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Organic farming exists. Consumers can move past herbicides and pesticides by paying more (sometimes much more) for their food, and cooking more from scratch.
by biorach 4y ago
Organic farming exists.
Consumers can move past herbicides and pesticides by paying more (sometimes much more) for their food, and cooking more from scratch.
Of course this is easy for wealthy first-world dwellers. Less so for low income families in places with less diverse supply chains.
Organic farming has lower yields (those pests otherwise killed off by the pesticides end up eating a lot of the produce) and is more labour intensive - which explains the higher cost.
Additionally there is more to the picture than farmers and consumers.
In most first-world countries the large retailers (Walmart is famously the most ruthless here) mercilessly squeeze suppliers (distributors and large farmers) to supply the most produce at the lowest price. This pushes farms into consolidation and industrial production - i.e. very large scale mono-culture farming heavily dependent on chemicals.
The very low cost food that we see in our supermarkets has the effect of making orgainic produce look overpriced by comparison - often consumers these days view organic as a luxury item.
Governments too have grant-aided and subsidized farms in a way that often incentivizes "high-tech" farming.
I could go on...
- fsflover 4y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_farming#Nutrient_leaching https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_farming#Nutrient_leach... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_farming#Food_quality_and_safety https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_farming#Food_quality_a...
- ch4s3 4y ago> Organic farming exists. Organic especially in the US, but also in the EU, doesn't mean no herbicides and pesticides[1][2]. Some of the non-synthetic insecticides are FAR more dangerous for people[3]. A popular organic pesticide from the recent past worked by destroying cell mitochondria in a vast swath of eukaryotic cells, nasty stuff. [1] https://www.global-organics.com/post.php?s=2018-02-02-are-pesticides-allowed-in-organic-farming#:~:text=Q%3A%20Are%20pesticides%20allowed%20in,%2C%20glyphosate%20(Roundup%C2%AE) https://www.global-organics.com/post.php?s=2018-02-02-are-pe.... [2] https://www.pan-uk.org/site/wp-content/uploads/List-of-active-substances-approved-for-use-in-organic-agriculture.pdf https://www.pan-uk.org/site/wp-content/uploads/List-of-activ... [3] https://web.archive.org/web/20220513165751/https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/science-sushi/httpblogsscientificamericancomscience-sushi20110718mythbusting-101-organic-farming-conventional-agriculture/ https://web.archive.org/web/20220513165751/https://blogs.sci...
- biorach 4y agoNote that as far as I'm aware Rotenone is not on the list of EU approved substances for organic farming. Correct me if I'm wrong.
- ch4s3 4y agoI should have been more clear, that one was allowed in the US, but some of the things that are allowable in the EU aren't necessarily super safe. Generally speaking really effective natural pesticides were dangerous for humans.
- biorach 4y agoSure, whatever. Organic farming isn't perfect and isn't a panacea, and I've zero interest in defending it, or in attacking high-chemical factory farming for that matter. We need to gain a better understanding of our food production systems, the full chain, precursors (seed, fertiliser and chemical suppliers), farms, processors, distributors, retailers. We need to stop thinking in terms of pure cost. We need to stop thinking in terms of good and evil (good organic farmers vs evil corporations or whatever). We need, as a society, to gain a proper understanding of the complexity of the food chain, of the trade-offs involved in various methods. Of the advantages and disadvantages... It's appalling that there are chemical residues in our food, possibly to an extent that it has health implications visible in a study such as the one cited. It's amazing that in most countries food is now much much more accessible for the vast majority of the population than it was, say, a century ago. To a large extent these are two sides of the same coin.
- ch4s3 4y ago> To a large extent these are two sides of the same coin. Yeah, I think that's the interesting thing here. People don't routinely starve in droves anymore and malnutrition is increasingly rare. On the other hand there's creeping fragility in the food system(s), unknown knock on effects of chemicals applied to lots of staple crops, and land/water use issues. It seems to me like a lot of smart people are actually working on these things but progress is as always uneven and happening in fits and starts.
- ClumsyPilot 4y ago> Consumers can move past herbicides and pesticides ... cooking more from scratch. How is this even relevant?
- ac29 4y agoI dont think it follows either, but at least when you cook from scratch you have control over how much stuff is washed before you use it. That's not the case for more processed food. I'm not suggesting processed food necessarily uses poorly washed vegetables, just that its out of one's control - it certainly strikes me as possible that industrial scale processes might do a better job at removing chemical residues than a typical home cook giving store bought produce a quick rinse.