Yesterday, several of us had a discussion in Facebook about organic foods. I got this info from Wikipedia. In 1939, Lord Northbourne coined the term organic farming in his book Look to the Land (1940), out of his conception of the farm as an organism, to describe a holistic, ecologically balanced approach to farming—in contrast to what he called chemical farming, which relied on imported fertility and cannot be self-sufficient nor an organic whole.[11] . Early consumers interested in organic food would look for non-chemically treated, non-use of unapproved pesticides, fresh or minimally processed food. Each country sets their own organic standards, but in the United States, organic is defined by the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA) of 1990 and Title 7, Part 205 of the Code of Federal Regulations: integrating cultural, biological, and mechanical practices that foster cycling of resources, promote ecological balance, and conserve biodiversity.[13] If livestock are involved, the livestock must be reared with regular access to pasture and without the routine use of antibiotics or growth hormones.[14] Processed organic food usually contains only organic ingredients. If non-organic ingredients are present, at least a certain percentage of the foods total plant and animal ingredients must be organic (95% in the United States,[15] Canada, and Australia). Foods claiming to be organic must be free of artificial food additives, and are often processed with fewer artificial methods, materials and conditions, such as chemical ripening, food irradiation, and genetically modified ingredients. It may come as a surprise to you but pesticides are allowed as long as they are not synthetic.[16] However, under US federal organic standards, if pests and weeds are not controllable through management practices, nor via organic pesticides and herbicides, a substance included on the National List of synthetic substances allowed for use in organic crop production may be applied to prevent, suppress, or control pests, weeds, or diseases.[17] Several groups have called for organic standards to prohibit nanotechnology on the basis of the precautionary principle[18] in light of unknown risks of nanotechnology.[19]:5–6 The use of nanotechnology-based products in the production of organic food is prohibited in some jurisdictions (Canada, the UK, and Australia) and is unregulated in others.[20][21]:2, section 1.4.1(l) (I believe they are referring here to GMO crops, but Im not sure.) Well - now you know! Plus, there are MANY hoops for the small farmer to jump through that want to become certified organic - that have nothing to do with growing their crops holistically, and ecologically balanced without sprays or fertilizers and they make getting the certification almost prohibitively expensive - and frankly its meaning is NOT the same to me as that of industrial organic growers - who in fact do use some approved sprays and fertilizers rather than working their soil to create a holistic, sustainable soil. Finding a farmer that has a personal interest in farming the old fashioned way - and that would be like prior to ANY sprays and fertilizers - is worth their weight in gold! Believe me they are few and far between as it is almost an impossible task!
Posted on: Wed, 26 Mar 2014 10:43:51 +0000
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