(OrganicJar) If the answer is yes, you would obviously not be alone, so there are no shockers in this bit of news: Organic farmers, reports the New York Times, have been hit hard by the recession, and many appear to be giving up certification and natural farming techniques for more conventional (and probably more pesticidey) farming. My heart goes out to the farmers, many of whom overhauled their practices just recently to keep up with the growing demands of the market, only to have to now 180 for financial reasons.
So it’s bad news for the farmers, who are losing crops and income, and its bad news for the rest of us, too. Not on principle, but in terms of our health. Farmers who are constantly inhaling and touching and absorbing toxic pesticides are even more screwed than the rest of us who merely eat them, so it was encouraging when the signs of mainstreaming organic were abundant.
Some think this line of thinking, “we need to eat all organic food” is elitist, but what is your health worth? It’s pretty hard to argue against the idea that everyone wins when organic (and fresh, and local, and healthy) goes mainstream. It means food gets cheaper, more widely available, and healthier. All good things.
As for me, I still eat organic wherever possible, but have scaled back like everyone else.
What about you? Have your eating habits changed?
Source: good.is
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Sacha | Jul 12, 2009 | Reply
I try to eat healthy and organic whenever possible, but sometimes, the price really is prohibitive. I spend about twice as much when I go to Whole Foods vs. Giants, and I just bought a medium-sized tomato at a farmer market that cost nearly $2. I’m hoping, though, that with more demand for organics, the prices will drop.
Maria Minno | Jul 13, 2009 | Reply
Funny to hear people are not buying organic? Maybe the Whole Foods crowd is slacking, but we are MORE careful now, we can’t afford to get sick! We are buying directly from farms, a much less expensive way to go, and the farms we buy from aren’t certified, but are much higher quality than simply organic certified is.
Especially if you know what a healthy diet is, it pays to go organic.
What you spend on food is more than made up by what you don’t spend or time and resources lost due to health problems.