Organic Vs. Conventional Produce

One question concerning organic produce (which I highly recommend and personally use for about 90% of my own ingredients and cooking supplies) is “is it actually better for you?”  The answer is “usually”.

The reason I say usually is that the quality of a plant used for food is based largely on the quality of the soil the plant is grown in.

 

ORGANIC FARMERS ARE REQUIRED TO TAKE BETTER CARE OF THEIR SOIL

 

If you want to grow certified organic produce you have to go through a process of certifying your land as free of pesticides, herbicides, etc… for several years.  Most actually go through the trouble to fortify the soil with organic material (compost) to enrich its micronutrient content so that when they go to grow that carrot it has more nutrients in it because the soil it grew in had more nutrients available.

 

How rich a soil is in nutrients determines how rich in nutrients a plant is.  Makes sense right?  Give a homebuilder building a house the best materials, good tools and ample time and you will get a nice place to live right?  Give a plant all the nutrients it needs, no toxic chemicals and a nice little plot of soil to grow in and you get nutrient dense food.

 

This is exactly why many studies have indicated that organic food typically has much higher nutrient levels than normal produce.   Actually it’s funny calling todays methods of farming normal because before they were considered normal organic farming was the only real option, only back then it was just called farming.  Anyways, think of organic produce as produce that has just had better access to the resources it needs to grow properly.  It all starts in the soil and good clean, nutrient dense soil makes good clean nutrient dense food!