In my view “properly” grown organic food is the cleanest and best option available.
However, as in all arenas of life there are always degrees of excellence and compromise.
There can be huge differences in production costs, marketing hype and sales margins and price, as in many facets of life, is not always a true indicator of value or better quality.
The best organic foods are produced by farmers who are passionate, fanatical and uncompromising about the preparation, maintenance and quality of their soils: about the levels and balance of carbon, organic matter and nutrients, including trace elements, in their soils.
They grow and plough in copious quantities of green manure to improve the water and carbon retention of their soils.
They work at building their soils to produce healthier crops with better nutrition quality, better insect and pest resistance.
For them, “organic” is a total and integrated way of life. Such farmers are, in my experience, few and far between.
The vast majority of organic farmers tend to be organic by default. They produce crops without the aid of artificial fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides.
The problem is that while this may reduce chemical residues it does not always produce a better crop. Any crop grown on an unbalanced or deficient soil reflects the quality of the soil it is grown on.
This is inescapable and reveals itself in myriads of different ways including insect and pest resistance, or the lack therof, during production and browning and oxidation in use, if sugar and other nutrient, enzyme and electrolyte levels are not adequate.
Unfortunately, it is very often difficult to weigh up and make a fully informed choice about the often great difference in price against the supposedly greater value.
Much depends upon the conviction, integrity and knowledge of the individual farmer.
Best Regards
Paul Smith
Related posts:
