Why do you have to be rich in order to eat organic foods??

Question

We buy a good amount of organic foods for our 1 year old son and it is so expensive. Over $4 for a half gallon of milk and $2.50 for 6 eggs.
It just doesn't seem right.

Answer 1

I worked on an organic produce farm for 6 years. It does seem unfair to have to pay the prices that supermarket charges, but I can attest, it takes alot more effort to produce organic products. Besides the extra labor, there is also more loss involved, in organic fgarming we don't use the harmfull chemicals to kill pest, we just loose part of the crop. We do employ natural pest control, but it is not as effective as the chemicals.

Better than that, find a local organic farm. Support local organic farmers, the more people do the more of them there will be. And in turn the more organic farmers there are the cheaper the products will be in time. Besides that you can cut out the middle man, save a little, and get much better/fresher produce. Besides I am sure you would rather give your money to a local farmer than a huge chain supermarket.

Answer 2

The cost of production of organicly grown food is higher than when chemicals are used. If you don't believe it, grow your own. You will discover that you spend a lot of time picking bugs off the plants, that it takes a lot of work to grow enough grain to feed the cow that is going to give you organic milk, and that the whole process of harvesting and preservation of the food is a huge undertaking. There is a reward in the process, however, you and all your family members will spend a lot more time together, and it will not be in front of the TV. Ultimately, you will find you need to have a minimum ofa section of land to farm, and that you will spend huge amounts of money to get productive farmland. Then you will have to make certain your water supply is not contaminated with the neighbors fertilizer and pesticides. You will need to prevent crop dusters from "accidently" spraying to close to your fenceline. Good luck! (I have a friend who raises "organic" corn- He does the blue corn for organic blue corn chips- He has a new problem- some of his crop was rejected because they did a genetic test on it, and found some sort of gene that has been introduced into feed corn to increase insect resistence- Apparently the pollen that blew onto his fields from the neighbors has contaminated his crop-) True organic farming is possibly the most difficult form of agriculture. This raises another question- how can you tell if the product on the shelf is truely grown organically? Most of the time, it is easy. Look for the blemishes and insect damage, smaller size, and higher price tag...

Answer 3

I absolutely agree... for health reasons we went organic last year, but just can't afford to do it with ALL foods. Milk was number one due to the hormones added to normal milk, so we ALWAYS put the money out for that, eggs and cheese... and certain fruits such as grapes and tomatoes should always be organic due to the fact that the skins absorb pesticides easily and retain them. Lots of "normal" grocery stores now also carry organic foods, and we have found that some of them price the organic food at about the same price as pesticide laden food! Even Walmart carries organic foods now. If you read the book Natural Cures by Trudeau, you will see that there are a million things we do in our everyday life that are equally as bad for our health - using Windex instead of vinegar, using Comet instead of baking soda - using a microwave oven! Not filtering our drinking water or bathing water and therefore, absorbing chlorine in our systems. So many little things you can do to improve your body's immune system - and by doing these things, you can tolerate the pesticides better when you do have to eat non-organic due to financial reasons. I totally agree with your comment though, it is a true shame that it is not affordable to eat healthy foods. There are many reasons for it, mainly that the big companies that make the bad foods have the money to produce and transport in bulk so they can charge less.

Answer 4

It costs more because not enough people buy it. When demand goes down, price goes up and vice versa. Some organic things could be more expensive because not enough farms grow them organic. I buy organic whenever possible and it really doesn't matter how much it is unless I think it's totally outrageous (like when I wanted a 6 pack of organic root beer and saw that it was almost 7 dollars).

Answer 5

Most organic food (so called)isn't .Please remember in a society that is not really testing your proscriptions that they know are being cut , not even the drug(real)your doctor ordered,can you really expect your food source to be honest.Some people have died or just not improved because drugstores are getting bootlegged drugs.Read your paper look on the Internet,be careful.There is a great deal of money to be made on dishonest food and drugs. Walgreen's and other large companies have had this happen,they do not examine every drug,they cannot,greed has our country in a terrible fix.

Answer 6

They cost more to produce. If its a big concern maybe you should research which foods are most important to use organic on (spinach is a good example) and also what the Mfr or grower means by organic (the word is being used pretty loosely) maybe you'll find ways to save on it.

Answer 7

It won't feel like it's paying off until the long run starts playing out...less illness, shorter durations, medical/hospital bills. Hang in there.
Trader Joe's has some organics at competitive prices, and other foods that have no additives.

Answer 8

It only seems like you do. The processes required to produce organic foods cost more.

Answer 9

Costs of production -- the more it costs to produce and process a particular item, the more it ultimately costs on the store shelf. Sad but true.

Answer 10

Because the rich people are the only ones dumb enough to think organic foods are actually better for them.

If organic foods are healthier, why did people 100's of years ago who ate only organic foods, die so much younger? I think the added chemicals make us live longer but then give us cancer. sounds like a fair trade off.