"johny b" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> I've recently been trying to eat mostly organic food for a healthier
> diet. Here in NJ we have Wholefoods and health shoppe (i'm sure there
> are many more, i just haven't found them out yet). Upon researching on
> the internet, there seems to be many debates as to what is considered
> and sold as organic at stores. Some claims have been made that the
> USDA allows some pesticides to be used yet still be labled as organic.
> I would just like to hear some opinions as to how much healthier the
> food in these stores which claim to be organic really is. Is this a
> hoax etc.? Any information regardling what to look for and what to
> lookout for, or any valuable details is most appreciated. Thanks!
>

I remember an experiment done a few years back with two nearly adjacent
fields of cabbages in California, if I remember the location correctly .
One was grown "organically" - no pesticides, etc., and the other grown
commercially - side-dressed fertilizer and 1/8 tsp/acre in one application
of pesticide. The field test was done to check any differences in product or
soil.

When they tested the crops after harvest, the organically grown cabbages
could not pass the import levels test for pesticides. Apparently they had
been attacked by insects at least once, and created their own natural
insecticides.
The commercial ones passed without traces.

(I remember from survival training as well as from my plant specialist
father that most plants will make their own pesticides -as alkoids, if I
remember right-
The training noted that some plants will be poisonous when attacked by
insects, so use caution around otherwise edible plants showing fair to heavy
insect damage - for example, cherry leaves become poisonous to humans later
in the year, and several varieties of trees when attacked by army worms will
put out toxins that about ten days after the first attack will kill any
worm.)

However, if the organic cabbages had not been attacked by insects, then they
would not have created their own insecticides.

There are of course other reasons to chose organic - flavor, variation, etc.
A lot of commercial agricultural products are sawdust flavored clones.

Also, I would note that it is rare that much fertilizer or insecticide is
washed off any more, and likely is less damaging than green fiber being put
back from some organic farming techniques which lets deleterious soil
leeching of fines and natural organic fertilizer salts occur (plant can't
take up organics like animals - they have to have inorganic salt in solution
to enter the hair roots. Undigested plant matter holds the soil open and
lets water wash minerals out)
Bottom line here is that fertilizer and insecticide washoff is that it is
too expensive and the farming profit margins too low to throw gobs on a
field and let it run off, wasted.

Some organic farming is supposedly soil-sustainable, and uses limited
pyrethrin-type pesticides on an as-needed basis. If I knew which categaory
that was, I'd probably buy it.

fwiw