A common complaint about organic and local grown food is that they’re more expensive than “conventional” foods. Do you ever wonder why you can buy peaches in the middle of January? That’s just one example but it applies to all conventional food. All of it comes from thousands of miles away, much of it from other countries. Anything grown in this country and its industrial farms is subsidized by your tax dollars. Tax dollars subsidize the petroleum used in growing, and shipping these products.
We also pay direct subsidies to the large-scale, chemical-dependent brand of farming. And the kicker is we’re being forced each year to pay the environmental and health costs of that method of food production.
Direct Farm Bill subsidies cover agricultural fuel, treatment of food-related illnesses, agricultural cleanup, collateral costs of pesticide use, and the costs of nutrients lost to erosion. This is all documented and at minimum it’s at least $80 billion, or about $725 per household each year. That, plus the sticker price at the supermarket buys our “inexpensive” conventional food.
Organic practices build rather than deplete the soil, using manure and cover crops. They eliminate pesticides and herbicides, instead using biological pest controls and some weeding with a hoe. Keep in mind, this was done for hundreds of years on many farms that grew many varieties of crops, not the monster soy, corn, or canola farms.
The organic farm maintains and applies the knowledge of many different crops. All this requires extra time and labor. Smaller farms also bear some higher costs for packaging, marketing, and distribution.
The good news is demand for sustainable farming and organic food is exploding. People are beginning to realize organic was here first. It isn’t a new invention like microwave meals. It’s simply food grown in clean earth using technology hundreds of years old. It’s different types of livestock on the same farm able to feed naturally and roam a pasture. Antibiotics are used only on sick animals, not mixed with feed.
You can find farmer’s markets easily in your area and there are quite a few of them just outside of metropolitan areas.
Good luck with the good food.
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