Yes, organic food is better — and better for you. In addition, organic growing practices are better for the earth and the people who grow your food.
If you suspect you are going to get less chemicals and more good food on your plate with organically grown fruits and vegetables, you’re absolutely right. But it goes deeper than that. Down deep in the soil, where plant roots absorb nutrients from the dirt, organic soil is alive with beneficial microorganisms. This teeming underground life is what counts nutritionally; it’s what nourishes the plant and, therefore, the fruit or vegetable that ends up on your plate. These nutrients are the beneficial components of foods that keep you healthy and vibrant.
Chemically farmed ground is just dead dirt with chemicals flowing through it to the plant roots; a mechanism for growing plants using “intravenous” feeding techniques. Consequently, nourishment of the plant is superficial. In fact, the chemicals used barely keep the plants alive. Essentially, chemical fertilizers and pesticides kill the soil in the long-term.
There are other, larger, environmental considerations of using organic products. First, an organically farmed field is as close to nature as agriculture can get. Soil that is alive is healthy soil. Healthy soil drains rainwater and snowmelt more easily. It also stays put in the field, where it belongs. Dead, spent topsoil erodes and runs off with the slightest downpour, often ending up in a silt dam hundreds of miles downstream from its growing field. This dead dirt does no one any good, least of all the earth and future generations. Moreover, if a farmer’s field is natural, it provides a safe living environment for the farmer’s family and neighbors.
Finally, organic food is better because it is a product of a more labor-intensive way of growing food. Organic growers care for the health of other people and the health of the earth. They toil harder because they are proud of their work and the great-tasting organic food they produce. To me, the pride makes the difference: Not only is this food safe, it is of a better quality because the grower, the shipper and the retailer treat it with a good dose of tender loving care.