organic food - healthy living, or healthy profit?

[desprateseagull]

i remember when mostfruit/vewg was grown naturally, without pesticides etc.. but nowadays this format costs extra- WHY??

is it because the non processed yields are lower, or are thet farmers'shops making a higher cut, and feeding off people's fears..

 

[desprateseagull]

oops, meant to be a poll- do people on here eat mainly organic food, maybe a few bits to show willing, can't really afford it, or wary of the whole thing. or maybe even grown your own!

 

[larus]

I read a rellay good book by John Humphries (yes, he of the Today program) , about food production since the second world war.

Read that, and then you won't be in ANY doubt at all over why you would want to eat Organic foods.

For example, pesticides. These are designed to KILL insects/bugs. They are also designed not to be washed off when it rains. Therefore, how easy do you think it is to wash them off from your produce when you get it home.

How much gets absorbed into the flesh of the fruit/veg whilst it is growing?

How many 'safe' pesticicdes get replacesd as more research gets done on the harmful side-effects?

How much research is done on the interaction of a cocktail of chemicals from different pesticides in the human body?

Don't even start to ask about meat (hormones for growth, antibiotics to stop disease rather than cure), Salmon farming, etc.

Organic is the way to go, but it's still too expensive. It should be subsidised like normal faming (CAP, etc).

 

[desprateseagull]

good points there, larus. someone's making big ££ on this, and i dont think its the farmers..

i mean, since when baked beans costs almost £1 a tin - are they gold plated?? going green was meant to be cheaper, i thought..

 

[marapets]

like green taxes its just another way to fleece us!!!

 

[Eddie the Seagull]

I only buy organic/free range eggs, sausages & bacon.

My brother just bought some eggs round with: 'Eggs produced by caged birds' stamped on the box.

Bring on GM everything else for cheapo scran & feed Africa.

 

[Al Bion]

I have an organic vegetable box delivery every week, it's brilliant, the veg I receive are those that are currently in season and normally they will have been growing in a field only a couple of days before I receive them.

Before I did this I used to think buying organic was all a con but the taste of the veg is so much better it's unreal, though this could be partly due to the freshness as well.

I don't think the farmers are making more money out of organic produce, I believe it takes quite a few years before their crops can be certified organic and in the transition period they have the costs of farming organically without any of the benefits of being able to sell their food as organic. Hopefully in a few years, as more farmers become organic, the costs will start to reduce.

 

[beorhthelm]

[Bis it because the non processed yields are lower, or are thet farmers'shops making a higher cut, and feeding off people's fears.. [/B]

its a bit of both and a subtler factor in the middle - simple economics. Most organic farmers are small scale so cant produce in volume required to get economies of scale. organic farms basically arent competitive and have to charge more per kg to make a living.

about chemicals, yes there's some nasty stuff but we've been eating it for decades and if you didnt notice health and life expectancy is on the up, so the effect cant be all that. Cooking removes, destroys or dilutes alot of the toxins. the hormones and stuff in farmed Salmon is potentially the most dangerous especially if eating smoked.

 

[dougdeep]

Rumour has it that we will all die whatever we eat.

 

[Lankyseagull]

http://www.storewars.org

 

[London Calling]

healthy
good for you
naturally grown
real flavour
we are fleeced especially by supermarkets.

What really pi&&es me off, I assume most people who buy organically also believe in the environment, probably are great at recycling, reusing etc

But organic food from the supermarkets is over packaged and we are having to pay for it.

At least in Brighton you have infinity foods which nevertheless is still over priced.

 

[larus]

Rumour has it that we will all die whatever we eat.

That may be true.

It's not just how long you live, but the quality of your life. The better you eat, the healthier you are, the more enjoyable your life.

For example, what's more enjoyable, sitting down and bingeing out on fatty foods, or running around playing with your children/grandchildren?

Well, if you do the first part, eventually you won't be able to do the last part.

I don't hold to this theory that "I only have to look at food and I put on weight". That's balls; you are what you eat/drink (there may be the odd exception, but for most fat/large people, it's their diet/lifestyle).

Organic food is taking it one step further; you're trying to eliminate the toxins going into your body from modern farming methods.

 

[Commander]

For example, what's more enjoyable, sitting down and bingeing out on fatty foods, or running around playing with your children/grandchildren?

Sitting down and bingeing out on fatty foods.