Organic food tips
Organic food is the food derived from animals and plants which have been grown and raised in accordance with the strict guidelines associated with government’s definition of the term, “organic.” In order to be certified as an organic food, food should not be grown with those synthetic or man-made pesticides, the modify growth or those additive that control the growth, livestock feed containing an antibodies.
- Always purchase certified organic produce when you can – along with being produced without synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, studies have shown that organic produce may contain more nutrients. If you must buy conventionally grown produce, at least stay away from what the Environmental Working Group (EWG) calls the “dirty dozen.”
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[edit] The principles of organic farming
From Abel & Cole
Organic soil fertility in your organic garden is based on the principle "feed the soil not the plant." This approach is carried out through practices that increase organic matter, microorganism (biological) activity, and soil nutrients. Your ultimate goal is healthy soil, enhanced biological activity, great soil structure, and readily available soil nutrients.
Organic Matter and Humus
Increasing the organic matter in your soil is an essential part of organic gardening. A healthy soil has lots of biological life and these organisms need organic matter to survive and thrive. Organic matter increases fertility by feeding the biological life that in turn helps with decomposition of organic matter, replenishment of soil nutrients, humus formation, promotion of root growth, and nutrient uptake.
Humus is an important by-product of organic matter. Humus improves soil fertility and plant growth. Humus results from decomposition of all the organic matter and is the glue that holds all the soil particles together, and helps prevent erosion and increases a soil’s moisture holding ability.
Organic Matter and Soil Nutrients
As the organic matter is forming in your soil (or compost), important "macronutrients" are forming in your soil such as nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P). Another important macronutrient is Potassium (K). Potassium is made more available with a rich amount of organic matter.
- Nitrogen (N)
Nitrogen is important for vigorous vegetative growth and the plant’s dark green color. Unless it is their natural color, when your plants become pale green or yellow, this is a sign of nitrogen deficiency.
- Phosphorus (P)
Phosphorus provides overall plant quality, stem strength, root growth, and normal plant maturity.
- Potassium (K)
While potassium is not a component of any part of the plant compounds, it plays an important role in many aspects of plant life. For example, potassium is needed to sustain plant growth and reproduction. It also increases root growth and improves drought tolerance.
- Rotating Crops to Prevent Disease
The annual cycle for many disease organisms is to attack the crop in the summer, survive the winter as spores in the soil or in plant litter, then attack the new planting the following year. So if you plant the same crop in the same spot year after year, the pathogen populations can continue to build and the disease will become an increasingly serious problem. You can break the cycle by moving the susceptible plant to another spot. Over time, many pathogens die back, and then it is safe to plant the original crop in that spot again. This is the idea behind rotating crops to prevent plant diseases.
The first step in planning crop rotation is to make a list of the crops you intend to plant. Most diseases tend to attack plants within in the same botanical family, so group your crops together in these botanical groups. Our common vegetables usually belong to one of ten families. Tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, and eggplants are in the Nightshade Family (Solanaceae); cabbage, radishes, turnips, broccoli, cauliflower, and brussels sprouts are in the cabbage family (Cruciferae), and are also called cole crops. Spinach is in the family Chenopodiaceae, and lettuce and other salad greens are in the Lettuce Family (Compositae). Peas, beans, and lentils are in the Legume Family (Leguminosae), and carrots, parsley, and dill are in the Umbelliferae Family. Cucumbers, the squashes, and melons are in the Melon Family (Cucurbitaceae), and onions, leeks, garlic, and chives are in the Lily Family (Liliaceae). Corn is in the family Gramineae, and strawberries are in the Rose Family.
The second step is to divide your garden into the same number of sections as the number of plant families you will have. For example, if you have six plant families, divide your garden into six sections. It works best if all the sections are the same size to ensure each section of soil is rotated from year to year.
Step three is to assign a plant family to each section, making notes of the assignment on a permanent map of your garden. (It is difficult to remember the order of rotation after two or three years without permanent records.) In each subsequent year, move each plant family to the next section in the garden, always following the same order. If you have 6 groups of plants, 5 years will pass before the same crop is planted in the same section of ground. A cycle of at least 4 years is most effective.
Crop rotation works best for controlling soilborne diseases that attack only a few species of plants. Most of the diseases caused by soilborne fungi are particularly easy to control this way. Added bonuses of crop rotation include control of certain insect pests and prevention nutrient depletion in the soil in particular spots in your garden.
