Study Finds Commercial Organic Farms Have Better Fruit and Soil

[abovesobelow]

[geardaddy]

1. The soil isn't milked and then replenished with chemical fertilizer. n/t

[chervilant]

2. k&r

[ffr]

3. This I've discovered already!! K&R

Thought I'd try some organically grown blueberries & raspberries at the local grocery store after hearing all the harmful side-affects of eating GMO foods. My taste-buds came alive, which some of my siblings confirmed; GMO foods are generally bigger and appear to be a better value, but they're tasteless.

The main side-affect of organic foods is that you begin to crave them, all of them. It's like your body's way of saying, 'that's real food, give me more!"

IMO, everything else in the supermarket isn't food and isn't worth wasting your money on.

[KurtNYC]

4. A best practice in organic farming is to get your crop up and healthy BEFORE

the plants have to face their range of challenges during the growing season from weather, insects, weeds and disease. You have to start with the soil and make sure that is healthy before you plant. The strategy is to get the plants off to the best start possible in soil that is already healthy so that, for example, when you have some damage from leaf eating insects like Japanese Beetles, the crop can endure it, put on more leaf and the yield will not be reduced.

There is a chemical preparation commonly used in conventional farming which kills broadleaf plants by chelating (collecting and binding) key nutrients from the soil. The good news there is that the nutrients aren't available to weeds but the bad news is they aren't there for the crop either. You can dose the fields with NPK to put some back but what about all the nutrients OTHER than N, P and K?

When you see a field being plowed early in the season, you want to see birds come in behind the tractors and pick up worms and insects from the soil because that means the soil is alive and there is an ecosystem with bio-available nutrients for your crop.

This is the trailer for a USDA film on no-till. No-Till is a practice used in both conventional and organic farming so if you check out the 30 min version you will see them use herbicides. No-till is an excellent trend in farming which is well-suited to very large farms as well as small ones. It stresses soil health and getting your crop and field combo to be more drought resistant and less reliant on inputs
.

[swilton]

6. Soil health is critical

One grows the soil while one grows the plants - various methods of improving the soil and having healthy plants include 'companion planting' and 'crop rotation'....Companion planting is growing plants together that symbiotically contribute to each others growth. An example of this is a 'three sisters' garden -Roughly - planting corn, beans and squash together for example. The beans fix nutrients in the soil while the corn and squash utilize the nutrients.....Beans can climb up the corn stalks and squash grows in the shade provided by the corn. Crop rotation works differently but the idea is to rotate nitrogen fixing and nitrogen depleting crops. Crops like tomatoes planted in the same spot three years in a row depletes the soil of its nutrients.

A healthy soil is critical for healthy plants - One should expect to see all kinds of fauna in the soil (tiny bugs, for example like the roly polies, and especially worms which enrich the soil as they process it through their bodies). Organic matter (adding compost - either home made or cow/horse manure obtained from a farm) in the soil enriches it and promotes the growth both flora and fauna. Insects and other pests will not attack a healthy plant.

Should one have a problem (as I do occasionally) of rabbits eating the leaves off of some of my flowers or vegetables, I sprinkle cayenne pepper on the leaves as a repellent. I have never had a problem with insects - I do enjoy cat birds and other birds inspecting my digging as I work in the garden.

Heirlooms are the best and the best authority on heirloom gardens is John Forti - check out his website.

http://www.jforti.com/

[Quixote1818]

5. More recent and much larger studies showed little or no difference

That video is from 2010. More recent study that looked at over 200 other studies:

http://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2012/09/little-evidence-of-health-benefits-from-organic-foods-study-finds.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/03/us-organic-food-idUSBRE8820M920120903


Most of these are not Mom and Dad farms anymore, they are big corporations and they have found they can rip-off folks by charging a lot more for Organic, for little if any benefit. There are a few organic foods that are recommended over regular methods but not many.

[Peace Patriot]

9. i'm sorry but you can TASTE the difference between organic and pesticide/chem fertilizer foods.

The difference is remarkable in all veggies, fruit and meats; my taste buds find it most astounding in tomatoes, brussel sprouts, strawberries and swiss chard. There is simply no comparison. The complex, redolent taste of organically grown food is so superior to food grown in the typical corporate regimen--pesticides, chemical fertilizers and genetic modification to endure long distance travel--that there simply must be an impact as to nutrition.

Your taste buds don't lie--but academics in corporate pay and corporate media often do.

[swilton]

7. Top soil

is an under appreciated scarce resource......

This very brief, illustration illustrates what I'm talking about...Organic farming protects the soil while commercial farming (pesticides/fertilizers) wear the soil out.

http://www.farmland.org/Flash/appleEarth.html


This illustration is worth a thread of its own - I hope someone will repost it as I'm not that skilled with the posting mechanisms.....

[swilton]

8. Localvores

It's still possible to get organic food from local small farms. Regionally, New England has the top three states for localvore (interest in eating locally produced food)....My state ranks #2 (we try harder) behind Vermont which is #1.

http://archive.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20130411/LIVING06/304110021/Advocacy-group-ranks-Vermont-No-1-localvore-state