Organic versus Conventional

[me&thegals]

As I am married to a conventional farmer, this debate rages in my house all the time I have a bunch of questions that regularly get debated between my husband and I that I would like to toss out to you. First, I will state that I try to get more and more organic food into our diet all the time. However, a farmer and a medical transcriptionist don't haul in the big bucks, so we are way more likely to barter or learn how to raise things ourselves, or go without (think organic bacon) than pay the big bucks. I'm very curious where you stand.

1. Is the majority of your food organic or conventional? From May through Dec, almost all of our fresh produce is organic, grown by us. Nearly all our meat is hunted by my husband or grown by us (chickens). Our eggs are not strictly organic, but a lot of their produce is and they free range from March-Dec. Our grains are local but not certified organic (little spray). Our dairy is local but not organic. Through winter, we will be using a lot of stored organic root veggies, plus a lot of frozen and canned organic fruits and vegetables from our garden.

2. If organic, what foods do you tend to focus on buying organic? Greens, apples, potatoes and carrots during the winter. The rest, I grow. Some things we do without fresh since they are WAY too expensive out of season, fresh and organic (berries). We eat them frozen from our organic gardens/wild instead.

3. If you feel comfortable stating this, what general income level do you fall in---Very low, low, medium, medium-high, wealthy? Medium.

4. Where/how do you buy/grow your organic produce? What I don't grow, I like to buy/barter for at our local farmer's markets. During the winter, I shop at Woodman's, a very cheap co-op with a decent, reasonable organic section.

5. What % more would you be willing to pay for your food in order to have it be organic? For example, if conventional apples are $1/lb, how much per lb would you be willing to pay for organic? In the winter, I would be willing to pay as much as 50% more for organic, but I also have the luxury of full freezers and pantry, so this wouldn't actually affect my budget much. It would be mainly a few specialty flours, greens, fruit and potatoes.

6. WHY do you choose the growth model of food you do? I buy conventional food when it is much, much cheaper than organic (like meat). I buy or grow organic because I really care what I put in my body and my family's bodies. And, I really care about what conventional agriculture does to the soil, diversity of the planet, water supply, air.

 

[Beekissed]

I have a low income, so I try to buy organic when I can and just throw up my hands and say "whatever!" when I can't. I grow all my stuff as organically as possible.

I guess my main focus is on all-natural as possible and organic when I can lay my hands on it.

I choose to go with organic foods because of the health implications, of course.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

1. Is the majority of your food organic or conventional?
For us it is a mix. I try to focus on making sure I buy organic (if I don't have home grown organic) of the crops that are most affected by pesticides . Vegetables like bell peppers, and potatoes; and fruits like berries, are some of the foods I focus on buying organic. I don't buy berries anymore. I have just enough now that I can satisfy those cravings at home. OH MY, I don't think I will ever voluntarily go back to store bought berries, organic or not.

Because we are mostly vegetarian, we try extra hard to buy organic meat and animal products. I don't feel compeled to eat meat very often, so when I do, I try to buy the best (free range, organic) I can get. I feel it is more important, as chemicals tend to accumulate as you go up the food chain. Hard to say, though, if organically raised are much cleaner in this world we live in. But I do feel like I should put my money where my priorities are and hope that some day it will make a positive impact on farmers and animals.

2. If organic, what foods do you tend to focus on buying organic?
I guess I already answered this. Butter and cream especially. Berries, bell peppers, potatoes; but also greens, carrots, lemons.

3. If you feel comfortable stating this, what general income level do you fall in---Very low, low, medium, medium-high, wealthy? Medium for the country. Medium-low for our state.

4. Where/how do you buy/grow your organic produce?
I either grow it myself or I buy in a store that sells lots of organic and ethnic foods, called Central Market. I would love to shop at farmer's markets regularly, but usually I am a rushed shopper and I prefer to make one stop for everything I need.

5. What % more would you be willing to pay for your food in order to have it be organic? For example, if conventional apples are $1/lb, how much per lb would you be willing to pay for organic?
It really depends upon what it is. I think for sure I pay twice as much for organic cream and butter. For the produce, I probably would not pay that much more . . . maybe, like you say, 50% more. I'd pay more if I couldn't grow it myself.

6. WHY do you choose the growth model of food you do?
As long as I can, I want to support the organic food system because I think we need to start finding alternative ways of getting food on our tables. If I find it hard to make ends meet, I will probably revert to the cheaper conventionally grown foods.

 

[noobiechickenlady]

1. Is the majority of your food organic or conventional? The majority of our meats are wild games. Not organic per se, but at least not stuffed with grain & hormones. The majority of our veggies come from the farmer's markets, where the farmers do use some insect sprays as needed, but fertilize with poop & organic material instead of bagged synthetic.

