Why is Organic Food More Expensive Than Conventional?

Many consumers are making the switch to eating nothing but organic foods. Unfortunately, one of the first things they discover is that these foods are often more expensive to purchase than their conventionally grown counterparts. There are many reasons for this and those reasons are important ones for both our health and the environment.

Lack of chemicals and chemical processing

The nature of organic products is the growth and production of goods without the use of chemical pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers or preservatives. You would think that the lack of these inputs would make the cost of these products go down considering the savings of not purchasing these items. However not using these additives makes it more difficult, comparatively, to grow vegetables, fruits, grains and other ingredients.

Not using chemical pesticides makes crops more susceptible to being attacked, eaten and virtually destroyed by insects. According to the University of Davis, cutworms, earworms, caterpillars and whiteflies are just a few of the pests that infiltrate large field crops like corn, lettuce, soybeans and melons. Other studies show pests like aphids can destroy crops of berries, potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, asparagus and many more. To compensate for these losses, organic farmers must plant more crops than in conventional operations. This leads to higher input costs in the form of additional seed and more land to accommodate larger plantings.

Similarly, in order to be qualified as organic by the USDA's National Organic Program, these goods cannot be produced in a way that uses chemicals or even processed by equipment that has been used for any chemical processing. There is a large expense in either outsourcing processing to organic facilities or, for larger operations, building their own processing plants.

Certification raises expenses

To be certified as organic by the USDA, a farm or producer must adhere to strict guidelines. There is documentation that's required for the initial application, fees to submit the application and many man hours utilized to maintain the documentation for recertification the next year. All of this costs time and money, one more thing that raises the cost of organic food at the grocery store. Farms and producers must pass these costs on to consumers wishing to purchase their products.

Local markets may have lower cost and benefit economy

Smaller farms that adhere to organic practices but may not be certified by the USDA often sell their goods at farmer's markets and directly off the farm. Not getting the certification by the USDA can lower their expenses, both in fees to the government and the cost of manpower needed to track their inputs as a requirement to being recertified each year. Because these farms generally sell fresh goods or process them themselves, the expenses stay lower than larger organic farms. The costs are still there for not using chemicals in the growth process, but any savings are usually passed on to consumers who buy from the farms directly. It's also beneficial to the local economy because these farmers will usually spend the money they make from selling their goods to purchase from other local companies.

Organic helps protect our environment and your health

The debate has been raging for years over whether there are long term effects of ingesting foods that have been sprayed with chemicals or animals that have been injected with antibiotics or growth hormones. It's a personal choice, really, which must be made based on the information available and personal choice.

But what can't be debated is the impact the chemicals used in commercial crops has on our environment. Years of water run off from using chemical pesticides and herbicides is causing our streams and rivers to become toxic to fish and other wildlife. Chemical fertilizers are upsetting the natural balance of farmland soils. Eating organic foods, whether certified or not, helps take that stress off our environment.

Eating organically can sometimes mean paying more for your food, but there are good reasons it's more expensive. And it may be a small price to pay for your health and the environment.

Sources:

Crop Pest Losses and Impact Assessment Workgroup, UC Davis

Biological Control, Cornell University

National Organic Program, USDA Agricultural Marketing Service