How organic food is produced and what are the advantages and disadvantages when consumed

What is Organic Food?

Organic foods are those which are produced under strict guidelines. They are grown and processed without using any toxic pesticides or fertilizers. Developed nations like US have strict monitoring and regulation of the process involved in the production of organic foods.

By definition, it would mean the food produced using the methods of organic farming. Not only vegetables or other vegetarian food products, but even the live stock is fed organic feed in this type of farming. They are allowed to roam freely in a natural environment without the use of any hormonal treatment or usage of growth hormones.

A few facts about Organic food

Organic farming has gained a boost in recent years with the so called benefits. Even the government has been promoting it through National Project on Organic Farming (NPOF).

However, there has been some issues associated with it. The quantity of the food is not in tune with the growth in population. The productivity is quite low in comparison to the current trend of using pesticides or fertilisers. As such the concept cannot be a good one for a country like India.

The people who swear by organic foods claim that these are more healthy and nutritious than the non organic variety. I would consider these beliefs are just a few preconceived notions. Studies have shown that there is not much difference in the nutritional value of both the varieties of farming. Depending solely on organic farming may not be a good proposition for the farmer. It is only with the modern techniques and optimum usage of fertilisers that the farmer will be able to sustain both in terms of meeting the consumer demand and profitability.

Why is organic food expensive?

There are many reasons for the same. Some of them could be -

• Organic farming involves more labour. Using the fertilisers in the conventional farming gets things done faster and in an efficient way. Organic farmers are forced to hire more labour for the manual work involved.
• High demand that cannot be met by the lower productivity as stated above results in an overwhelming demand as against the supply.
• The cost of fertilisers used in organic farming tends to be on the expensive side. It should be noted that they use compost and animal manure.
• Organic farmers need to make use of Cover Crops to help maintain the fertility of the land. These cover crops add nitrogen to the soil to make it fertile, but are not economically profitable. In other words, the crop rotation is quite unsatisfactory.
• The cost of Accreditation itself is not an easy task. Regular record keeping and allied modifications to suit the guidelines makes it a costly affair in comparison to the conventional farming.

Advantages of consuming organic food

• It is believed that the organic food helps prevent diseases like cancer, heart ailments etc.
• They protect the environment from pollution caused by pesticides and other chemicals.
• It is believed that they have better taste and better nutritional values.
• The organic food has been stated to have good reproductive health.
• Proponents of organic food state that it can help you control, or even lose weight.

Disadvantages of organic food

• They are quite expensive. Some of the reasons for their high cost have been detailed above.
• They do not have a means of being preserved. Since they do not have added preservatives, they tend to perish faster.
• There is no wide choice available for the organic food lovers. The availability can also be location specific.

Here are the answers to your questions regarding organic food.

how organic food is produced

Organic food is the type of food that are grown without the use of synthetic process, fertilizers, bio engineering radiation and pesticides. In this type of the food, it also includes meat and processed food from fish, chicken and other animals where they are not artificially farmed with chemical influence. The process for the organic food is standardized by government controlled bodies and often there are some of the specific procedure are set. Each country has it's own way of production of organic food.

In this process the soil is properly fertilized by the organic content instead of synthetic material. Insects that benefit the growth of the soil and the crops are not killed. e.g. ladybug, green lacewings etc. Crop rotation method is utilized to preserve the soil nature. Other practices such as buffer zones, cover crops are employed to keep the process as organic as possible. This whole process is governed by organic farming standards.

why it is expensive compared to other types of food

There are plenty of reasons why the organic food is expensive than the processed food. Most obvious reason being the consumer demand for the processed and frozen food has reduced the price of the commercial non-organic food. That doesn't affected the pricing of the organic food from economy point of views. So many other variables goes on for the price of the organic food being high.

Some of the reasons are as follows -

1. Organic food makes use of less chemicals, thus increasing in more labor for protection and growth of crops.
2. There is more demand for organic food than the supply from the farmers.
3. Fertilizers and pesticide methods for organic farms cost more money.
4. Crop rotation process reduces production of certain crops during rotation period.
5. Post harvest and preservation costs more than chemically processed food.
6. In case of country like India subsidy is very low for organic farming.
7. Organic farming takes time so the growth is natural and hence affects supply demand chain.

These are some of the reasons why the food eventually becomes expensive. And very few farmers choose to have the organic food over chemically processed food.

advantages and disadvantages organic food with respect to your health

Organic food has gained a lot of popularity lately. And the reason being obvious as it is good for health and environment. Here are some of the advantages of the organic food.

1. Organic food is good against health issues such as cancer, heart issue, blood issue. And often doctors recommend organic for those who have suffered due to processed food.
2. Organic food production process does not affect natural food order due to chemicals. So the food created is environment friendly.
3. Taste of the organic food is much better as it preserves natural sweetness.
4. The food is also good for those who want to maintain weight.

The organic food has it;s issues and it's not completely rosy side either. Some of the issues are as follows -

1. Lack of preservative methods limit the storage for the organic food. So stock has to be finished or have to be preserved with alternative means for long term storage.
2. Geographic limitation stops the organic food from growing and preserving in some places. Weather plays bigger role in the growth of certain foods within region.
3. It is expensive for even smallest possible vegetable price. This makes it harder for low budget buyers to purchase the food.
4. Organic food can not be exported hence there is very less export demand as it lacks the preservation to keep the taste.

These are some of the issues that stop the organic food from competing with the processed food.

Organic food, which is the outcome of Organic Farming is a process of agriculture that is strictly monitored by government standards, that are produced without using toxic pesticides or any products like synthetic nitrogen fertilizers and hormones, antibiotics and manipulated by genetic engineering or other offensive practices like irradiation or sewage sludge.

Advantages

• Organic foods help in prevention of certain diseases like Heart attack, Cancer, and other chronic diseases as it generally contains 40 percent of more antioxidants than the non-organic food grown in the traditional way.


• Organic foods help in protecting the environment from its deterrents like pollution as chemicals are completely avoided while growing organic crops.


• Some say that organic food are tastier than non-organic ones and has increased nutritional value as they persist the natural flavor because of the absence of artificial additives

Disadvantages

• Organic foods are highly expensive than the non-organic foods because this kind of food is still not a majority and so are not grown in large quantity.


• Organic foods rots earlier than non-organic ones since they do not have preservatives.


• Limited products of organic foods are available till date. As, organic food do not last long, they are less imported or exported. SO even if you are ready to pay for it, you might not get your choice of organic food at all times.