There have been several stories in the media about organic produce having pesticide residual on them. A lot of time they don’t mention that this is not being cause on purpose but by the general poisoning of our environment by the chemical based agricultural system. Also the residual amount is less than 10% of what is found on conventional. I will take that reduction.

Some people that choose organic don’t only do it for their own well being but that they do not wish to see the planet being exposed to more toxic load than what it is presently trying to deal with. It also reduces the amount of pesticides that work in the field are exposed to. I like that!

The Certified Organic process has many protocols. If a product does not follow the protocol they cannot be considered organic.

Organic farmers have to have a perimeter buffer zone around their property to adequately protect their crops from contamination from pesticides, GMO pollen, synthetic fertilizers, etc – basically all those things we don’t want in our food. The organic transportation protocol then kicks in where the certified organic products/produce is not to be contaminated by none certified organic products. For instance broccoli is quite often shipped with ice in the waxed box and it will melt. A box of conventional broccoli cannot be shipped where the melt water could contaminate certified organic produce. Quite often certified organic produce is shipped in full truck loads to avoid this situation. When the produce is in the stores it should be on it’s own shelf and not side by side of conventional produce (at Earth’s General Store and many other organic food stores we don’t have conventional produce to cause contamination).

Conventional farming practices coupled with the corporate pressure to cut costs and maximize profit externalize many of the costs onto the environment (water, air, land, and food pollution), reduced wages for farm workers, greenhouse gas emissions caused by synthetic fertilizers, and centralized productions through mega farms, large processing plants, and transportation over ever increasing distances.

The average North American is exposed to about 10 – 19 pesticides on a daily basis. Choosing organic foods reduces this exposure.

Fortunately we are seeing more young people becoming involved in growing their own food, becoming small independent farmers, more people supporting farmer’s markets, more people joining community gardens, and other healthy indicators. Unfortunately the lost of independent farms is happening at a pace that can’t be matched by people getting into this aspect of food production.

Also – scientist can now measure contamination to very small values. There could be instances where if you grow your own food in your backyard and a neighbour uses pesticides a few doors down on a windy day that your produce could become contaminated with their pesticide. Organically certified process tries to minimize the

Now with the “Harper Harmonization” one of the aspects that will directly impact most Canadian citizens is that it will cover food standards. Canada has poor but higher standards than the USA when it comes to food inspection and labelling. We are heading in the wrong direction. The Harper Government has sent another message that business/corporation expansion and well being trumps the health of Canadians and the planet. It seems we are moving the interest of business forever upward and the standards to protect our citizens in the opposite direct … Did someone say sub-basement?

Ideally when we create more of a local food production we can reduce the ecological footprint of our food, grow organically, and keep more money in our local economy. All very good aspects of a vibrant and healthy community.

So please consider supporting Certified Organic products, local products (check out the many farmer’s markets in Edmonton), planting a garden, and supporting your local independent organic food store (that is a shameless plug for Earth’s General Store).

- Posted December 10th, 2011