It is often said that organically produced food has higher prices at the store because it takes more time and energy to produce than its chemical-intensive counterpart. Compared to so-called conventional chemical-intensive farming, organic farmers pay closer attention to the health of their agricultural ecosystems and the potential results of their farming practices for both humans and the natural world, and this more intensive management does come with a price tag.

However, this is only part of the story, as it overlooks the glaring fact that conventional farm operations do not incur the total cost of their production. Chemical-intensive agriculture has countless negative effects on our health and natural resources, which are not accounted for in most traditional farm business models, but are passed on to society nevertheless. We still pay these costs, just not at the grocery checkout counter. Instead, we see these costs in the form of higher taxes and medical bills, and decreased quality of life due to environmental pollution. Conversely, organic farmers take steps to ensure that they do not create these effects, which result in external costs. Instead, they internalize them and take care not to damage and deplete natural resources or create public health problems. The question, then, should not be, “Can we afford to buy organic food?,” but rather, “Can we afford not to?” The following data suggest that we are going to go broke cleaning up after conventional agriculture.

Health

Nutrient Density

In terms of health, food provides us with the essential vitamins and nutrients which our bodies require in order to sustain themselves. But is the food that we eat adequately providing these nutrients? And is it delivering anything else to our systems that might do them harm? The chemical industry likes to point out that there are few to no studies in this area that show the value of organic produce. There is some new mounting evidence that indicate otherwise, but studies largely do not exist because they are not required under the current regulatory system.

A growing number of consumers are choosing organic foods, believing them to be healthier for themselves and the environment. Particularly noteworthy is a recent study conducted by researchers at Washington State University that compares the nutrient content of organically and conventionally grown strawberries. The researchers find that organically produced strawberries, while slightly smaller than conventional, have higher antioxidant activity, longer shelf life, and fare better in taste tests. Specifically, the organic berries are found to have higher levels of antioxidants, Vitamin C, and phenolics. They also have a longer shelf life and greater resistance to postharvest fungal rot. Consumer sensory panels show a preference for the taste of organic strawberries, as well.

Food Contamination

Environmental illness can result in serious hardship on every level, from physical to psychological. It also burdens us, both personally and as a society, with seemingly insurmountable economic costs. Children are particularly susceptible to chemical exposure in the environment and studies have shown significant financial costs associated with protecting children from hazards and treating chemical-induced diseases. A 2010 study estimates that families in Michigan spent $5.85 billion coping with just four environment related childhood diseases –lead poisoning, asthma, pediatric cancer, and neuro-developmental disorders.

A 2008 nationwide study by researchers at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine calculates $76.6 billion as the aggregate annual cost of such afflictions as lead poisoning, childhood cancer, asthma, autism, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. This estimate includes direct medical care as well as indirect costs, such as parents’ lost work days and lost economic productivity caring for their children.

Of course, not all environmental illnesses result from chemical intensive agricultural production. However, with nearly one billion pounds of pesticides used in agriculture annually, it is without a doubt a significant contributor to exposure, poisoning, and the onset of chronic illnesses. Pesticide-related medical expenses alone have been shown to cost patients $1.2 billion dollars annually. This was also as a result of hospital and medical bills and loss of work, as well as treatment of pesticide-induced cancers and even fatalities.

Though pesticides are the most significant contributor to public health costs in the food system, other factors such as foodborne pathogens are also an all too common side effect of industrial farming. The costs of treating illnesses resulting from campylobacter, salmonella, and E. coli total $375 million every year. The administrative and compliance costs associated with food safety regulations amount to as much as $65 million a year.

