What comes to mind when you hear the word “organic”? Healthy? Environmentally friendly? Sustainable? Clean? Humane? Better tasting? Sometimes organic is all of those things, but it's also important to know that often times, it is none.
There is a difference between organic the movement, and organic the industry as it stands today. Most of us, when we think about what organic means, conjure up ideas of happy animals running free in pasture, with no hormones or anti-biotics; animals that are fed organic feed that they would eat in nature. Or we think of "natural" foods that are grown without the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, that are as good for the earth as they are for us. These are the ideas that the early pioneers of organic had in mind. If you look up the antonyms to "organic", you’ll find words like “man-made” and “unnatural”. Unfortunately, organic looks very different today.
Organics today
If you visit an organic farm today, you may be surprised at what you find. Many of them don't look much different from a regular factory farm. Animals are raised in close quarters with "access to pasture" but that never really step foot outside. Many of the animals that turn into our organic meat supply are not raised much more humanely than your typical factory farm. These farms are essentially just "organic factory farms". That should be an oxymoron. Aside from meat, organic foods may be processed and packaged, high in sugar, fat salt, and additives, much like all the other conventional packaged foods on the grocery store shelves.
How did we get from that idealistic picture I described earlier, to this industry that looks so similar to everything else? When the public started demanding and purchasing more and more organic items, big food companies (I won't name names, but nearly all major big food companies are involved) saw an incredible financial opportunity that organics offered, and were determined to get their over sized slice of the pie. As more and more organic foods were showing up on the shelves, the government realized they must regulate this term - develop a series of standards and criteria in order to be able to use the term "organic".
From low fat to low carb, Big Food doesn’t let a good food trend pass them by. The problem came when Big Food companies, who don’t care about the organic "philosophy", lobby the government about what the criteria and standards should be. Big Food wants to be able to benefit from being able to use the term "organic" and increase sales, so the looser the organic regulations were, the faster, cheaper and easier they could slap the term "organic" on their packages and start to cash in on the trend. Today there is a list of "approved" additives and preservatives that can be used in organic foods, allowing for many "organic" items that really resemble foods that are more “man-made” and “unnatural” than what we think of as being organic.
Today, there is no shortage of organic junk foods. These foods, although marginally better for the environment in terms of how their ingredients are produced, are just as bad for our personal health. "Organic cane sugar" is still sugar, and too much of it can lead to weight gain, high levels of fats in your blood, and other health issues. Yet, studies have shown that people eat more of an item if the term "organic" is on the label. People are being led to believe they are consuming a healthier product than it actually is, and that is what I can
"health washing".
Unsustainable Organics
The way organics are produced today, they are only marginally better, environmentally speaking, than their conventional counterparts. One thing I think is important to make clear is that organic does NOT mean sustainable. Organic foods are flown in from all corners of the globe: lettuce from California, Mangoes from Hawaii, and apples from Chile. This is an unsustainable practice. So which is better, an organically grown apple shipped all the way from Chile? Or a conventionally grown apple that came from a few kilometres away?
As I mentioned earlier, many of these organic farming operations resemble conventional farms more than they do a small, family run farm, as we might imagine. Your organic lettuce from California is mass produced. Producing food on this scale with a lack of diversification, organic or not, depletes the soil. The depleted soil means that more nitrogen (although “natural” sources such as manure and compost) must be added than if the soil were properly maintained, releasing more nitrogen into the air. This is what's called a "heavy input system" (compost and manure), and these inputs must be trucked from elsewhere. Smaller farming operations that practice crop rotation can subside on the materials that come from the same farm, and therefore, are less energy intensive.
The term organic alone does NOT imply:
- There is zero negative impact on the environment
- Animals are raised ethically
- The food is any healthier for you
- The food was produced locally
- The workers are treated ethically
- A small farmer is involved
- Big food industries are not involved
Organic does not entail the ideal it once did. It’s not organic that is the answer we’ve been looking for, it’s everything organic stood for when the movement began. Organic today is not as it once was, and so, as with everything else, we must still do our due diligence when at the grocery store. Seeing organic does not mean you don’t still need to read the label. If it’s packaged, it’s usually processed, and the less processed foods the better.
Beyond organic
Although it may seem like it, I’m not bashing organic. In fact, quite the opposite. The philosophy of organic I whole-heartily believe in. Unfortunately, that term no longer holds true to it's original meaning. While organic may well be on its way to being played out, the underlying organic philosophy is not.
In the end its about a demand for sustainable practices, because we can not be healthy people living on an unhealthy planet. It's time that we look beyond organic and source foods that are both organic
and sustainable. To be truly sustainable, our food needs to travel fewer kilometers, not be covered with petroleum-based pesticides and fertilizers, be farmed using practices that leave the soil nutritionally-rich, be grown with a concern for those who produce the food and work on the farms, and foster a respect for the earth and animals that create and use that food.
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