H&C

TO BE OR NOT TO BE ORGANIC

If buying Organic, make sure you know what it means

"The word 'Organic' means many things to many people. Most people who go to the supermarket and buy Organic do so because they believe it is better for our environment and that the produce they are buying has been grown with no chemicals or pesticides. They also believe that it is better for them and their families.

I too was a believer until I spoke to a few people within the farming industry and the countryside. 'Organic' is a label that we believe certifies the purity of our food, as we all like to buy into the notion that our chickens are happy and our fruit and veg is grown by a jolly farmer with rosy cheeks who hand plants and picks everything himself.

If only these concepts were all as simple and clear-cut as they profess to be. The fact is that not all Organic fruit is produced without the use of chemicals and pesticides. “What?!" I hear you shout. “How can this be?!" Well it can be because 'Organic' does not mean grown with no chemicals or pesticides. What it means is that the use of these substances is strictly controlled. Some are outright banned, while others can be used, but only in limited amounts. An importer of fruit once told me that some very nasty chemicals indeed could be used as long as you kept it within the guidelines.

The Organic meat label is another I beg to question. For beef to be Organic it must feed on predominantly organically grown food. The animals must be kept within the confines of a farm that has organic status or be fed only on organic certified feed that can cost three times the price of conventional feed. OK, yes I know that when farmers go Organic they produce less so have to charge more for their products, but twhat annoys me about the Organic label are people's misconceptions.

We are told that Organic fruit and veg is better for us than conventionally produced versions; there are strict controls over what farmers treat their crops with these days. They are no longer allowed to use chemicals willy nilly to enhance the size of their crops or to wipe out any poor creature that might decide to take a bite of it. Farmers are the guardians of our countryside and are careful about what they put into our environment. Past experience has taught them and us about the consequences of over using and misusing chemicals - such as DDT which was a significant contributor to the decline of English Partridges and Peregrine Falcons in the UK.

Because of this and the strict buying policy of the large supermarkets, our fruit and veg is produced with careful management. After all if it were treated with high levels of harmful pesticides and stuffed with chemicals, do you think it would be on the shelves in store? Technology has also helped farmers with equipment that tests and assesses where farm land needs fertilizers and where it doesn't, so therefore not overdosing needlessly.

So Organic is better for the environment? Hmm. Well, what would be better would be no chemicals or pesticides, not some mishmash of regulations. We have to start somewhere; and more control is good, but are we not already doing this with conventional fruit and veg?

With meat this is where the waters become really murky. It’s all about controlling what an animal eats - the fact that they are not given any growth-promoting hormones or antibiotics and the highest standards of husbandry are employed in their care. This is all fine as long as you are a farmer with the money to buy or grow Organic feed and have your farm certified. But I know farmers who have naturally produced animals and do not feed their animals on growth promoters or needless medicines either but they do not feed Organic food. They feed naturally grown food that is grown on their farms without the excessive use of pesticides and chemicals. Their animals are produced under the highest possible husbandry standards (in some cases under the freedom foods logo) but these guys are at a disadvantage because their produce is deemed to be inferior by Organic standards. This is so wrong as they produce a carbon copy of the Organic label but without the certification.

I will give you another example that really annoys me. At one of the summer shows last year I saw a sign in the food area that read “Wild Organic Venison For Sale.” This is a massive contradiction in terms and I had to go over and ask the vendor to remove his sign, as you can not have wild Organic venison because for it to be wild it must roam free to go where it wants unhindered and eat whatever it wants, so therefore you can not control what the deer eat and therefore can not certify it as Organic.

I have nothing against farmed Organic venison as long as they are naturally farmed on large areas of land outside or in parkland on large estates. But I do have a problem with what the organic label stands for here. Think about it:

Wild Venison: From wild deer living free in their own environment eating wild food including different plants at different times of the year, killed in the field with little stress and harvested for the table in their prime, a natural product of our well managed countryside.
Organic Venison: From semi wild deer (because deer are not considered domesticated) kept within the confines of an area of farmland or parkland that has Organic certification, eating only organic feed or grass, killed in the field or in a slaughter house when at a prime weight.

Both produce a good product but the Organic venison will be more costly and sold to me as a better product. How can this be? There can be nothing better than something that is wild, lives in its own wild environment and goes where it wants to. This is a free-living wild thing and has the best quality of life, so do not try to tell me that the Organic is better because it purer, it's not. Organic venison is a good product but should be sold on its own merits.

When we go to the supermarket we have a choice; the Organic produce or the non-Organic produce. We as consumers need to understand the difference and not be led like sheep. I tell my students time and time again, impressing on them the fact that they should look at the products they buy and understand them, after all if you are willing to spend more on an Organic product then there should be an informed reason behind your purchase."

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