Animal husbandry is the science of taking care of domestic animals that are used primarily as food or product sources. In many places throughout the world, people are essentially specialists in animal husbandry by means of being farmers, ranchers, sheepherders, or anyone who takes care of a variety of animals. Anyone who takes care of domesticated animals, especially in large groups, is practicing animal husbandry.
A second definition of animal husbandry is that it is a subject that can be studied, often in the college environment. People who take undergraduate degrees in animal husbandry may be less interested in caring for a flock of animals and more likely to specialize with graduate degrees in veterinary medicine, pharmacy degrees specializing in animals, or in managing large companies that produce products for animals like feed. Some people who raise animals may also take a class or two in animal husbandry to learn how to do certain things, like how to dock tails, make use of the newest technology to milk animals, or how to breed animals using artificial insemination techniques.
In general, many of the practices involved in learning animal husbandry come naturally from being raised on farms where large numbers of animals are raised. This is particularly true in primarily rural areas and in less developed countries. Children are early taught how to take care of the same types of animals their parents raise so that they can take over farms and ranches as adults.
In more developed countries, programs like 4H exist, which help young children learn how to raise animals, show them, sell them, and possibly slaughter them. It all depends upon the type of animal raised and its uses as a saleable product. With most people no longer raising their own domestic animals for meat or clothing, 4H gives children the opportunity to raise one or two animals, sometimes more depending upon the parents’ resources.
From a scientific standpoint, specialists in animal husbandry may try to address specific problems occurring in large groups of animals. An animal husbandry specialist might study the current means for preventing mastitis in cows, or the specific needs of shelters for pigs. As many farms have become more industrialized, figuring out maximum storage space for animals may be a focus.
There are many different schools of thought in the scientific practice of animal husbandry. Some groups concede the necessity of animals for food and a variety of products but feel that goals in raising stock should always be focused on the humane caring of animals. In the past twenty years a variety of animal husbandry specialists have advocated for the “free-range” caring of certain animal groups, as opposed to keeping animals in tight quarters for most of their lives.
Other specialists in animal husbandry specifically look to just how little space you can store an animal in, modifications that can be made to produce more docile animals, and genetic alterations or drug injections that make the animal more valuable financially. The introduction of bovine stimulating hormone (BSH) to produce a greater milk supply from each individual cow was hailed by some animal husbandry experts and despised by others.
In all, animal husbandry may refer to the study or raising of domesticated animals, particularly in large group settings. You can be born into families where you’ll have to learn it, or take it up as a branch of study. There are multiple ways to go about it, just as there are multiple species of animals raised.
Some, perhaps even most, consumers do not think about the environmental consequences of their use of energy. Nevertheless, when a light or television is turned on ... or when a home is heated ... or cooled ... or when an oven heats... energy is being used. Energy operates the appliances that are central to the lifestyles American's enjoy.
But energy is not a commodity that comes free of environmental concerns. There are gas storage facilities, miles and miles of gas pipelines, generating plants which burn fossil fuels (coal, oil or gas) or use nuclear fuel to generate electricity - all of which have a potential for certain adverse environmental consequences
• Wildlife is used to encompass undomesticated marine and terrestrial native plants and animals, including invertebrates, fungi and protozoans. It includes populations of species that are regularly harvested from the natural environments as an economic resource. It does not include populations of native species that are farmed in isolation from their natural habitats.
Current organic regulations require livestock living conditions that accommodate the "health" and "natural behavior" of animals. These include access to the outdoors, pasture for ruminants, clean bedding, and appropriate shelter, as well as restrictions on confinement. However, many organic consumers and farmers have complained that the current regulatory language is insufficiently precise and not adequately enforced.
[edit] The Environmental benefits of Organic Farming
- Organic food also protects the planet. Organic farming ensures that bio-diversity remains available in the foods we eat and the wildlife that live on the farms. Fruits and vegetables are naturally available in 100's of varieties. Commercial growing limits the variety of each food available by mass producing only a handful.
- Many species of birds, insects and other animals are affected by the chemicals and farming conditions used in growing commercial foods.
- Organic farms grow a mix of crops and promote a balanced ecosystem including insects that protect crops from pests and worms and other micro-organisms which fertilize the soil.
[edit] Discover the Advantages of Organic Foods
There are plenty of advantages of organic foods, although eating organic won't automatically make you healthier in itself.