2. If organic, what foods do you tend to focus on buying organic? If there are some organic veggies at the big box on sale or starting to wilt just a bit, I'll grab those, get them to mark them down & soup em.

3. If you feel comfortable stating this, what general income level do you fall in---Very low, low, medium, medium-high, wealthy? Low

4. Where/how do you buy/grow your organic produce? Local big box is about the only place nearby to get true organic, thus it's big organic which I'm not keen on supporting. Local farmer's market has a few selections of organic veggies. I stock up on organic herbs & spices when I make a trip to a town that has a whole foods store. I buy starts at the farmer's market & grow my own easier veggies, using pesticides as a last resort.

5. What % more would you be willing to pay for your food in order to have it be organic? For example, if conventional apples are $1/lb, how much per lb would you be willing to pay for organic? I don't like paying more at all, see #2. If I HAD to do it, and it was a choice between big box normal veggies & big box organic, I could see paying 50% more or so.

6. WHY do you choose the growth model of food you do? Nutrition wise, organic is better for you. A purchase at the cash register is just as much a vote at the ballot box, and I don't like to vote for pesticide flooded fields that hardly ever get rotated & get fertilized with stuff that doesn't really feed the soil. Yes, an over generalization, I know all conventional farmers do not overuse synthetic pesticides & fertilizers.
Also, I think we have way too many toxins in our day to day lives, we are exposed to anywhere from 3,000 to 15,000 or more chemicals in our everyday lives. There is no need to ramp up the number we are exposed to by ingesting it willingly.

 

[big brown horse]

1. Is the majority of your food organic or conventional? About 25% local, 25% organic and 50% conventional. It helps me keep the cost down and when I can, support the local farmers.

2. If organic, what foods do you tend to focus on buying organic? Organic frozen berries and other frozen veggies, canned tomatoes, milk for coffee and baking, eggs when my girls arent giving any, coffee beans, fresh salad greens, spinach and other fresh greens.

3. If you feel comfortable stating this, what general income level do you fall in---Very low, low, medium, medium-high, wealthy? Medium.


4. Where/how do you buy/grow your organic produce? I have my own orchard with plums, apples, pears, cherries and crab apples. I have a small 25 X 25 square foot garden that produced carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, pumpkins, garlic, spinach, herbs, egg plant, peas, sugar snap peas, edible flowers and herbs such as chives, cilantro, basil and mint. In season I bought everything else I needed from the local farmers markets on Sat.

5. What % more would you be willing to pay for your food in order to have it be organic?
For example, if conventional apples are $1/lb, how much per lb would you be willing to pay for organic? Hard to really say, it depends on what my budget is for the week. Some weeks I am able to splurge some weeks I have to save.

6. WHY do you choose the growth model of food you do? If I could afford it and if it was easily available, I would buy all organic local food. But I can't grow enough to sustain my family and I can't afford to buy or find 100% organic local foods, so it is what it is.

 

[ducks4you]

... I'm very curious where you stand.

1. Is the majority of your food organic or conventional?
All the meat I buy if from a small grocery store that buys Amish meat. They also buy local produce. I think I buy about 2/3 conventional, grow and can about 1/8, and buy/grow/eat 5/24 organic. (Take THAT, Pembridge math scholars!! ...lost on all but fans of "The Mummy.")

2. If organic, what foods do you tend to focus on buying organic?
Vegetables, I grow my own herbs, and grain fed meat.

3. If you feel comfortable stating this, what general income level do you fall in---Very low, low, medium, medium-high, wealthy? Medium.

4. Where/how do you buy/grow your organic produce?
Local store--see above.

5. What % more would you be willing to pay for your food in order to have it be organic? For example, if conventional apples are $1/lb, how much per lb would you be willing to pay for organic? I might pay $.50/lb more. Frankly, Americans would be healthier if the just bought and prepared fresh vegetables from the store, instead of processed foods.

6. WHY do you choose the growth model of food you do?
I like to can vegetables without or with a minimum of salt. Honestly, ANYBODY on this forum who hasn't already canned a lot of vegetables and fruit needs to stock up on canned goods before January 2010 comes. Taxes (that should have been permanently cut) will go back into effect then. The crop failure from the drought (and, ahem, other factors) is gonna be felt then. I'm stocking up NOW. Last year was a bad, super-rainy gardening year for me. I'm being proactive, NOW. I've got my new, ready-to assemble, storage unit with the grow lights and everything, so I'm planting by Thanksgiving. ...at least herbs and onions.

 

[big brown horse]

All the meat I buy if from a small grocery store that buys Amish meat. They also buy local produce. I think I buy about 2/3 conventional, grow and can about 1/8, and buy/grow/eat 5/24 organic. (Take THAT, Pembridge math scholars!! ...lost on all but fans of "The Mummy.")

