by Selena Randall
This week (September 20-28) is Canada's Organic Week - a celebration of organic farm production in Canada.
'Is there much organic farming in Canada?'
The organic farming sector is a success story here. More farmers join the sector every year, and markets in Canada and abroad are growing.
'Is it safe?'
Organic foods are highly regulated, more so than conventional food products. This should reassure you that organic foods are good for us, and for the environment. As organic farmers rely on natural processes and good soil health in their production systems, this type of farming is environmentally sustainable.
'Is it better for you?'
Nutritionally speaking, organic foods don't contain any more nutrients or minerals than non-organic produce. However, you can be guaranteed that they do not contain Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO's); that they haven't been produced with a cocktail of fungicides, pesticides and herbicides and; that the seeds that were planted have not been coated in neonicotinoids.
Genetically modified foods, tend to contain a string of DNA from bacteria which produce a particular feature or characteristic in the crop. This DNA is unlikely to harm you since we don't incorporate our food DNA into our own when we consume it. However, if that DNA allows the producer to apply to the crop before during or after growing it, a pesticide such as glyphosate, then it's likely you will consume some of that herbicide and its active ingredients. How much exactly is unknown, because no monitoring is done, and no data on the quantities of the active ingredients in our foods are published. The multinational pushers of these products like to reassure us that their products are not harmful to soil and water. They quote LC50s at us for the product (the concentration that killed 50% of a test species such as Daphnia), but without data on typical consumptions rates of the active ingredients and their effects on human health, we don’t have proof that they are safe in the long term.
In our house, we choose organic products when we can find them, especially for the staples. This means the milk, yoghurt and butter we eat is organic, and we use organic flour, sugar and eggs. We buy other organic produce when we can, and the produce from our garden is organic. This does increase our grocery bill, but it seems worth it to protect our health long-term.
Another reason we buy organic is because we dislike supporting multinational companies like Monsanto. Monsanto would like the world to be fed from its seeds; that we should put our trust in their products. Remembering how Ireland fared in the 19th Century, when just a few varieties of potato were grown and none of them were blight resistant - people starved as a result, and mass immigration changed Ireland’s landscape forever, so this approach seems risky. We don’t know what future pests and climate challenges our crops might face. Only by maintaining seed variety can we protect ourselves from future ‘blight’ scenarios.
If you share this concern, come along to the Mennonite Heritage Museum on Thursday September 25, at 6.30pm to a showing of the film ‘Open Sesame – the story of seeds’, brought to Steinbach by the Organic Food Council of Manitoba and South Eastman Transition Initiative.