This article is a response to Richard Brown's Nov. 27 op-ed favoring conventionally grown food over organically grown food. Many of the points Brown makes are poorly researched and do not consider the full story.
For starters, many people buy organic food in major supermarkets because it is better for their bodies, not the earth. A great deal of research has shown that pesticide residues on foods are retained in the human body. Further research, like that of scientist Michael Pollan, has documented the potential harms of pesticides, especially for young children and women who are, or may become, pregnant.
And those who consume pesticides are not the only ones exposed. Conventional agriculture requires a great deal of farm labor, and the workers who handle pesticides receive the bulk of pesticide exposure, which can lead to a plethora of health problems ranging from respiratory illness to cancer.
To make matters worse, many of these workers cannot afford healthcare because of political red tape and immigration policies, and are therefore hit by the double whammy of ingesting poisons and not being able to access health care when those poisons cause ill health.
Even those who buy organic, as Brown said, because it is purportedly "greener" than conventional agriculture are on to something. Conventional agriculture in this country goes hand in hand with the heavy use of chemical fertilizers, monocropping (growing the same crop year after year on the same plot of land without rotation) and centralized food production.
We are losing farmland at an alarming rate in this country as we rapidly degrade the biodiversity of our ecosystems. In the Midwest, the "breadbasket" of America, some of the richest soil on the planet is being continually weakened by pesticides and drained of nutrients by monocropping, despite the fact that crop rotation has long been accepted as the best method for preserving the nutrient content of soil.
Centralized agriculture means that we are eating foods that are shipped an average of 1,300 miles from source to mouth according to Michael Pollan in "The Omnivore's Dilemma," a distance that uses an extraordinary amount of fossil fuels, further contributing to climate change.
In addition, big agribusinesses are contributing to the loss of family farming in this country and worldwide, destroying the way of life of thousands of families who have been responsibly cultivating their land, making a living and contributing to local economies for generations.
As far as price goes, organically produced food costs more than conventionally grown food because conventionally produced food actually costs more than we pay. Government subsidies, which are currently under extreme scrutiny by proponents of major reforms in the 2007 Farm Bill, have allowed agribusiness owners, who primarily grow wheat, corn and soy, to get rich, while those who grow "specialty crops" (i.e. the fruits and vegetables we need to eat to have optimal health) are being denied federal aid.
That is why products that are made primarily of the commodity crops of corn, wheat and soy, like candy bars and soda, are so much cheaper in the supermarket than fruits and vegetables - the government in effect pays farmers to overproduce, thus falsely deflating their prices.
All this is only in defense of the "organic" label, however, which is not the ideal of proponents of sustainable agriculture. As a former grower on a small organic farm owned by a non-profit organization in Waltham, Mass., I can say that locally grown, organic food not only tastes better and is much fresher than anything you'll find in a Shaw's or even a Whole Foods, but that those who have dedicated their lives to preserving our land by using it in a sustainable and responsible way work incredibly hard and for very little money.
When you pay a bit more to buy from them, you are supporting a local economy and cutting out middlemen, thus contributing directly to the salary of a hard-working farmer. Additionally, supporting small and family-owned farms helps preserve green spaces, curb overdevelopment and protect biodiversity and local ecosystems.
To read more, there is a growing body of literature about sustainable and organic agricultural practices and their advantages. Some starter texts are: "Food Fight: A Citizen's Guide to a Food and Farm Bill" by Daniel Imhoff, "GRUB: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen" by Bryant Terry and Anna Lappe and anything by Vandana Shiva.
Check out www.localharvest.com, the Community Food Security Coalition, Community Alliance with Family Farmers and Farm Aid online for a sense of the ways that people are trying to activate change in U.S. food policy.
To Mr. Brown, next time, think carefully about the information you are sharing with the general public. Do your homework and read what the other side has to say. You may choose not to buy organic because you are not willing to pay a bit more for a more responsible food system, but think twice before criticizing those who are.
Sara Franklin is a senior majoring in history and community health.
