Saturday, September 15, 2012

Organic Ain't Cheap

Every Wednesday, when I do our fruit & vegetable shopping, I have this little battle in my head. It goes something like this:

Conscience: "Organic veggies might be good, this week."
Wallet: "Hahahaha...No."

Quick battle, but a frequent one.

Potentially harmful pesticides are used in most conventional produce farming. You can see them spraying on a lazy Sunday afternoon, if you live in Farmland. But if we wash, scrub, sandblast our veggies when we get them home, they're surely safe, right? Maybe. I don't like "maybe". I like assurances. So I've turned to the scientific research of the Environmental Working Group (EWG) and their infamous Dirty Dozen/Clean 15 of Produce Guide.

That's a start! You may not be able to buy everything organic, but what's the real cost difference in buying just the Dirty Dozen (plus two)? Here's what I've found.

So, if you're feeling a little squeezed on shopping day, but still want to buy real food and do the best by your family, try to aim for at least the green items, hopefully the yellow too. Do what you can afford. Every little bit helps.

As an Australian resident, I would dearly love to do a similar comparison of produce for a major Australian grocery store. Alas, Woolworths offers only a handful of organic produce choices and Coles offers only a few more than that. So, what I'll do instead is show you how to contact the Australian Minister for Agriculture, Woolworths, and Coles to urge them toward greater organic selection and national labeling. While many look far and wide to find organic grocers and farmers markets, not everyone can. The government and major chains can do better.

No comments:

Post a Comment