Going Organic:Whats the payoff?

 

October 2012Charles Benbrook is a research professor at Washington State Universitys Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources in Pullman. He has served as executive director of the Board on Agriculture of the National Academy of Sciences and as chief science consultant for The Organic Center, a research and educational organization. Benbrook spoke to Nutrition Actions David Schardt by phone from Troy, Oregon.

Sales of organic foods are growing by 10 to 20 percent each year in the United States. More than 10 percent of fruits and vegetables sold are now organic. By any measure, organic foods are starting to enter the mainstream American diet.

And with good reason. Organic produce often has higher levels of potentially healthy compounds. And organic farms may fare better in droughts, don’t use synthetic fertilizers that contaminate groundwater, and are more hospitable to critical pollinators like bees and butterflies.

What’s more, “the data show that you reduce your exposure to pesticide residues when you buy organic foods,” says organics expert Charles Benbrook.

via Going Organic: Whats The Payoff?.