All About Organics
Organic Consumers Association Campaigns, Essays, Headlines, Action Alerts, Downloads and Videos on Organic Food.
Organic food is pure food. It's safer, more nutritious and free of chemical additives. Organic crops are grown without chemical pesticides or fertilizers and organic livestock are raised without antibiotics, growth hormones or other drugs. Organic food isn't genetically modified or irradiated.
Not long ago, the great processed-food companies like Kraft and Kellogg's towered over the US food landscape like the high hat that adorned the head of Chef Boyardee, the iconic canned-spaghetti magnate whose empire is now owned by ConAgra.
But now, Big Food has fallen on hard times. Conagra, which owns Hunts, Reddi Whip, Ro-Tell, Swiss Miss, and Orville Redenbacher along with Chef Boyardee, recently slashed its 2015 profit projections and sacked its CEO.
Read moreeating healthy mental disorder
In an attempt to curb the mass rush for food change and reform, psychiatry has green lighted a public relations push to spread awareness about their new buzzword “orthorexia nervosa,” defined as “a pathological obsession for biologically pure and healthy nutrition.” In other words, experts are moving toward saying that our demand for nutrient-dense, healthful food is a mental disorder that must be treated.
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Dotted along the narrow path that skirts the edge of Beatrice Alvitsa’s house in Shimanyiro, a green Kenyan valley near the border with Uganda, are dozens of millet plants, each protected by a carefully assembled fence made of sticks. “These keep the chickens and other animals out,” she says, bending down to mend a break in one of the fences.
Having received training in farming techniques and secured regular access to quality seeds and fertiliser, Alvitsa now produces enough food on her acre and a half of land to feed her family. She pays school fees for her seven children by
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The food industry is inexorably tied to the marketing industry. Whether or not they believe it, consumers are influenced by advertisements and the ways in which companies portray their products. Food is likely one of the most demonstrable examples of the power of suggestion. Especially as health foods gain traction, a company can highlight or hide various aspects of its product through packaging.
For small businesses, startup food providers and farmers, these techniques can go a long way in promoting success.
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ROME, - “We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children” – an ancient Indian saying that encapsulates the essence of sustainability as seen by the world’s indigenous people.
With their deep and locally-rooted knowledge of the natural world, indigenous peoples have much to share with the rest of the world about how to live, work and cultivate in a sustainable manner that does not jeopardise future generations.
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Organic strawberry fields are synthetic fumigant-free, but the nurseries supplying their starter strawberries use toxic methyl bromide, and there are no organic nursery alternatives. Every year, nurseries feel pressure to eliminate the fumigant’s use but, they say, there are no effective alternatives.
“I think the nursery part of it is probably one of the biggest concerns at this point to make sure we have a clean [plant] stock,” said Norm Groot, executive director of Farm Bureau Monterey.
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Considering that you can now find gluten-free everything, from Bisquick to bagels, it seems remarkable that our national obsession with the wheat protein that gives bread its elasticity is only about a decade old. Doctors have long known about a relatively rare condition called celiac disease, in which gluten damages the small intestine. But in recent years, best-selling books like Wheat Belly and Grain Brain have popularized the notion that gluten is the hidden culprit behind a host of hard-to-diagnose health problems, from indigestion to fatigue.
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Long held principles of organic farming commonly articulate values and goals that link organic farms with protection of biodiversity. “Organic production” is defined in federal regulations as a “production system that is managed to respond to site-specific conditions by integrating cultural, biological and mechanical practices that foster cycling of resources, promote ecological balance, and conserve biodiversity.” [Emphasis added.]
Over the years, the National Organic Standards Board has issued guidance statements and has urged the USDA’s National Organic Program
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There's been an ongoing debate as to whether or not organically-grown foods are healthier than conventional varieties. Some studies have confirmed that organic foods tend to contain higher levels of nutrients like vitamins and minerals, while others found the nutritional difference between them wasn't particularly impressive.
It's important to realize that nutrient content will be largely dictated by the health of the soils in which it is grown. It's unlikely for organic foods grown in depleted soils to see a significant boost in nutrients.
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A reliable source of fresh locally grown food is essential if you want to stay healthy. Jim Slama has promoted environmental sustainability for more than two decades, and his organization, Family Farmed, is a major supporter and proponent of the Good Food Movement.
For many years, he published a natural living magazine called Conscious Choice, which had a circulation of about 50,000 copies. Eventually, the media recession, followed by the Great Recession, killed the magazine.
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