A Summary Of Organic Farming In Washington State

Many consumers and farmers have discovered that living in an industrialized culture where the focus has become faster, bigger, and cheaper is not the best way to produce our food. Obsessed with productivity, the agriculture industry is reaping the negative consequences of creating an unsustainable environment for food production. Time and time again, the media captures stories regarding deadly bacterial contamination and dangerous pesticide contamination causing illness and death in our communities. The environment is also damaged and contaminated. This devastating trend, due to irresponsible farming practices as a result of the industrialization of the food industry, has become all too common. Returning to organic farming,

In order for farmers to label their products as USDA Organic they must adhere to the strict standards outlined in the organic certification program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The article, “Organic foods: Are they safer? More nutritious?” explains that these standards include how food is “grown, handled and processed”. Rather then using pesticides, organic farmers use methods such as beneficial insects and microorganisms and special disease resistant crop selection to protect their crops. They may use crop rotation and mulch to manage weeds. They do not use or include food additives, fortifying agents or preservatives in their products.

Organic. Cage Free. Free Range. Grass Fed. Non-GMO. These descriptors are used in grocery stores across the United States of America and are a major component of guiding consumers through their purchasing decisions. However, since these labels usually appear without any description, how do consumers know what do these labels really mean? Furthermore, how do food producers and their governing organizations decide when a label can be applied? The meat, egg, and produce industry are all affected by this nomenclature system. Therefore, the everyday consumer comes in contact with these labels every time they make a food purchase and often rely on them to help them make the healthier and more ethical food choice. But are these labels really denoting ethical sourcing, improved health benefits, and how strictly is the labeling regulated?

Not only are pesticides dangerous to the environment, but they are also bad to a person's health. Pesticides are stored in your colon, where they slowly poison the body. You may not know this, but when you are eating a non-organic apple, you are also eating over 30 different pesticides that have been sprayed on the apple and on to the thousands of crops. Even if you wash a piece of fruit, such as an apple, there are still many pesticides on it and they could have entered into your fruit or vegetable. Strawberries, apples, carrots, celery, spinach, grapes, apples, cucumbers are just a few types of food that you should not eat if they are not organic because the pesticide level is the highest on them. After numerous amounts studies, pesticides have been linked to cancer, Alzheimer's Disease, ADHD, and even birth defects. Pesticides also have the potential to harm the nervous system, the reproductive system, and the endocrine system. Pesticides can even be very harmful to fetuses because the chemicals can pass from the mother during pregnancy or if a woman nurses her child. Although one piece of fruit with pesticides won't kill you, if they build up in your body, they can be potentially detrimental to your health and should be avoided as much as

Food is a necessary ingredient in the soup of survival. As society advances it becomes an increasingly simple process to acquire any type of food--regardless of its country of origin or whichever season it happens to be--as long as you can pay for it. As a result of such ease in selecting meals, you have the choice of eating whatever you want. The problem with this ability is that people do not always choose the food that is the healthiest for them or that is produced in the healthiest ways. Over the past few decades, it has become a general consensus that organic food is simply better than non-organic food, however not many people truly understand what "better" entails. Proper "healthy" food should taste good, provide a sufficient amount of nutrients, and should be grown in a manner that avoids harmful chemicals and other additives or supplements that alter the food itself. Organic food best met this criteria by tasting fresher, providing more than enough nutrients, and being grown in a manner that forgoes synthetic pesticides and other harmful additives which can lead to nausea, hormonal imbalances, and eventually even cancer. .

Is there a federal standard for what "organic" means when it comes to farm fresh milk?

In order to establish eating the healthiest foods possible, any individual can shop for organic foods that have “organic” labels on them. Organically grown foods have an immense amount of pure nutrients and healthier ingredients than GMO food. This high-quality alternative accomodates a healthy and safe lifestyle. The ultimate gain of health is indulged by considering a wise decision such as consuming organic foods and products. Diverse organic produce generates health benefits that outweigh the price premiums associated with it. Due to countless usage of unadapted chemicals, crops are evidently damaged and captivated with extremely toxic pesticides and insecticides. Recently, GMO foods have severely

