“Organic”: What Does It Mean? When Does It Matter?

The word organic is often tossed around when we mention “local” or “sustainable” food. Sometimes, though, it’s a little tough to figure out which of these labels actually matters – in my experience, it’s a case-by-case debate.

Let’s Define Organic

Certified organic means your fruits and vegetables have been grown with minimal (<5%) artificial pesticides, fertilizers, and dyes. Buying organic produce is the move because you are (a) minimizing the amount of gross chemicals you’re ingesting and (b) organic farming practices are the kindest to our soils. Agriculture has massive potential to sequester carbon; organic produce generally takes longer to ripen than conventionally grown produce, and that extra time allows the soils to uptake more CO2. Shopping organic for environmental reasons also comes with a set of trade-offs: is it better to buy organic strawberries versus package-free, plastic-free, conventionally grown strawberries? We briefly touched on this catch-22 with Megan on episode 17 of ECO CHIC; there’s not always a clear-cut, best-for-the-planet option.

An important point to consider is that a USDA Organic certification is expensive, especially for small farmers. At a farmer’s market, you are likely to find individual farmers that use organic practices but are not certified. Ask, and farmers will be happy to chat about how their crops are grown. At a grocery store, you are going to look for an obvious “organic” sticker.

So?

While I would love to eat totally pesticide-free, it is not realistic on my grad student budget. A simple guideline on whether or not your should buy a particular item organic is to consider the produce’s skin. A particularly absorbent, water-dense fruit or veggie (e.g., cucumber), sucks in fertilizers and pesticides, too. If it’s an item you peel before consuming (e.g., pineapple, avocado, bananas), it really doesn’t matter. Below I have created a nifty graphic outlining the Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen list, the twelve foods that you should consider particularly worthy of buying organic. Pin it, screen shot it, whatever works for you. I like to have it handy while grocery shopping!

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *