to say Organic food is a con?

[Calvinlookingforhobbs]

...

[LostSight]

Made from organic oats, obviously...

[AVirginLitTheCandle]

I've never understood the fascination myself.

[ShesAStar]

It's not a 'con' it's often a better way of farming, especially when it comes to animals/antibiotics/welfare etc.

[PhilODox]

A con in what way, exactly?

[DonkeyOaty]

Well yes husbandry and environmental aspect are a part of why choose organic.

[AliceInHinterland]

Very persuasive
It depends if you have any principles about pumping the natural environment full of chemicals.

[DonkeyOaty]

..produce.

Dang you fat fingers.

[TarragonChicken]

Depends what sellers of organic veg are claiming. Health benefits? No evidence to support that. Environment benefits? Perhaps.

My dad once went to his gp with a persistent cough. GP gave him a leaflet on why he wasn't going to prescribe antibiotics (fair enough, but he wasn't asking for antibiotics) and told him to eat more organic food . I asked if my dad had told the GP what he did for a living. He is eminently more qualified than GP when it comes to benefits of organic food (or lack of). Sadly he did not.

[MollyHuaCha]

Strange question. Wd you sooner eat a lettuce grown the way nature intended? Or lettuce that has been repeatedly sprayed with insecticide? Bearing in mind, the spray's intention is to actually kill insects... and when we eat it, it's not possible to remove all of the spray.

[witsender]

I'm not as fussed on organic fruit and veg, but meat/chicken/dairy will only buy organic. In part because the welfare standards to be classed as organic are way higher than free range/red tractor or whatever. So if I can't get to the farm shop and i have to go to the supermarket, that's what I get

[AVirginLitTheCandle]

I'd prefer the insects to be killed. I don't really need the extra protein tbh 😷

[kissingJustForPractice]

Studies do show that organic vegetables contain higher levels of antioxidants and lower levels of heavy metals - www.ncl.ac.uk/press/news/2015/10/organicvsnon-organicfood/

I think my organic box is brilliant, the veg tastes amazing (though often I think this is because the varieties are chosen for flavour rather than because they travel well), we eat veg that is in season, local and the growers are part of a co-operative, so I feel we pay a fair price.

[babybythesea]

I use organic not because I think it's better for me, but because I think it's better for the environment. Better for the soil and the micro-organisms which live there, better for the animals which eat the invertebrates which live in the soil, better for the river animals which don't have to live in water polluted with run-off...
Ok, there's self interest in it too. I also happen to think a healthier environment leads to healthier people. In the long run, if we want to continue growing food in the soil we need healthy soil which means taking care of the things that live there. Etc etc.
We all rely on the environment. Pump chemicals into it that don't belong there and I can't see how that can't affect us in the long run. So I buy organic.
But I don't think that an organic apple gives me more vitamins than a non-organic one.

[sibys1]

There's quite a good Penn and Teller episode about this.

I don't recall it all, but there's one scene where people are asked to taste a part of a banana from a plate marked 'organic' and part from a plate labelled 'non-organic'. Some of the tasters go on about how delicious the organic banana is and how the non-organic one doesn't even taste like a banana, but has an artificial banana flavour.

It's then revealed that they've actually just had both halves of the same banana.

[hefzi]

Organic doesn't mean what many people believe (grown "naturally") in a retail sense - so in that way YANBU.

[ShesAStar]

It's not about the taste though, it's about not wanting to eat food pumped full of chemicals. We don't know the effects of eating meat injected with antibiotics long term, I'm choosing not to feed it to my DC.

[megletthesecond]

Yabu. I'd rather the soil isn't trashed for future generations and any animals used for food aren't given antibiotics.

[Leggit]

It may be easier if you explain why you think it is so

[omnishamblesssssssssssssss]

I like my veg box.

www.soilassociation.org/news/2017/new-study-reveals-organic-food-is-worth-it/

[PickAChew]

If it's grown locally, as at a farm near us, great. If it's imported from Peru when the non-organic equivalent is grown in Lincolnshire, well fuck that for a £200% markup.

[omnishamblesssssssssssssss]

I read yesterday that the mark up is 47%, so quite substantial. But then it's local and I'm happy to pay that for less toxic chemicals in my body.

[Bringbackpublicfloggings]

I don't understand why organic fruit and veg is more expensive.. those insecticides that non organic food is sprayed with isn't cheap

[picklemepopcorn]

You get a higher yield from intensive farming, so the produce is cheaper!

[puglife15]

YABU. For reasons Witsender has outlined. Much higher farming standards, especially if Soil Association certified.

It costs pennies more to get organic milk and not much more for cheese. Meat is more expensive, but so it should be. We should be eating less of it anyway.

I'm less bothered about organic fruit and veg tbh, although I know there are some more likely to contain pesticides than others and keep meaning to look it up!