It can be hard to figure out what to buy at the grocery store for yourself and your family. There are so many products to choose from; they all seem to do the same thing: feed you. But organic food can do much more than give you nutrients.
Read on to learn about some of these things and why buying organic food is a good idea.
Consume fewer pesticides
Since organic farming doesn’t use harmful pesticides, the food that comes from it is healthy. Some organic farmers use pesticides, but these materials are all-natural, with no toxins. Even so, every natural pesticide still has to be approved for organic farming, so there is no need to worry.
The National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) and the National Organic Program (NOP) keep a list of materials used in organic production. This list is made with help from farmers, businesses, consumers, and the general public. The general rule for the national list is that materials from nature are allowed, and materials made in a lab are not. Also, approved natural pesticides can only be used when other ways of getting rid of pests, such as agriculture cleaning, don’t work.
More nutrients
Most people don’t know this, but our farmed soil doesn’t have enough nutrients to grow healthy, sustainable, and biodiverse crops. Several studies have shown this to be true. Because of this, foods don’t have as many vitamins and minerals as they used to.
A study examining the nutritional value of organic and conventional plant-based foods found that organic crops had much more vitamin C, magnesium, iron, and phosphorous and much fewer nitrates.
Healthier soil
Your choices at the grocery store affect the earth’s health in the same way that they affect your health. Foods that aren’t organic are sprayed with hazardous chemicals that kill everything except the crop. This includes all the living things a plant needs to grow and add nutrients to the soil. When these organisms are killed, they are replaced with synthetic fertilizers made from chemicals that are more dangerous.
The soil struggles to correct itself. Therefore, more chemicals must be used with even fewer good nutrients in the soil. When organic food is grown instead, there are fewer chemicals in the soil, which makes the soil healthier.
Pollinators enjoy it
Organic farms and crops are good for bees and other pollinators and keep them safe from dangerous chemicals. Pollinators are hurt by toxic synthetic pesticides, the destruction of native habitats, and the lack of nutritious food due to the widespread use of monocropping.
Several studies confirm that organic farming is better for honey bees. It also has more pollinators in and around the land than conventional farming. This is because organic farming standards forbid not only synthetic pesticides, which are very dangerous to bees and can stay in the environment for a long time, but also require organic farmers to run their farms in a way that improves natural resources and encourages biodiversity.
