You Get What You Pay For

At one point or another we have all been told that buying organic and local is the better option to conventional produce in grocery stores. Why is this??? According to economists who studied food collection data for the U.S. Department of Agriculture , the average American eats 1,996 lbs, almost a ton, of food per year. With the amount of food we consume (which is usually way more than we need) we need to make sure that the food we eat is doing the job it is supposed to do...fuel our bodies.

Do not just assume your fruits and vegetables are healthy and come from a sustainable environment. A lot of produce is genetically modified to pump out the mass quantities that are demanded. Scientists have created "out-performing" species of fruits and vegetables which makes it impossible to compete with other farmers if you grow "normal" produce. The more we modify produce to grow faster and larger the more we destroy our ecosystem. Also, the produce we are getting imported from around the world out of season looses 90% of its nutritional value by the time it's on your plate. This is why it is SO IMPORTANT TO KNOW WHERE YOUR FOOD COMES FROM. ASK AND BE INFORMED.

The main difference you need to know is that organic farming is how we traditionally farmed. Traditional farming methods sustained our health and land. The farmers took pride in their produce and the land. Industrialized farming relies heavily on chemicals. To grow enough food at a fast enough pace many fertilizers and pesticides are being used that destroy our land. Tiny organisms that keep the soil healthy are killed when these chemicals are used. We are eating food that is coming from contaminated soil. Nutrient deficient soil= nutrient deficient food=nutrient deficient people. We make this worse by adding preservatives and additives into our food to make shelf life longer.

Supporting your local farmers, and buying organic is really the only way to ensure your food has the nutritional value it supposed to have. We need to stop supporting the industrial farms that are ruining our food and land. If more people were on board with buying organic food then the demand for it would go up, and the price would go down. People's main reason for not buying organic is the cost. “The cost of organic food is higher than that of conventional food because the organic price tag more closely reflects the true cost of growing the food,” reports the Organic Farming Research Foundation (OFRF). Organic food has value, and more often than not your conventional produce is not worth the cheaper price you are paying.

Go high five a farmer !!

-Bridget