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What is the point of organic food?

Normaly I don’t bother paying the premium to buy organic food, but the supermarket only had organic apples (and no English ones available either), so I think “It’s ok because it’s a bit of a treat and they probably taste nicer like the ones from the apple tree in the garden when I was a kid”.

I get home and decide to have an apple and it’s woody and tasteless (Imagine eating a raw potato) so I think to myself “well at least I’m doing my bit for the environment” and then I notice that the apple has come from America so any benefit that could have been gained from not spraying pesticides has been ruined by burning stacks of hydrocarbons shipping it over from the US.

Then I see this sugesting there is no proof that it is any better for you:

BBC News

And finally I hear an interview on the radio where a scientist was pointing out that if all farming was organic we wouldn’t be able to feed the world’s population due to the lower yeild, so organic food is not an attainable goal it’s just a two tier system where the rich eat better and push food prices up while the poor have to eat pesticide covered crap.

So I’m starting to think what’s the point of buying organic?

Published 11 Jan 2007

    Engineer & Musician
    Nick Long on Twitter