When Does It Pay To Buy Organic?

I’m coming out of the closet here: yes, I run a green living blog and yes, I care deeply about the environment. But I also care about saving money, which means I don’t buy all my food organic.

Do I want to buy all my food organic? Sure I do! Who wouldn’t? Once I’ve crossed the threshold of a place like Whole Foods, all I can do is lovingly touch the blazing red peppers, the verdant green spinach, and the happy looking oranges. I want three of everything, and some organic, fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies to top it all off.

I have this lovely dream until I get to the register, where the cashier rings up an eye-popping total of $150 for three bags of food.

This is why I stopped going to Whole Foods. It was just too painful.

Luckily I’m within walking distance of a wonderful farmer’s market, and during the summer and fall this is where I get most of my produce. In the winter, however, I’m left struggling with the question: organic, or regular? My local grocery store has a decent organic section, but it’s still expensive.

So, when does it really pay off to spend extra on organic?

The topic of “to buy” or “not to buy” organic is an interesting one. I mean, we know that buying organic supports sustainable farming, which helps the environment. And organic is definitely better for our health because we’re not ingesting all those pesticides.

Many times, organic even tastes better. The reason is because organic farms often harvest their produce closer to the “ripening date”, if you will, than larger corporate farms. This is why local food at farmer’s markets, even if it’s not organic, often tastes better as well. The fresher it is, the happier your taste buds are.

But the fact of the matter is that organic food costs more than conventionally-grown food does. And with more people trying to save money these days, many of them are opting for regular produce, even if they used to be die-hard organic shoppers.

There are some foods, however, where it really does pay to spend more on organic. Why? Well, some fruits and vegetables absorb more pesticides than others, making them more dangerous to eat.

Foods You Should Buy Organic

Environmental Working Group (EWG) has published a wonderful shopper’s guide that you can download for free here; the guide ranks 45 fruits and vegetables in order of contamination.

Here’s an excerpt from their website about the report:

The produce ranking was developed by analysts at the not-for-profit Environmental Working Group (EWG) based on the results of nearly 43,000 tests for pesticides on produce collected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration between 2000 and 2005. A detailed description of the criteria used in developing the rankings is available as well as a full list of fresh fruits and vegetables that have been tested (see below).

EWG is a not-for-profit environmental research organization dedicated to improving public health and protecting the environment by reducing pollution in air, water and food. For more information please visit www.ewg.org.

So, drumroll please, here’s the Dirty Dozen List of foods, according to EWG, you should always buy organic. Their Shopping Guide claims that most people can reduce their pesticide intake a whopping 90% just by avoiding these 12 foods.

Well, to clarify, don’t avoid them. To skip the pesticides, buy these foods organic.

The list starts with the most contaminated and lessons as it goes down.

• Peaches

• Apples

• Sweet Bell Peppers

• Celery

• Nectarines

• Strawberries

• Cherries

• Lettuce

• Grapes (Imported)

• Pears

• Spinach

• Potatoes

So, what about the opposite end of the spectrum? If we’re spending more to buy organic for the foods listed above, which foods can we save money on by buying regular?

Again, Environmental Working Group helps us out here with their Shopping Guide. Here’s their list of the 12 Cleanest Foods, starting with the cleanest first. These foods absorb very few, if any, pesticides.

• Onions

• Avocados

• Sweet Corn (frozen)

• Pineapples

• Mango

• Sweet Peas (frozen)

• Asparagus

• Kiwi

• Bananas

• Cabbage

• Broccoli

• Eggplant

But What About Dairy

I was a bit disappointed that the Shopping Guide didn’t address things like milk, yogurt, and cheese.

The issue of milk and other dairy products is a complicated one.

On the one hand, an organic label means that yes, it’s organic. There’s no growth hormones, pesticides, or antibiotics used.

On the other hand is, I think, a weightier issue. One look at an organic milk carton and you’ll often see cows grazing languidly in lush green, sunny fields. And you’d think “organic” would also mean “free range”. As in, the cow isn’t in a stall or pen 24 hours per day.

This isn’t always the case, however. The language in the organic designation is pretty vague, so “access to pasture” could mean anything from a fleeting glimpse of grass to hours of happy munching per day. It’s all up to the individual farmer.

This article, originally written by the New York Times and published on the Organic Consumers Association site, does a pretty good job of laying out the organic dairy situation.

What’s the final story? Well, you should decide what’s more important to you. Do you care more about drinking organic milk, or is it important to you that the cow has real access to a grassy pasture? If it’s the latter, then you’ll need to do your own research on the milk brands that are available to you locally.

Horizon is by far the leading producer of organic milk in this country. But they get their milk from over 300 dairy farmers across the country. Some of them are small organic family farms that leave their cows out all day. Others are larger organic farms who don’t have the room to do that. Yes, it’s all organic, but animal treatment varies.

What’s my solution?

I drink soy.

Deeper Down The Rabbit Hole

Now we know what it pays to spend extra on, and where we can cut back. Smart shopping is good.

If want to look closer at the organic question however, this in-depth article from TIME brings up an interesting conundrum: is it better for the environment to buy organic, even when that organic “something” has been shipped cross-country, or is it better to buy something that’s grown much closer but farmed in the conventional way with pesticides?

Some people might think that’s over-analyzing the question, but I think it deserves a legitimate think. I’m not going to debate the finer points (the Time article does that quite well) but I wanted to throw it out there for you to think about.

It’s a hard question to answer, and I highly recommend reading the article if you want to dive into the issue. It’s very well-written, and will definitely make you examine how your own food choices are impacting the planet. It did for me.

Big Box Bullies

I was sad, but not surprised, to find out that now “going green” and “going organic” are going mainstream, the big box stores are trying to muscle their way in. How?

Well, this article by Consumer Reports explains it all. Basically, since us consumers are spending more on organic food (organic sales are growing 20% per year) large food companies are trying to bend the rules so they can get their food “branded” organic, without actually having to be, well, organic.

Here’s a great excerpt from the article that illustrates this point well:

Lobbying by large food companies to weaken organic rules started when the U.S. Department of Agriculture fully implemented organic labeling standards in October 2002. Food producers immediately fought the new rules. A Georgia chicken producer was ultimately able to persuade one of his state’s congressional representatives to slip through a federal legislative amendment in a 2003 appropriations bill to cut its costs. The amendment stated that if the price of organic feed was more than twice the cost of regular feed–which can contain heavy metals, pesticides, and animal byproducts–then livestock producers could feed their animals less costly, nonorganic feed but still label their products organic.

Again, sad, maddening, but not surprising. Just something to keep in mind when you’re buying larger brands I guess.

Last Word..

In the end, I’m just going to follow the advice The Shopping Guide has put out. I’m going to avoid The Dirty Dozen, buying organic for those, and save on the cleaner fruits and veggies.

Oh yeah, and count down the days until my local farmer’s market starts again. Only 5 months to go!

If you want to find a local farmer’s market in your area, visit LocalHarvest.org. They have an amazing searchable database that will help you find local farmers, farmer’s markets, and co-ops in your area.

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