Not only does organic farming eliminate the need to use dangerous pesticide chemicals, it also represents the opportunity, through more humane management systems, to reduce the danger and prevalence of microbial pathogens in the food system. According to a report from the University of Florida’s Emerging Pathogens Institute, salmonella is the leading disease-causing pathogen found in foods throughout the country. Compiling data from the costs of doctor’s visits, hospitalization, prescriptions, lost wages, and estimated economic value of a premature death, the researchers found that total salmonella contamination resulted in a financial burden to society of $3.3 billion.
Here again, organic fares much better. A study, released by the University of Georgia’s Center for Food Safety, documents the comparative rates of salmonella contamination in both feces and feed at organic and conventional broiler poultry farms in North Carolina. The researchers found that, in examining fecal samples, 38.8% of poultry from conventional farms contain salmonella, compared with only 5.6% from organic farms. For feed, the results were similar: 27.5% of feed on the conventional farms have salmonella, while only 5% of organic feed is contaminated.

The study also examines the prevalence of salmonella that is resistant to antibiotic treatment and compares the results across organic and conventional. The results show that resistance to the antibiotic streptomycin is 36.2% at conventional farms, compared to 25% at organic. Perhaps even more significant, multidrug resistance to six different antibiotic treatments (ampicillin, streptomycin, amoxicillin, cephalothin, ceftiofor, and cefoxitin) is at 39.7% on the conventional farms, whereas none of the organic birds show resistance to this combined treatment. Antibiotic and antimicrobial resistance is a serious public health issue, since it can lead to infections that are expensive and difficult or impossible to treat.

Environment

One of the chief reasons given for practicing organic farming and buying organic food is the protection it offers the environment. And, in the long run, taking care to preserve natural resources and prevent toxic pollution actually does save money. It may not be as immediately satisfying as paying less for food at the grocery counter, but organically produced food has the ability to save us from such future expenses as pollution cleanup, replenishment of soil fertility, water sanitation, and erosion control, among many other impacts. These may seem like abstract concepts on the surface to which it is difficult to assign a monetary value. But there are significant sums of actual money that have been spent in the remediation of the natural environment from these impacts.

A research team at Iowa State University evaluated actual money spent on cleanup of air, soil, and water, the damage to human health from pesticides and food borne pathogens, and the regulatory costs, and concluded that as much as $16.9 billion is spent in accounting for the external costs of agricultural production in the U.S. every year. The comprehensive cost from pesticide damages alone total more than $2.2 billion per year when factoring in such costs as water treatment to remove residues, loss of pollination services from insects, and medical treatments for pesticide poisonings.

The same Iowa State University study finds that the costs of environmental cleanup alone, resulting from chemical-intensive agriculture, amounts to as much as $15 billion annually. Additionally, a World Resources Institute evaluation shows that the average farmer in 1991 that generated a profit of about $80/acre actually would have suffered a $26/per acre loss if the calculations factored in the costs of the environmental degradation that resulted from conventional farming practices, in the form of soil erosion and fertility loss. Industrial farming operations, however, do not have to account for these costs. Instead, the bill is picked up by the taxpayers, translating into expenditures to protect natural resources that are not captured in the price of conventional food.

One of the more visible forms of environmental cleanup costs comes in the form of the EPA Superfund program. Through this program, EPA designates sites throughout the country that have been seriously contaminated with hazardous substances and implements a cleanup program to remediate the damages. These sites can often be associated with manufacturing facilities producing chemicals for agricultural use, such as a plant operated by the Dow Chemical Company in Midland, Michigan that produces pesticides. Over many years, the plant has polluted nearby waterways with toxic substances such as pesticides and their contaminants, dioxins, and furans.

Under ideal circumstances, EPA makes the company responsible for the pollution pay the costs of the cleanup. However, because many companies are bankrupt or have gone out of business at the time of cleanup, EPA often pays the bill from public funds. According to a 2010 report from the Government Accountability Office, EPA spent as much as $267 million dollars a year on Superfund projects for the years 2000-2009. However, the agency estimates that by the year 2014, it could be spending as much as $681 million annually on Superfund sites.

None of these costs are currently factored into production by conventional farmers and so they are not passed on to consumers in the form of food prices. Instead, they are most often picked up by public utilities and government cleanup efforts, which are funded with taxpayer dollars. It is clear from this data that organic food does not actually cost more to produce, it simply puts the costs of production up front rather than ignoring them.