Why are organic fruits and veggies more expensive?

[wazzuFreddo]

I'm kind of troubled by all the loopholes in 37, but I think that getting some regulation out there is a good start. And the fact that Montsano is against it, and the central valley farmers' association is for it, pretty much sells me on a yes vote, even knowing it's flawed.

I heard this song on the radio in Hawaii and thought of you


http://soundcloud.com/marty-dread/say-no-to-monsanto-marty-dread

 

[turbodogs02]

My wife's parents have been Certified Organic by CCOF for 30+ years. They deal primarily in citrus (oranges and mandarins).

I believe their citrus tastes better than large scale commercial producers. I don't think its because it was farmed under organic means, but because they hand pick ripe fruit off the tree.

Large commercial growers pick their fruit when it's green and hard (unripe). This is done so fruit will not be damaged by the mechanical treatment on it's way to store shelves. Fruit is stored cold until it is ready to be "ripened" by gassing them. This gas, turns the fruit orange, but it doesn't make it any sweeter. Colored dyes can also be used to "ripen" fruit.

I believe most small scale organic citrus farmers are picking in the same way as my inlaws do. It's much more labor intensive to pick a tree up and down ladders 4-6 times per season as the fruit ripens, instead of the large commercial guys who pick entire trees of green fruit in one wave.

^^^You are partially correct. Early CA navel orange varieties(Bonanza, TI, etc) harvested during November are gassed. Later, and more common varieties Springs, Fukumotos, the good ol Washington, Lanes, and Powells are never gassed.

Your inlaws are to be commended...operating a profitable small family tree fruit or citrus farm while going head to head with 800lb commercial gorillas is difficult to say the least.

Re: organic produce--->http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/04/s...antages-of-organic-meat-and-produce.html?_r=0

This study is, imo, not a be all end all study...but it does offer food for thought.

Same thing they do to tomatoes....all red and round, no flavor
For sure commendations to the inlaws for sticking to the natural way of doing things.

You do realize the end game with that, right? Many, many, many more people. Providing endless food to endless people with no restraints ends in one thing. Ecological disaster.

^^ Couldn't agree more.....Coupled with the massive loss of valuable farmland to strip malls and tract homes = painting ourselves into a very eff'd up corner....

 

[Yakoo752]

37 has nothing to do with organic labeling, it's about GMO labeling, and while I think the spirit is wonderful, it's a really badly written law. I encourage everyone to read the bill (it's only two pages) and look at all the loopholes in it. It's impressively flawed legislation.

please to keep reading the thread before commenting next time

kthxbai

and it's 2+2+2+2+1 = (9) pages long

here is the actual bill

http://ag.ca.gov/cms_attachments/ini..._food_v2).pdf?

a is meat and it doesn't concern me since I only eat organic meat in the home
b is accidental contamination
c is processed foods which I don't eat (maybe loophole?)
d is alcohol which is federally controlled so can't be required
e is same as c and is the only loop hole that concerns me and it goes away in 2019
f is trusting your sources
g is current law maintenance - doesn't change the organic law at all
h is trust as well
i not sure what medical food is so?

 

[msincredible]

If you don't think that organic farms are large and corporate do some research. Do you think what you buy at Whole Paycheck comes from some hippies who live over at the coast?
I'll bet if you drill down the numbers, the largest majority of "certified organic" foods come from a corporate farm. Food is a business just like any other.
If you are concerned about your food source, buy direct from the grower.
To answer the O.P.'s question, yeilds/acre are usually much less for organic products and it requires much more hand labor to farm= higher cost of production.

A lot of what we buy at New Leaf, which carries almost exclusively organic produce, comes from hippies at the coast.

 

[AbsolutEnduser]

I agree the organic produce tastes better. I'm just not sure if they are more nutritionally beneficial. I'm even starting to wonder whether the pesticides in the non-organic ones pose more risk health wise.

It's crazy to know even chicken meat are being labeled and sold "organic".

I guess I could grow veggies in my backyard. Not too sure about 'em chickens tho.

well,
I guess you would need numbers and quantifiers for you to convince you to buy better food for yourself.

Lucky me, I don't.. all I need is to feel sick from the non-organic stuff, which has happened and I'm done...

----
I did just open the fridge before posting this.
The danger in this country is not so much that the Organic is so-so-much better, but that the non-organic stuff is usually so-so-much worse. The problem is that the non-organic would be certain to be produced from mono-cultures (which would be bad for your digestion and growing up if you were a kid..) so you'd be getting only one type of 'nutrition'.
Also will be gene-modified, so you'd be eating fish in your tomato and who knows, maybe e-coli for some 'veggie resistance'. For corn and its syrup, you'd be eating straight poison. ... and yes I think every single product that has HF corn syrup in it actually tastes bad to me. No joke

 

[asthmodeus]

it's the poop.