Why Buy Organic?

1) Organic food is any crop grown under natural conditions on organic and fertile soil.  These crops have a nutritional value far superior to those grown in a conventional manner.  One major study at Rutgers University found that organic produce had an average of 83% more nutrients in it compared to conventional crops.  Not only is the nutritional content higher, it also just tastes better.

2) Unlike conventionally grown food, organic crops are NOT unnatural products grown in unnatural soil.  They are NOT sprayed with herbicides, pesticides or chemically treated in any way.  They are NOT picked prematurely, processed by heat or irradiation or chemically gassed to withstand long shipping distances and still look good cosmetically. 

3) The most effective way to reduce our intake of toxic chemicals is to minimize the intake of contaminated foods.  All of these thousands of poisionous chemical compounds used in conventional farming eventually end up in our bodies.  Many of these are chemical weapons used in previous wars which have been reformulated to find an agricultural market.  As a result, when we eat less vital food, we become less vital.

4) Buying organic encourages more and more farmers to return to a natural way of growing and maintaining healthy soil.  According to 'Topsoil and Civilization', every great nation has risen and fallen according to the quality of its topsoil.  Nutrition begins with the topsoil.

5) Organic agriculture encourages crop diversity in a rotation system of planting, which is very important to ensure the future of our food and natural seed supply.

6) Organic practices encourage the use of composting, that is, the recycling of plant and animal wastes into fine-quality soil fertilizer.  Full-scale, properly organized composting could reduce the garbage ending up in our landfills by 70 percent.

7) Supporting organic agriculture helps to reverse global warming, since at least 15 percent of the global warming gases are caused by chemical fertilizers.

8) Organic practices provide wildlife habitats, since organic farms coexist nonviolently with animals.

9) Buying organic protects our supply of clean air and water, both of which are polluted by chemical-dependent agriculture.

10) There is an important distinction to be made between surviving and thriving.  All life-forms can exist on various levels of health, without really being healthy.  Low quality foods let us live but keep us from thriving.  Buying organic is the first step in a long chain of positive changes for ourselves, our communities and our planet.

Compliments of Blue Planet Co-op
846 Anastasia Blvd, Lighthouse Plaza
St. Augustine, Fl 32080
904-819-5888
www.blueplanetco-op.com