What is organic food?

The term organic refers not to the food itself, but to how it is produced.  Organic food production is based on an ecological system of farming that emphasizes soil fertility as the key to healthy plants.  Organic foods are grown without the use of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers.
In California, organic produce is certified in accordance with the California Certified Foods Act of 1990.  The certification process, managed by California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF), includes the inspection of farm fields and facilities, a requirement for detailed records, and periodic soil and water tests to insure that growers meet the organic standards.

Why choose organic foods?

• Protect farm workers.  The National Cancer Institute has found that farmers exposed to herbicides have six times the risk of non-farmers of developing cancer.  In California, reported pesticide poisonings among farm workers have risen an average of 14% each year since 1973.

• Protect children.  The average child receives four times more exposure than an adult to at least eight widely used cancer-causing pesticides applied to food crops.

• Save energy.  Large-scale, conventional (not organic) farming uses over 12% of our country’s entire energy supply and more petroleum than any other industry.  More energy is used to produce synthetic fertilizers than to till, cultivate, and harvest all crops in the U.S.  Organic farming uses labor-heavy practices such as hand weeding for cultivation and cover crops for soil fertility instead of relying on resource-depleting chemicals.

• Promote biodiversity.  Vast areas of land planted with a single crop – called monocropping – without interspersed diversity of vegetation makes that crop more susceptible to pests.  In turn, this makes large-scale conventional farmers more reliant on pesticides.  Despite the tenfold increase in pesticide use between 1947 and 1974, crop losses due to insects have doubled, due in part to the increasing genetic resistance of some insects to certain pesticides.

• Prevent soil erosion.  The Soil Conservation Service estimates that more than three billion tons of topsoil are annually eroded from U.S. croplands.  Soil fertility and erosion are carefully controlled on organic farms using ecologically sound methods like crop rotation and cover cropping.

• Preserve water quality.  The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that pesticides have contaminated the ground water in 38 states.  Organic practices do not produce this toxic runoff.

• Support small farms and rural communities.  Most organic farms are small, independently owned farms of fewer than 200 acres.  As businesses, employers, and community members, farmers are the foundation of rural areas.

• Support a true economy.  Although conventional foods are often less expensive than organic ones, they do not reflect the hidden costs borne by taxpayers and individuals for pesticide regulation and testing, hazardous waste disposal and clean up, and medical treatment for exposure.

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