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.

             3.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.

            4. 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.

            5. Keep Chemicals Off Your Plate -  

Many pesticides approved for use by the EPA were registered before extensive research linking these chemicals to cancer and other diseases has been established. Now the EPA considers that 60 percent of all herbicides, 90 percent of all fungicides and 30 percent of all insecticides are carcinogenic. A 1987 National Academy of Sciences report estimated that pesticides might cause an extras 1.4 million cancer cases among Americans over their lifetimes. The bottom line is that
pesticides are poisons designed to kill living organisms, and can also be harmful to humans. In addition to cancer, pesticides are implicated in birth defects, nerve damage and genetic mutation.

            6. Protect Farm Workers Health - 

          A natural Cancer Institute study found that farmers exposed to herbicides had a six time greater risk than non-farmers of contracting cancer. In California, reported pesticide poisonings among farm workers have risen an average of 14 percent a year since 1973, and doubled between 1975 and 1985. Field workers suffer the highest rates of occupational
illness in the state. Farm worker health also is a serious problem in developing nations, where pesticide use can be poorly regulated. An estimated 1million people are poisoned annually by pesticides.

          7.   Help Small Farmers -

          Although more and more large scale farms are making the conversion to organic practices, most organic farms are small independently owned and operated family farms of less than 100 acres. It's estimated that the United States has lost more than 650,000 family farms in the past decade. And with the US Department of Agriculture predicting that half of
this country's farm production will come from 1 percent of farms by the year 2000, organic farming could become one of the few survival tactics left for family farms.

           8.  Support a True Economy - 

          Although organic foods might seem more expensive than conventional foods, conventional food prices do not reflect hidden cost borne by taxpayers, including nearly $74 billion in federal subsidies in 1988.  Other hidden costs include pesticide regulation and testing, hazardous waste disposal and clean up, and environmental damage.

            9. Promote Biodiversity - 

          Mono cropping is the practice of place large plots of land with the same crop year after year. While this approach tripled farm production between 1950 and 1970, the lack of natural diversity of plant life has left the soil lacking in natural minerals and nutrients. To replace the nutrients, chemical fertilizers are used, often in increasing amounts.


            10. To Taste Better Flavor - 

          There's a good reason many chef's use organic foods in their recipes. They taste better. Organic farming starts with the nutrients of the soil which eventually leads to the nourishment of the plant and ultimately our palates.

                                    Taking a Closer Look at Product Labels


According to the Organic Food Production Act of 1990 (OPFA) 95%* of the ingredients of any product labeled organic must be certified organic.

*The other 5% typically represents minor ingredients such as herbs and spices or if some organic products are not available.

Consumers can estimate the percentage of organically produced products by observing how the product label is worded.

There are three basic levels of organic product labeling:

     For a product to display the word organic on the front of the label and refer to the product as being organic it must be made up of 95% or more organic ingredients.

     And if a product contains two to three main organic ingredients it must make up at least 50% of the ingredients and the label can only state the word organic in conjunction with these particular ingredients.

     If less than 50% of the product is organic the product can only mention it under the ingredients panel. Not on the front as the main product.


Let's use soup for example:

     If the product reads organic vegetable soup, then the soup must
contain 95% or more certified organic ingredients. And if the products
label reads Soup
     made with organic vegetables, then the soup can have no less then
50% certified organic vegetables. Finally, if the soup has less than 50%
organic ingredients organic will be defined under the ingredients panel only.

By California standards "organically grown and processed in accordance
with the California Foods Act of 1990" must be printed somewhere on the product
to insure certification.

You will also notice that organic products generally contain a shorter
list of ingredients than that of the equivalent conventional product.
This is because with minimal processing, they contain no growth hormones, or extra non-essential preservatives or stabelizers. You won't find any butylated hydroxytoluene. Just simple naturalpreservatives like citric acid, pectin or baking soda.


All 3 articles that I've included are:
Excerpted from the Organic Times, Spring 1992
This is from an article by Sylvia Tawse
Alfalfa's Markets, Boulder, CO