Organic produce is labeled organic when it has been grown, raised, harvested and packaged without the use of harmful chemicals, such as fertilizers, pesticides, insecticides, growth hormones or antibiotics. Organic also means the produce has not been genetically modified. When we choose organic, we not only look after the health of our own body and immune system but also the health of our family, the health of our soil and the health of our planet. So everyone wins. The best way to get organic produce in the home is to grow it yourself. If that is not an option, try your local grocer, farmers market, or search the internet for a company that delivers organic produce to your door.

The Missing Link Between Health and Agriculture

The world wide debate on the effects of conventional farming practices on soil fertility is getting a lot of attention. And so it should, as many start taking ecologists' warnings more serious and are discovering for themselves that maintenance of soil fertility is critical to the sustainability of our food supply.

Conventional farming practices see the soil as a means to an end. Driven by the dollar, soils are used and used and nutrients are drawn out of the soil rendering them as new deserts. Without crop rotation the soils are, if you will, raped of their minerals. Farmers are then forced to periodically saturate their crops with unnatural chemical fertilizers.

These fertilizers however are made up of primarily three nutrients N, P, K, (Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium), but as Charlotte Gerson in Food Matters asks, "Where are the rest of the 52 minerals needed for optimum soil health? They are missing!"

So poor soil health is leading to poor plant health and when plants are deficient they lose their defenses and then the bugs come. Then the farmers come crying to the chemical companies for help who are more than happy to supply these deadly toxins like pesticides, herbicides and fungicides.

Protect Future Generations

Children receive four times the exposure than an adult to at least eight widely used cancer-causing pesticides in food. The food choice you make now will impact your child's health in the future.

Prevents Soil Erosion

The Soil Conservation Service estimates that more than three billion tons of topsoil are eroded from the United States croplands each year. That means soil is eroding seven times faster than it is built up naturally. Soil is the foundation of the food chain in organic farming. But in conventional farming the soil is used more as a medium for holding plants in a vertical position so they can be chemically fertilized. As a result, American farms are suffering from the worst soil erosion in history.

Protect Water Quality

Water makes up two-third of our body mass and covers three-fourths of the planet. Despite its importance, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), estimates pesticides (some cancer causing) contaminate the ground water in 38 states, polluting the primary source of drinking water for more than half the country's population.

Save Energy

American farms have changed drastically in the last three generations, from the family based small businesses dependent on human energy to large scale factory farms highly dependent on fossil fuels. Modern farming uses more petroleum than any other single industry, consuming 12 percent of the country's total energy supply. More energy is now used to produce synthetic fertilizers than to till, cultivate, and harvest all the crops in the United States. Organic farming still mainly based on labor-intensive practices such as weeding by hand and using green manures and crop covers rather than synthetic. Organic produce also tends to travel a shorter distance from the farm to your plate.