Why Organic Food Should Be Affordable to All People - Case Study Example

Organic food should be affordable globally so Citizens should start living in a healthy lifestyle Organic food is a type of food produced and processed using the organic farming methods. This means that the food is produced using environmental and animal friendly farming methods. The organic crops must be grown in safe soils and the livestock be given organic feed. Farmers who grow organic crops must not use synthetic pesticides, bioengineered genes (GMOs), petroleum-based fertilizers and sewage sludge-based fertilizers. Organic farming has been in existence for a long time but the introduction of chemical fertilizers and insecticides completely changed the agricultural industry. However, the negative effects of chemical farming started to emerge and there arose a need for the return of organic farming. The increased demand for healthy nutritional diets led to an increased demand for more organic foods. Although organic food is gaining popularity in the current world, they are more costly than the other foods grown using fertilizers and pesticides. This is because the organic farming practices are expensive and growing the food without the help of fertilizers or pesticides takes time and money (Bellon 34). This essay will try to justify why the organic food should be affordable to all people worldwide in order to promote a healthy lifestyle. From the health perspective, food gives us the essential vitamins and nutrients needed by our bodies to sustain themselves. The chemical industry suggests that there are few to no studies that show the value of organic produce. However, there is new evidence that contradicts those claims. Still, there are a growing number of consumers choosing organic foods because they believe to be healthier for themselves and the environment. According to Wright and McCrea (101), studies have shown that an organically produced strawberry has higher antioxidant activity, longer shelf life and fare better taste than the conventionally grown strawberries. This proves that organic foods are much healthier than the conventional foods. Because organic farming removes the need to use dangerous pesticide chemicals, it represents the opportunity, through more humane management systems, to reduce the danger and prevalence of microbial pathogens in the food system. Protection of the environment is the real reason behind the practice of organic farming and the purchasing of the organic food. The preservation of natural resources and prevention of toxic pollution does actually save money. The changes suddenly may not as directly satisfying as paying less for food, but organically produced food has the ability to save the world from such future expenses as pollution cleanup, replenishment of soil fertility, erosion control and water sanitation (Bellon 47). Currently, actual money is involved in rectifying the natural environment from such impacts. These costs are usually not included into production by conventional farmers neither on the food prices from the consumer side. The government and public utilities does the cleanup effort with the money from the taxpayer pocket. From this information, it is clear that organic food does not actually cost more to produce. It simply puts the cost of production upfront rather than ignoring them. The organic food market is becoming a very thriving business but the prices and availability of the produce are hindering the growth of its market. The organic foods is being consumed in at least small quantities by enough consumers that it has being difficult to know who eat the organic foods and those who do not. The foods promote the importance of environmental sustainability, food safety and nutrition. Only a few people, women especially, believe in the naturalness of the foods. Therefore, this group of people needs to be convinced on the naturalness and authenticity of the organic foods. They are usually uncomfortable with the highly processed organic foods and the long-distance transportation involved. Instead, they would prefer to buy fresh local produce from a farmer’s market and minimally processed dry goods. However, an organic food consumer is not always predictable. They will always substitute for conventional products if the organic foods are unavailable or too expensive to buy. Therefore, there is a need to promote more of the organic products in order to grow the organic industry worldwide. The organic industry need to address the various issues hampering its growth. The high prices are due to the small-scale production process that involves more labor and management-intensive practices and stricter regulations. Pricing of organic foods is very high and is more than what the consumers are willing to pay. The prices should match with those of the conventional products in order to encourage the less committed consumers to buy the products. The visibility of a product strongly influences the shopping habits and food purchasing decisions of the consumer. The introduction of organic foods in major retailer shops has increased the product’s visibility but still the appearance and layout of the product displays is important. The supply and quality of the organic foods must be reliable enough that the buyers are not tempted to substitute them for the conventional products. Pollution is one of the major effects of environmental degradation caused by conventional agriculture and pesticides (Bellon 56). Organic farming avoids using such chemicals to ensure that the environment is pollution-free and that the soils are healthy. Organic farmers believe soil with full of plant nutrients will guarantee a land that grows crops with full of fertility. Many other factors still influence the decision a person makes in order to choose an organic food. Some people just prefer the taste while other chooses it because it does not contain food additives, flavor enhancers, artificial sweeteners, contaminants or preservatives that can lead to health problems. By eating organic foods, it helps lower the chances of you getting any heart related or chronic disease. Organic foods can however not guarantee a healthy lifestyle when you always choose to eat the processed food whether it has any conventional additives or not. The reason organic foods are expensive is due to a number of factors. First, organic farming has a low productivity when first administered. Without the help of pesticides, the yield is not always favorable. The industrially grown crops have always been cheaper because they are subsidized. This is not the same case for the organic food, as the government has not yet taken measures to make it cost friendly to the consumers. The organic farmers grow the crops according to the season that means that the organic food is not always available. When the climate is harsh, greenhouses can grow the crops but in a small scale that cannot satisfy the growing market which leads to high prices. A lot of manual labor needed since the organic farmers use the cultivation method. Therefore, growing organic food is labor intensive that translates to high organic food price. The organic food marketing and distribution chain is highly inefficient and because of the small volumes of produce, the costs are higher. The external factors and costs all add up and the farming operations do not have to cater for them. The costs should not reflect on the price of food. But still, the costs are paid by the consumer inform of taxes that in turn pay for health impacts, farmland erosion, pollution cleanup, water treatment, climate adaptation. Organic farmers, in putting these costs upfront, rather than passing them on in secret, actually save us money in the end. Organic production is the future solution in dealing with the urgent health and environmental problems. Organic products are increasingly on demand every day. As there are new technological economies of scale and advances, the processing, marketing, distribution and productions costs of organic produce should reduce (Wright and McCrea 89). People are now going into organic foods with more retailers and big supermarkets stocking the foods. The prices for the organic foods have been falling dramatically over the last five years. The future of food production is now heading to organic farming. It is evident that neither organic nor conventional foods have any major positives or negatives over the other and both of the foods well match. The choice comes down to a person’s preference and is advisable that the less the food is processed, the more people can expect to stay healthy. Works Cited Bellon, Stephane. Organic Farming: Prototype for sustainable Agricultures. New York: Springer Science & Business. 2014.Print. Wright, Simon. & Diane, McCrea. The Handbook of Organic and Fair trade food marketing. New York: John Wiley & Sons. 2008.Print. Read More