Organic vs. Natural

Organic. You might have heard it from your neighbor, your woke cousin or that aunt who doesn’t stop talking about how fit she is, but I assure you, they don’t have the faintest clue what they’re talking about. In this article, I want to talk about the benefits that you could give the world and yourself if you choose to consume organic food products.

The difference between Natural and Organic

“Natural foods” are often assumed to be foods that are minimally processed and do not contain any hormones, antibiotics or artificial flavors. While “natural” assures you of little, “organic” tells you are buying food made without the use of toxic pesticides, GMOs, antibiotics, artificial growth hormones in animals, sewage sludge or irradiation.

Organic food is healthy

Now that we have cleared the air, you might have guessed that it is not sufficient for food products to be labelled natural for them to be healthy. Even natural products use toxic pesticides and herbicides to kill weeds or bugs. Instead of rotating crops and biological pest control (such as pheromones, bacteria, or good pests that kill harmful pests) or pulling weeds out or tilling the land, they use cancer causing pesticides and herbicides only because it requires less work with sustainable practices. These farmers might use synthetic chemical fertilizers to promote plant growth where organic farmers would apply natural fertilizers such as manure or fertilizers.

In contrast to the conventional farmers who give animals growth hormones and antibiotics to prevent disease, organic meat and dairy producers use preventative measures such as rotational grazing, a wholesome diet, clean housing and access to the outdoors for an overall healthy animal. By some measures, these humane, “free range” practices that keep the animal happy are linked to more nutritious and tastier food that comes from them.

It is higher in Nutrition

Adding on, special studies have shown that organic foods have higher nutrition levels than non-organic foods. One of them was a study conducted by Newcastle University, UK, which determined that the level of antioxidants is 69% higher in organic foods than in non-organic foods. So, when you eat a meal of organic food, it is like you have consumed one or two additional portions of fruits and vegetables. The antioxidants that come from this food play a crucial role in cleaning your body cells, and thus not making your body susceptible to disease.

The Environment

According to Mayo Clinic, Organic farming practices are designed to meet the following goals:

• Enhance soil and water quality
• Reduce pollution
• Provide safe, healthy livestock habitats
• Enable natural livestock behavior
• Promote a self-sustaining cycle of resources on a farm

Organic farming saves land from degradation through sustainable practices like crop rotations, inter-cropping, etc. which promote the natural flora and fauna, improving soil formation and enhancing nutrients which compensate for the non-use of mineral fertilizers. This formation of a stable ecosystem also prevents excessive soil erosion.

Pollution of groundwater courses with fertilizers and pesticides remains a major problem in many agriculture areas. Well-managed organic systems greatly reduce the risk of groundwater pollution and the health risks associated with it.

Agrochemicals like pesticides or herbicides require high quantities of fossil fuels to be produced. Organic farming decreases this need, hence reducing the use of non-renewable energy. Also, many management practices used by organic agriculture increase the return of carbon to the soil, raising productivity and favoring carbon storage. This goes on to mitigate the effects of global warming and climate change by hiding the carbon from the atmosphere.

About 29% or about 96.4 million hectares of  land in India are considered degraded because of these conventional practices and rapid industrialization. Organic farming also helps in maintaining the soil quality through sustainable practices, hence reducing degradation of land.

Death by pesticide

Pesticides enter the body through the skin (contact), the lungs (inhalation) and the mouth (ingestion). Inhalation of pesticide fumes results in serious damage to the nose, throat, and lung tissues. Symptoms include dizziness, breathlessness and vomiting. This leads to the deaths of hundreds of farmers each year in India. Disturbingly, many of these deaths have been attributed to suicide by pesticide poisoning.

The elephant in the room

When you talk about advantages like serious health benefits, gains to the farmer, the soil and the environment, in most cases, there sometimes comes a trade-off with price. This is why many consumers prefer to eat food made through conventional practices which ultimately discourage farmers from putting in the time and effort to produce organic goods. But by consuming organic products, you can change that.

Often organic food is cheaper because of reduced water use, lower expenses on fertilizer and energy and increase in the preservation of topsoil. The use of organic farming reduces the usage of energy requirements on average by 28-30%. 

The myth of organic being expensive is so widespread that organic food is associated with only the elite. And even when organic food is somewhat a little more expensive, the typical consumer prefers his precious “affordability” more than his long-term health. Yet he spends Rs. 800 a month on Netflix, Rs. 1700 a meal on KFC, and Rs. 60 on an Uber pass which he uses to get discounts on his 5-minute ride to office when he could have simply used a bicycle. Customer is king, but he is also a hypocrite.

Consumers these days satiate their desire of healthy living by buying “that one natural fruit juice” which is ultimately created through the use of toxic synthetic pesticides, genetically modified ingredients, preservatives and processed sugars.

Image is everything. And the advertisers behind the word “Natural” really know how to build it.