The "real" cost of organics

I've been at the Permaforest Trust for just about two months now and have seen how permaculture concepts truly integrate with the environment and food.

Funny though.

What came to my mind is this growing trend we have to make excuses for why food is more expensive. Why we shouldn't be really buying organic until the market drives the prices down (cause really we are consumers and that's what we do ... adopt early or else wait until it's something cheaper then potato wedges and then start buying).

Yeah so what's the problem then?

There are heaps of problems with this approach. Basically, the reason why the price drops really low is more to do with the fact that there is over production (welcome to the world of supply and demand). Therefore when the price is higher for organics some of it has to do with the fact that it is trendier, but also that there is less people producing that food which can be a result of smaller farmers producing yields for you to take home and eat at your table.

E for Effort

When a permaculture farm, organic farm, bio-dynamic farm begin producing food they are taking into consideration a great deal more things than the average farmer. Essentially, rather than just coating all of the food with pesticides, herbicides, and other junk-icides they have to find alternative ways to reduce the amount of pests and weeds are choking out the plants.

So a few weeks ago I was up in one of the grass paddocks literately removing loads of fire weed from the growing grass. Why? Because the fire weed that grows in this country have some toxins in it. The grass would soon be chopped to be used as mulch on the commercial garden we grow. That mulch is actually shielding the plants from other invasive weeds (generally and other times we are amongst the food pulling weeds out). If the fire weed was kept in the paddock and added as mulch on the crops there is potential for some of those toxins to leach into the organic food they are producing. But it's interesting that in this system it takes a bit more conscious consideration about where everything you are putting into the food you are creating comes from, what elements it has, etc.

So the next time you have that choice on organic vs. non-organic remember that some of that price just has to do with the extra effort. But even better would be to buy your food directly from the farmer himself at a market (or from a grocery that works directly with a farmer) because then A)  you are getting some of the freshest food and B) there are less hands that take a cut of that money.

And it's always nice eating organic knowing that you are taking care of yourself and the planet at the same time. Yeah for that!