Celebrate Organic Week!

Did you know that September 19-27th is Organic Week in Canada? The goal is to give Canadians the opportunity to learn about the importance of organic food and to support organic farming in Canada. Did you also know the organic food market, according to industry analysts, is the most dynamic and rapidly growing sector of the global food industry? Once a small-scale niche market, this sector has seen dramatic growth with organic food consumption developing at a faster rate than production. This is good news for the consumer, for the environment and for the future of farming.

What is organic agriculture?

Producers of organic foods work in harmony with nature. Organic agriculture uses a holistic production system which uses sustainable farming methods. These farmers respect ecological balance by adding fertility to soil, biodiversity to farms, and sustainability to the entire operation. Indeed, organic producers agree not to use GMOs, synthetic herbicides, pesticides or fungicides; irradiation, chemical fertilizers, sewage sludge, or antibiotics. Yes, large commercial agricultural businesses use these disgusting methods which are harmful to the environment, are unsustainable, and ultimately, are harmful to our bodies.

How do you know if something is truly organic?

Certification bodies inspect and designate farms as certified organic based on a set of guidelines meeting or exceeding minimum requirements set out by the National Organic Standard. No prohibited materials may be used for 3 years prior to certification. Once a business is certified organic, it labels its food with the name of the certification body or the certification number. Canada has a federally legislated standard for organic agriculture which will limit the use of the word “organic” on products and provide a “Canada Organic” logo to be displayed on organic products.

Yes, organic foods usually (but not always) cost more. But if you think about it, cost is the main reason Big Agriculture uses the methods they do: to save themselves money and sell more products! As the vitamin, mineral and nutritional content of food declines, coupled with a dramatic rise in noxious contaminants ending up in our food, the food industry is literally destroying our food supply.

Still not convinced? There’s more.

Earlier this year a Swedish family decided to switch from eating conventional food to organic to find out what happens in the body. They had their urine analyzed before and after just a two week period of eating exclusively organic food. The result was astonishing. Pesticides, fungicides and plant growth regulators were found in the before samples. After two weeks, almost all the pesticides had disappeared. The concern about ingesting pesticides is especially worrisome when you consider that chemicals are much more harmful when combined than they are on their own.

The study was conducted by the Swedish Environmental Research Institute IVL, and the full report is available at: https//www.coop.se/organiceffect

Try the organic challenge...

Inspired by this family’s experience, I challenge readers to try a similar experiment. Can you go 100 per cent organic for two weeks? Whether you choose to have the urine analysis, or just see try the experiment to see if you can do it, the point is, you will find out if it is something that works for you. Each year organic farms keep thousands of pounds of agri-chemicals out of streams, soil tables, animal habitats, rivers and human beings. When you consider everything we get from growing organically, it’s amazing we don’t have to spend more than we do!