There are lots of compelling reasons for taking on board the advantages of organic foods and using them whenever you can, to give added value to a healthy and balanced diet.
Organic foods have to be produced to certain standards so when a food is labelled organic, you can be sure you're getting the real thing.
[edit] Health Benefits of Eating Organic Foods
- Often, the flavour is just so much better. Good organic fruits and vegetables are juicy and full-flavoured, milk tastes richer, cheeses are ripe and mouthwatering. Once you've experienced the sweet intensity of a fresh organic carrot, bought with the sandy soil still clinging to it, other carrots will seem insipid and bland. Of course, there are no guarantees. Not every organic item will give you a burst of flavour pleasure, but if you shop carefully, buy only the freshest, and seek out quality, you won't be disappointed. Eating organic makes it easier to follow the seasons too.
- Supermarkets choose fruit and veg varieties for appearance and shelf-life. Flavour isn't always a consideration. Because there are more, named varieties of organic fruit and veg on offer, you can get to know their subtle flavour differences.
- One of the huge advantages of organic foods is that they haven't been doused in pesticides. Organic farms ban artificial pesticides. In the UK, 31,000 tonnes of pesticides are blasted on to farmland every year, and 25% of food carries residues of these chemicals, created to kill pests and weeds. Non-organic fruit and veg is covered in the stuff and it won't all wash off. Pesticide residues turn up, not just on fruit and vegetables, but in bread, baby food and other products. Governments claim that there's no need risk to health from these pesticide traces, but wouldn't you rather feed yourself and your kids on food that's pesticide free?
- Making organic food for babies is an especially good idea. That way, you'll to give them the purest possible source of nourishment while their organs and bodies are growing so fast. Take a look at these organic baby food recipes if you need some inspiration.
- Perhaps one of the prime advantages of organic food is that it is pure food, nothing more, nothing less. Forget E-numbers, hydrogenated fats, artificial colours, flavours, sweeteners, preservatives – none of the additives lurking in processed and fast food are permitted in organic foods. There are no residual antibiotics, growth hormones or BSE in organic meat, no pesticides in organic milk, no hidden starches bulking out organic baby food. If you want a diet based on natural food that hasn't been tampered with – think organic.
- Genetically modified – GM – food isn't used in organic products. We don't know what effect GM foods have on long-term health. Best avoided.
- Organic foods can be more nutritious, richer in vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids than non-organic.
- And don't forget the feel-good factor. One of the greatest advantages of organic foods is that buying and eating them is a real, guilt-free pleasure, which is more than you can say for the average supermarket shop. It's great to know that you're not only helping the environment, you're feeding your family on good, pure food, that tastes better than processed food, and has no hidden unhealthies. That feels good.
[edit] Organic Food Facts
- Yet another of the advantages of organic foods is that you're also doing the environment a good turn when you choose them. Intensive farming methods erode soil, destroy ancient hedgerows, and decimate wild life. Organic farms look after the environment.
- Intensive farming is outrageously cruel to farm animals – think of battery chickens, pigs kept in farrowing pens, cows milked to exhaustion. Another of the indisputable advantages of organic foods is that organic farming methods put humane treatment top of the agenda.
[edit] How to Switch to Organic Foods
- Don't feel that you must buy organic everything. Even switching to a few organic regulars makes a difference.
- Make the change to organic versions of everyday mainstays. Try organic milk, cheese, pasta, chicken, bananas.
- Take it slowly. Pick up one or two organic items every time you shop. Try different brands, and once a week, buy something new to try: organic tofu, stuffed vine leaves, soup. You'll soon find favourites.
- There's an organic version of almost every food you can think of, from coffee to baked beans, pizzas to eggs. Drinks, pork chops, peanut butter, jam – all supermarkets stock organic goods, although you'll do better buying in local shops or farmers' markets if you can.
- Shop around. Organic foods are sometimes more expensive than non-organic, but the more people buy them, the more prices will come down. We pay through taxes for the hidden costs of cleaning up water polluted with agro-chemicals that underpin the production of cheap mass-produced foods.
- Once you've started making the change, you'll soon appreciate the many advantages of eating organic foods, and you won't want to switch back.
[edit] Some things to watch out for...
- See here for a critical view on the organic milk industry.
- See here for a study that questions that organic produce is healthier than conventionally grown.