With the sales of organic foods rapidly increasing in recent years, jumping from $1 billion to $21 billion in just eighteen years, it is important for consumers to be well-informed when choosing either organic or inorganic (Bradbury et al, 2014). These products, with labels boasting claims such as no artificial fertilizers or pesticides and the use of ecologically friendly farming techniques, have become somewhat of a trend since their arrival in the early to mid twentieth century. As the public becomes increasingly cautious of what they eat, concern has been growing regarding the adverse health effects of ingestion of pesticides and artificial fertilizers in food products. It is not surprising, therefore, that perceived health

Now, I would like to discuss the benefits that our organic-based business will offer to our target customers. First, as far as the functional benefits are concerned, one of the key factors is that organic produce offers the consumer a healthier option when it comes to one’s eating habits. In regards to chemicals, organic produce refrains from using any kind of synthetic pesticides, fertilizers, fungicides, herbicides or synthetic preservatives and additives. As such, the amounts of hazardous residues within organic foods are basically restricted to the lowest amount (“Organic”, n.d.).

One realization I pondered from reading this book is humans have been performing agricultural practices for more than 10,000 years which began in the fertile crescent of Mesopotamia, but farmers have only been showering these crops with dense chemicals for the last several decades. The use of heavy chemicals as pesticides and fertilizers ensures the crops will yield a large harvest and create a hefty profit. Today, crops are genetically engineered in a way that they produce their own insecticides and show immunity to pests. The book also explains that eating from an organic farm in the United States and shipping the crops to your home would be more environmentally friendly than eating from an even local but industrial conventional farm.

As Shireman (1999) stated, “being a responsible consumer and business operator of limited resources can improve one’s bottom line.” Many farmers have restricted or eliminated their use of artificial fertilizers and pesticides, which eliminates soil and water contamination, reduces erosion, preserves local wildlife, helps conserve biodiversity and helps fight against global warming. According to Chait (2016), organic farming can be profitable and organic food appeals to consumers as both a healthy and ethical choice. Beyond money and ethics, though, organic agricultural practices result in numerous environmental

In this brief article, Natural Resource Defense Council gives details of some of the harmful results of non-natural farming routines. They furnished me with information on the benefits of organic food, like exactly how beneficial it is for our body it is not the only thing that may be out of the lack of pesticides or fertilizer pollution. Our community is furthermore effected by using all those chemical substances from farmlands. Those chemicals aren't only centralized to the farms that make use of them, though instead they wash right into rivers and also makes it way to the ocean destroying the habitat. I became very stunned to find out that many of our health problems today were connected to those chemicals utilized to protect our products

By not using multiple chemicals to control crops, organic farming also ends up being better for the environment. Organic farmers use natural fertilizers such as manure so that they do not release artificial chemicals into the ground (“Organic Food”). In June of 1999 a report made by the U.S. Geologic Survey, found that most waterways and ground water supplies in both urban and rural areas contained enough pesticides to endanger aquatic life (“pesticides”). These chemicals can also leak into streams and encourage the growth of algae and intoxicate the water (“298 John P. Reganold et.al”). Furthermore studies have found that water contaminated with pesticides may accumulate in the

The clear conclusions drawn from numerous studies targeting organic food are that organic food does not equal safe food, does not have clear nutritional advantage and does not have reduced level of naturally occurring toxins over conventional plants or livestock (80, 81). Fertilization enriches soils and provides nutrients in food, regardless of it being organic or chemical fertilizer. Risk of exposure to microbial contamination is not lower in organic food (82). Level of naturally occurring toxins such as aflatoxins in peanuts and grains, solanine in green parts of potatoes, goitrogens in some raw vegetables, and other poisons in mushrooms and herbs is not affected by the method of growing (81). Pesticides usages are monitored and will not pose harm to health when applied in regulated manner. However, the amount of pesticides residue is usually lower in organic food (82). One observational study and one systematic review found no protective value of organic food over eczema or atopy diseases (83, 84). Hence the claims being made over benefits of organic food can be concluded as misleading at best, and there is a pressing need for proper public education on this issue

Organic produce has become increasingly popular in recent years, as consumers have grown more worried about their health and environmentally aware. Many supermarkets now have large sections for organic fruits and vegetables. However, our assumption of the word “organic” does not mean “pesticide-free” or “chemical-free”. Organic farmers are allowed to use a wide variety of chemical sprays on their crops. Organic means that these pesticides must come from natural sources. Also, these pesticides must be applied using equipment that has not been used to apply any synthetic materials, and the land being planted on cannot have been treated with synthetic materials either. Most organic farmers utilize mechanical and cultural tools to help control