1. YOU KNOW WHAT YOU’RE BUYING: Organic foods are produced with substantially less toxic and persistent pesticides and synthetic nitrogen fertilizers, antibiotics, synthetic hormones, genetic engineering or other excluded practices, sewage sludge, or irradiation.

2. IT’S MORE NUTRITIOUS: Lack of pesticides means that the absorption of major and micro-nutrients is higher. The British Journal of Nutrition found that organic crops tend to have higher anti-oxidant levels too.

3. THE LAND STAYS CLEAN: Before earning organic certification, land must be without prohibited materials for at least three years.

4. OUR WATER SOURCES LOVE IT: There is substantially less toxic run-off from organic farms into our water resources.

5. IT KEEPS OUR SOIL HEALTHY: Organic farmers practice crop rotation. This aids in keeping soil fertile and prevents soil erosion.

6. CRITTERS LOVE IT: Honeybees, chipmunks, deer, fox, birds…none of them like being poisoned by noxious chemicals.

7. NO GLYPHOSATE: Yeah, we already mentioned no pesticides, but this herbicide is worth noting. Glyphosate (found in products like Round-Up) is the killer weed killer. Some genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have been genetically modified to be resistant to glyphosate. This way, entire crops can be sprayed to kill weeds, yet not damage the crops. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared in 2015 that glyphosate is probably carcinogenic to humans – although there is on-going dispute and research on this point.

8. IT’S INSPECTED: If it’s certified organic, it’s been inspected by annual third-party inspections.

9. SMALL FARMS ROCK: The number of American farms keeps declining and the size (in acreage) keeps increasing. This is due to a number of factors, one of which is the advent of large, corporate farming. Organic farms tend to be family-owned and smaller in acreage.

10. IT TASTES BETTER: Studies show that organic food tends to retain better organoleptic qualities (taste, aroma, and mouthfeel) than conventionally grown foods.

SOURCES

Eric Sorensen: Major Study Documents Benefits of Organic Farming, WSU News

Marcin Baranski, Dominika Srednicka-Tober, …Carlo Leifert: Higher Antioxidant and Lower Cadmium Concentrations and Lower Incidence of Pesticide Residues in Organically Grown Crops: A Systematic Literature Review and Meta-Analyes, British Journal of Nutrition

Arthur Neslen: Glyphosate Unlikely to Pose Risk to Humans, UN/WHO Study Says,The Guardian

Daniel Cressey: Widely Used Herbicide Linked to Cancer, Scientific American

U.S. Farms and Farmers, Issued February 2014, United States Department of Agriculture