By Marie Oser ecomii.com
November 20, 2008

Organic foods are minimally processed without artificial ingredients, preservatives, or irradiation to maintain the integrity of the food.

According to The Organic Center in Boulder, Colorado, organic fruits and vegetables tend to have more flavor and generally taste better because they are sweeter than conventionally grown foods. Scientists say that this is because of the nutrient density of organic produce and their smaller size. Conventional farming methods are devised to produce bigger fruits and vegetables, a system that increases cell size and adds water, ultimately diluting concentrations of both vitamins and natural flavors.

Organic agriculture is a system of farming that relies on crop rotation, compost, green cover crops and biological pest control to maintain soil productivity. Organic farming enhances soil fertility and biodiversity, conserves water and replenishes soil fertility without the use of toxic pesticides and fertilizers. As a result, organic farming practices help protect ground water supplies and avoid runoff of chemicals that can cause “dead zones” in larger bodies of water.

Agricultural contaminants such as inorganic fertilizers, herbicides and insecticides from conventional agriculture are a major concern all over the world. Eutrophication (you-tro-fi-KAY-shun) is a syndrome of ecosystem responses to human activities that fertilize bodies of water with nitrogen and phosphorus, often leading to changes in animal and plant populations and degradation of water and habitat quality. The result is the suffocation of aquatic plants and animals due to rapid growth of algae, referred to as “algae blooms”, which are literally killing lakes, rivers and other bodies of water. Organic agriculture restores the environmental balance and does not cause these or any other toxic damage to the environment.

Sources:
American Chemical Society, Journal of Food and Agricultural Chemistry
(Mitchell et al., 2007)

Cloern, James (Lead Author); Timothy Krantz (Contributing Author); J. Emmett Duffy (Topic Editor). 2007. “Eutrophication.” In: Encyclopedia of Earth. Eds. Cutler J. Cleveland (Washington, D.C.: Environmental Information Coalition, National Council for Science and the Environment September 22, 2006; http://www.eoearth.org/article/Eutrophication