2002 meta-analysis (a review of all past studies on the subject) found no proof that organic food offers greater nutritional values, more consumer safety or any distinguishable difference in taste.
Some people argue that organic food is just a scam to get more money as no extra value can be obtained from the food.
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Cost
Organic products typically cost 10 to 40% more than similar conventionally produced products. Processed organic foods vary in price when compared to their conventional counterparts. An Australian study by Choice magazine in 2004 found processed organic foods in supermarkets to be 65% more expensive, but noted this was not consistent. Prices may be higher because organic produce is produced on a smaller scale, and may need to be milled or processed separately. Furthermore, there is an increase in shipping costs from more centralized production in otherwise regional markets. In the case of dairy and eggs, the animal's requirements such as the number of animals that can be raised per acre, or the breed of animal and its feed conversion ratio affects the cost.
Related movements
Community-supported agriculture (CSA) is an approach were members prepurchase "shares" in a season's harvest, and pick up their weekly portions from distribution sites. Thus, consumers provide direct financing for farms, participate in the risks and rewards of annual growing conditions, and distribute food directly from the farm.
Local food is buying food that was produced geographicly closer to the consumer. Local food is seen as a way to get fresher food and invest in one's own community.
The fair trade movement, based on the principle that social and environmental sustainability are inextricably interdependent, is often linked to organic food.
Biodynamic agriculture, a method of organic farming, is closely related to the organic food movement.
Facts and statistics
Organic Seals
International
United States
France
Australia
While organic food accounts for 1–2% of total food sales worldwide, the organic food market is growing rapidly, far ahead of the rest of the food industry, in both developed and developing nations.
World organic food sales jumped from US $23 billion in 2002[60] to $40 billion in 2006.
The world organic market has been growing by 20% a year since the early 1990s, with future growth estimates ranging from 10%-50% annually depending on the country.
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North America
United States:
Organic food is the fastest growing sector of the American food marketplace.
Organic food sales have grown by 17 to 20 percent a year for the past few years while sales of conventional food have grown at only about 2 to 3 percent a year.
In 2003 organic products were available in nearly 20,000 natural food stores and 73% of conventional grocery stores.
Organic products account for 2.6% of total food sales in the year 2005.
Two thirds of organic milk and cream and half of organic cheese and yogurt are sold through conventional supermarkets.
Canada:
Organic food sales surpassed $1 billion in 2006, accounting for 0.9% of food sales in Canada.
Organic food sales by grocery stores were 28% higher in 2006 than in 2005.
British Columbians account for 13% of the Canadian population, but purchased 26% of the organic food sold in Canada in 2006.
Europe
In the European Union (EU25) 3.9% of the total utilized agricultural area is used for organic production. The countries with the highest proportion of organic land are Austria (11%) and Italy (8.4), followed by Czech Republic and Greece (both 7.2%). The lowest figures are shown for Malta (0.1%), Poland (0.6%) and Ireland (0.8%)
Austria:
11.6% of all farmers produced organically in 2007.The government has created incentives to increase the figure to 20% by 2010.
4.9% of all food products sold in Austrian supermarkets (including discount stores) in 2006 were organic. 8000 different organic products were available in the same year.
Italy:
Since 2005 all school lunches must be organic by law.
Poland:
In 2005 168,000 ha of land were under organic management. 7 percent of Polish consumers buy food that was produced according to the EU-Eco-regulation. The value of the organic market is estimated at 50 million Euros (2006).
UK:
Organic food sales increased from just over £100 million in 1993/94 to £1.21 billion in 2004 (an 11% increase on 2003).
Caribbean
Cuba:
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990, agricultural inputs that had previously been purchased from Eastern bloc countries were no longer available in Cuba, and many Cuban farms converted to organic methods out of necessity. Consequently, organic agriculture is a mainstream practice in Cuba, while it remains an alternative practice in most other countries. Although some products called organic in Cuba would not satisfy certification requirements in other countries (crops may be genetically modified, for example, Cuba exports organic citrus and citrus juices to EU markets that meet EU organic standards. Cuba's forced conversion to organic methods may position the country to be a global supplier of organic products.
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