Why Organic Foods Cost More
Let's take an honest look at why organic foods are usually more expensive than conventional foods. It's a simple question with some very complex answers. Here are my Common Ground Top 5 reasons:
#5. Sustaining the Soil - Soil erosion is a serious problem in the U.S. Recent research shows that we are losing topsoil in the U.S. at 7 times the rate of soil formation. Conventional farming is unarguably the biggest culprit in this serious problem, and some experts estimate that we've lost over one third of our topsoil since industrial farming began in this country. Conventional farmers plant every acre of their land in cash crops every growing season, a practice that contributes greatly to erosion. In contrast, organic farmers practice crop rotation. What does this mean? It means not planting crops on every acre every year, but allowing the land to rest and rebuild in cycles. When you can't cover every arable inch of your farm with cash crops every year, the cost of the food you do raise is going to be higher than on a conventional farm that continuously works and depletes its soil.
#4. Safe Additives for the Soil - Conventional farmers use sewage sludge as well as chemical fertilizers, some of which are made from wastes from smelting, mining, and the burning of medical and municipal waste. These fertilizers are cheap to buy and to transport, and they are perfectly legal. In comparison, organic farmers use compost and animal manure to fertilize their fields, which are much more expensive to purchase and transport, as they are much heavier.
#3. The Cost of Organic Dairy and Meat - without a doubt, organic meats and dairy products cost far more than their conventional counterparts. Organic feed for livestock costs more than twice what conventional feed costs. According to USDA organic standards, farmers are not permitted to administer antibiotics or growth hormones to their livestock, as they are in conventional farming. Most certified organic farms also allow their animals much more space than in conventional animal factory farms, and that costs more.
#2. Being Certified Has Its Costs - There are significant initial start-up costs to farmers going certified organic, and there are more administrative costs as organic farms have to keep strict records of all their growing practices.
And the #1 reason? Perhaps the biggest reason that organic food costs more than conventional food can be summed up in two words: farm subsidies. According to the House Appropriations Committee, mandatory spending on farm subsidies was $7.5 billion in 2008, compared with $15 million for programs for organic and local foods. According to USDA records, as of 2007 there were over 13,000 organic farms. This would allow just over $1100 per farm for organic programs (which work differently from subsidies). 78% of farm subsidies go to corn, wheat, cotton, and rice farms. Because corn and wheat are the base of a huge amount of conventional packaged foods, this drives prices for those foods down. Because corn is used as one of the dominant feeds for farm animals, corn subsidies create unnaturally low prices for conventional meats and dairy products. In the U.S., we subsidize some of the most nutritionally void foods (at least when they are turned into corn syrup, white flour, etc., as most of these crops are), making those foods "cheap" and healthy foods, like fresh produce and organic food "expensive." Instead of creating farm incentives to make healthy foods more accessible to the American public, the government's approach to supporting farmers is at the root of health problems for many economically challenged communities by creating artificially low prices on unhealthy foods.
It's a fascinating and twisty topic, and I encourage you to read more for yourself on the issue. A great place to start is this article:
http://tinyurl.com/m5eswq
Next week:
Do organic foods really cost more? Factoring in hidden costs of conventional food and why organic foods are worth the price.