Why spend the money on organic?!

The industrial agriculture system and farmers planting monoculturally (just planting corn or soy beans and not different variety of plants) is destroying our farm lands, making it impossible for farmers to survive financially without government subsidies and polluting our water with excess run-off chemicals from the fertilizers and insecticides.  The United States started subsidizing corn in the 1970's when the bottom dropped out of the corn market and farmers were going bankrupt.  In order for the farmers to survive, the government paid them for their corn and later started paying them to not plant corn to keep the price steady.  That piece of legislation has started the slippery slide into our unhealthy eating habits.

More and more farmers started to plant corn after this legislation because it was guaranteed they would get paid for their crop.   Furthermore, the chemical company Monsanto genetically modified corn seed to be "round-up resistant." Now a farmer can spray his fields with as much toxic chemicals as he desires to keep the weeds from growing and the corn will just grow taller.  Fortunately for Monsanto, the farmer who buys their seeds now has to buy their Round-up weedkiller, as well.  The shocking part of all this is that Monsanto actually had to inject the genetic structure of corn with anti-biotic resistant e-coli in order for the round-up resistant gene to be spliced into its gene sequence.  All this is common practice for the industrial corn industry.  We are consuming genetically modified corn made in a laboratory, sprayed with toxic chemicals and injected with E-coli bacteria.  Sounds like a healthy food to me!

After researching industrial farming practices, James and I decided that we would buy only local and organic.  Organic means that the crops are grown without chemical fertilizers or chemical weedkillers.  Most local farmers where we live have never used or have been banned from using genetically modified seeds (by local county laws).  Luckily for me, the Concord Farmers Market has almost all California Certified Organic Farmers (this is a much more strictly ruled certification that is better than the usual USDA organic certification which has huge holes in it).  Since the cost of our household food bill had recently increased due to our only buying grass-fed meats we decided to significantly increase the vegetables and fruits in our diet to keep the cost down.  We found a great local CSA (community supported agriculture) where we could pay a lump sum every 14 weeks and receive a large box of local organic produce once a week.  These fruits and vegetables are always at the peak of ripeness and at their most nutritional (plus we get pasteured eggs, 1 dozen a week for a minimal extra fee).  We pick up our box from a local drop-off location and every week its like getting a present - you never know whats going to be inside. This more than anything has really pushed me to try cooking new things!

I encourage everyone to do a little research into the food you are consuming, where it comes from and how it's grown. 

A typical box of produce from our CSA with Eatwell Farms: http://eatwell.com

A great article on farming subsides from the NYTimes, a little old but still relevant.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/04/opinion/04pollan.html?pagewanted=1