Question: when is a tomato not a tomato? Answer: When it's an organic tomato. Those who are into organics say it's superior to anything you can get that has been grown using conventional production methods. They will tell you that an organic tomato tastes better, is better for you and is grown in away that causes less harm to the environment. It may be more expensive, but you get what you pay for, don't you?
Thats accoring to an article on organics titled It's only natural published over the weekend in the Sunday [colour] Magazine of the Sydney and Melbourne tabloid newspapers. I didn't see the magazine, but Detribe kindly sent these snippets for the blog:
Critics, however, say it's a rip-off. Nothing more than a load of marketing hogwash aimed at people with more money than sense, which plays on fears about the misuse of pesticides and is supported through a series of far-fetched claims. Weighing up the pros and cons can be confusing, but one thing that's New Age crystal clear is just how popular organic products have become in recent years.
In 1990, just 372,000 ha were farmed organically in Australia. Today, the total land area given to organic production is around 10 million hectares and Australia now accounts for nearly half the world's organic farmland. Staggering as that increase may seem, organic food production still represents less than two per cent of the total value of agricultural production in this country.
The Australian organic food industry, estimated to be worth between $250-$500 rnillion, remains a minor player in the agricultural sector But, according to the government's Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC), domestic demand for organic products significantly outstrips supply, despite an estimated growth in organic production of at least 15-25 per cent per annum, every year for the past five years.
... "Our market is intelligent consumer" says Pierce Cody founder of Macro Whole foods, a new chain of organic supermarkets sprouting up in Sydney and Melbourne. The stores sell everything from organic toilet paper and toothpaste, to cleaning products and pet food. Cody believes the key to growth is treating the consumer with respect.
"I can't see us advertising on a billboard, 'Macro: You'll love us' because people don't buy organic just because you tell them to. It's a choice they arrive at themselves" he says.
Cody's background is in advertising, he confesses he only got, into organics because he could see there was "monstrous scope for growth". "It's the thing," he says. "The concept is very simple to understand. It's clean, original food, made the way it used to be made. We are taking food back to the future."
Cody admits that "our market tends to be more white collar than blue collar", but he, denies the higher cost associated with organics makes it elitist.
"It is more expensive, yes, but it's the real cost of food prior to industrialised farming, which cuts comers."
[But]... by not using artificial fertilizers -like nitrogen, organic farmers have smaller yields - typically around 30 to 50 percent less than crops grown on conventional farms. This is the main reason why organic products are more expensive.
...In 1994; Trina Karstrom took over the Botobolar vineyard in scenic Mudgee, NSW. The 22 ha vineyard was the first organic one to be planted in Australia. That was in 1971 and the vines have always been grown without the use of pesticides, herbicides or chemical fertilizers. She is in no doubt about the health benefits of organically grown produce.
"I shudder to think what residual spray is in [conventional] wines," she says, "Grapes don't get washed before they're processed and the chemicals growers are allowed to spray are quite scary." Or are they?
Not according to Microbiologist Dr David Tribe, Senior lecturer at the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Melbourne. "The organic lot make all these claims about better nutrition and health benefits but, overall, the hard evidence simply doesn't support it" he says.
A review of more than 100 studies that looked at differences between organic and conventional food, conducted in 2002 at New Zealand's University of Otago found there was "no convincing evidence to back claims that organically grown foods were healthier or tastier than those grown using chemicals". The review found that nutritional value had more to do with freshness and methods of storage than whether artificial inputs, such as pesticides, were used during production.
Strictly speaking; professional bodies outside the organic movement, such as the Dietitians Association of Australia (DAA) and the Australian Medical Association (AMA), do not share the view that organic food is necessarily healthier than food grown conventionally.
Sunday Magazine (News Ltd Herald/Sun), page 23.
February 19 2006 Craig Scutt
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Thanks Detribe.
"""* The land that's used for organic foodcrops would otherwise be used for non-organic foodcrops that would otherwise benefit the world's poor."""
Bull, how would that benifit world's poor. Farmers are not going to give their crops away free to people! They never have! People are going to have to make money in order to get food, unless they live in the US and can sign up to get it for free. It is much more expensive to buy prepackaged ready to eat food then organic raw products that you have to prepare.
All of that packaging material is filling up land fills, and that land that those land fills are on could be used to feed the Worlds Poor!
The majority of Americans are OVERWEIGHT! If they just eat less, we wouldn't have to worry about getting more from the land. Why is it that the poor "hungry" people are always the biggest people in line at the grocery store? If they have enough money to buy that much food they could deffinatly afford to buy organic food in the amount that an average human should consume. They would even SAVE money.
Buy natuaral prodcucts and learn how to cook. I am tired of having to go to health food stores, organic markets, and growing an organic garden large enough to be considered a farmer. I cannot walk into a regular grocery store and buy products to cook a normal meal. All they have are prepackaged junk food for people who eat meals infront of the TV!
I have a right to eat real food without putting uneccesary chemicals into my body!
"What and your telling me that your greed and protection of way of life is not resulting in the death of millions throughout the world."
Correct. In fact it is the direct opposite. Nitrogen fertilisers and chemical herbicides feed the world. Without them there would be mass starvation.
"well for many in this world the idea of spraying food with human manufactured poisons that are known to be mutagenic and cause other problems, many still unknown, and to eat it, is a preposterous idea."
"many still unknown" being code for "my religious beliefs tell me that all chemicals are evil, so there MUST be SOMETHING bad!". Do you believe in thetans too? Perhaps it's time you questioned your faith.
Did you know that anything you touch can be represented by a series of chemical symbols? That's right, YOU ARE SURROUNDED BY CHEMICALS! Run and hide!
"And my friend I only hope that one day in your lifetime you will be out there plouging a field with your ox, just to get enough food to put the plates of your family."
The greenie wet dream, writ large in brutal electrons.
"Should I just go out there and have one hell of a good time doing whatever the fuck I want, make a buck, piss it up against the wall, and die. Now theres a fine way to find satisfaction and purpose in life."
It'd be a better way to spend your time than repeatedly making a fool of yourself on the internet.
I'm a bit curious too, about all these accustions of greed. It seems the people who make them are always pretty comfortable themselves, and don't seem to worry about what impact their own ideas have on those who are poor. I agree totally with Hasbeen, must be a dreadful life to hate so much.
Farmer J,
It must be horrible to hate so much.
When I was a young bloke, the sale of 10 steers would pay for a new Holden ute. Now it takes the sale of over 20 steers.
A dairy farm, milking 70 cows, would keep 3 families in the same standard as the local butcher.
A dairy farmer must now milk 150 cows to keep one family in the same standard.
You will have to look else where to find those involved in a greedy life.
Hasbeen.
And for Mr David Tribe, how do you answer the issue of endocrine disruptors and mutagens in the surrounding environment and hence in the food chain.
I'm happy to talk in generalities about mutagens: they are a distraction for numerous reasons.See recents posts at GMO Pundit for a start, and the Bruce Ames articles.
As far as putative endocrine disrupters please give specifics. Also discuss natural compounds for example oestrogens in soy.
"Why use chemicals when food can be grown without it, simple question, simple answer."
Which chemicals are you refering to. If you mean fertiliser, which forestland are you going to cklear to grow the food need for billions of peple-simple question, simple answer.