There’s a red herring in the discussion about whether organic foods are better than so-called conventional ones raised in industrial operations.   That red herring, probably fished up by a public relations department in industrial agriculture, is the debate over whether organic food contains more nutrients than conventional food.   Once again, last week, a columnist for the Vancouver Sun suggested that organic food is just a scam.  After all, he said: “Studies have consistently shown that organic food has the same nutritional content as the cheaper varieties.” 

The problem is, that’s irrelevant.  No-one I know ever claimed that organic food has more vitamins or minerals in it.  What organic food does have is fewer  pesticides,  antibiotics in the case of animal-source foods, and other potentially harmful chemicals.  So what organic food offers is less of the bad stuff.  It’s pretty straightforward.  But that fact has trouble getting traction because of the dominance of the red herring in the discussion — the constant repetition of that empty phrase that organic food has equivalent nutrient content.

The harmful effects are well-established of the chemicals used in conventional farming.  For example, many of the pesticides are organophosphates that directly interfere with humans’ and animals’ brain neurotransmitter systems.  Get enough of these pesticides in your system, and you won’t be able to function normally and healthfully.

On top of all that was the release  in October 2011 by the U.S.-based Rodale Institute for agricultural research of the results of their 30-year side-by-side study on organic versus conventional farming methods.  The study showed that organic farming is superior to the chemical kind.  After an initial period of transition from conventional to organic farming, producers found that organic methods produced as much food, and more in drought conditions (of which more are predicted in coming years), that organic farming used less energy and that it was often more profitable. (http://www.rodaleinstitute.org/fst30years)

If we’re going to compare organic to conventional, let’s ask the right questions.  For example, if our question is ‘Which one is cheaper?’ then the answer will be conventional.  But where our health and communities are at stake, we might want to consider alternative points of view.