 

[miss_thenorth]

Most all of my meat is either homegrown, or hunted and fished, with exceptions being bacon, and pepperoni, oh yeah--and shrimp and scallops , which I only buy occasionally.

I try to grow as much as I can, although this year again the garden was a bust. NOt giving up hope though. The rest, I buy local, but not organic. The PYO farm where I frequent, uses minimal, and I am ok with that. The local farmers that I barter with, will use only if needed, I am ok with that too. In a perfect world, it would all be organic, but the world is not perfect, and I really have to question the organic farms too. They gotta use something in order to mass produce. Is it similar to storebought "freerange eggs"?. Is there a loophole that they are using in order to make us think it's pure? I read an article some time back that talked about organic farming practices that put a question mark on the whole topic, although I wouldn't know where to locate the article now.

Regardless of income bracket, money is always an issue, -we have debt, so I consider us poor. Grocery stores are a great place to trim the budget.

As I overcome my challenges with gardening , I will grow more of my own, to the point where I hope to only minimally support exterior sources. I have gardened for 15 years(the last two being a failure, but...) I have never used anything other than natural fertilizers, and no insecticides or pesticides.

Until then, I am ok with buying regular produce. I do feel though, that GMO's are evil, and I wish there was an alternative to those. I supsect the feed I feed my critters has GMO's in it and I wish I could avoid them.

 

[patandchickens]

OK, assuming that 'organic' means in any normal person's meaning of the term rather than Officially Certified Organic In a Picky Yet Sometimes Beside-the-point Way , my answers would be:

1. Is the majority of your food organic or conventional?

Probably three quarters is not organic (averaging over the whole year, and counting our chickens and turkeys as 'sort of' organic although they do get nonorganic bagged feed).

2. If organic, what foods do you tend to focus on buying organic?

Things that are grown organic locally. Also I often but not always buy organic bananas, or fair trade, depending what the store has and what shape it's in. The (less than most people) things we byu from far away (except for bananas) and the few processed foods we buy, we usually buy conventionally-grown.

3. If you feel comfortable stating this, what general income level do you fall in---Very low, low, medium, medium-high, wealthy?

Medium.

4. Where/how do you buy/grow your organic produce?

Mostly grow it, buy the rest at farm stands or farmers markets or supermarkets.

5. What % more would you be willing to pay for your food in order to have it be organic? For example, if conventional apples are $1/lb, how much per lb would you be willing to pay for organic?

Depends on the food; especially pesticide-intensive things (like potatoes) or those it's hard to get rid of residues on (like apples; would include lettuce if I didn't grow nearly all ours ourself). I suppose if I had to give a ballpark $ I would say 1.5-2x the cost of conventionally grown, maximum. Would pay more for locally-grown organic than for stuff shipped in.

6. WHY do you choose the growth model of food you do?

In terms of bought food, mainly to encourage less chemical-intensive farming methods, also to a smaller degree for health reasons. In terms of home-grown food, because that's pretty much how I was taught to garden and don't really feel the *need* for the shelf of conventional 'fixes'.

I would rather, however, see (and do, and buy) non-monoculture *diversified* food gardening, even if some chemicals are used, than buy from a 50-acre patch of Officially Organic broccoli. Likewise there are a lot of things involved in land use practices that don't necessarily fall under Organic but that do make some difference to me in terms of what farms' produce I buy. The 'organic' thing does not capture all of the important factors, IMHO.

Pat

 

[freemotion]

1. Is the majority of your food organic or conventional?

Varies during the year. More when I am using homegrown. Organic is not readily available, but the items that are showing up in my local stores end up on my table. Mostly things like carrots, garlic, bread, whole grains for grinding.

2. If organic, what foods do you tend to focus on buying organic?

Anything that might be genetically modified, that goes into my cart first as organic to protect me from gmo.

3. If you feel comfortable stating this, what general income level do you fall in---Very low, low, medium, medium-high, wealthy?

For our area, probably medium, but low-medium this year due to many of my clients' dependence on stock market investments for the majority of their income.

4. Where/how do you buy/grow your organic produce?

Local grocery chain stores, with a pilgrimage to Whole Food on occasion, and am now dabbling with online bulk ordering for certain items since Whole Foods is now Big Fake Organic Processed Foods and has few of the whole foods I seek.

5. What % more would you be willing to pay for your food in order to have it be organic? For example, if conventional apples are $1/lb, how much per lb would you be willing to pay for organic?

50% for many items is reasonable. Meat is out of control, though. So working toward raising my own. You can't even find properly raised poultry, eggs, and dairy here. Raising my own.

6. WHY do you choose the growth model of food you do? I buy conventional food when it is much, much cheaper than organic (like meat). I buy or grow organic because I really care what I put in my body and my family's bodies. And, I really care about what conventional agriculture does to the soil, diversity of the planet, water supply, air.

I agree!