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Why Does Organic Cost More?

Calley — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 13:07:54 +0000

Ever wondered why organic produce costs more than its chemical-laden counterparts? If growing organic means less pesticides, less growth-enhancing fertilizers, and less technological interventions, then why do we pay more at the check-out line?

The reasons for this sad fact come by the bushel.

First off, because the farmers do not use synthetic insecticides, organic crops produce a lower yield. Labor costs rise as farmers must manually tend to their crops by weeding and using organic pest control. Without these chemicals, the crops also experience a shorter (albeit more natural) growing season.

Without the use of chemical fertilizers, organic farmers use more traditional farming methods such as animal manure and compost to fertilize their crops. These natural methods are unfortunately bulkier and cost more to transport.

Organic farmers also typically rotate their crops to promote soil health and sustainability. While this is advantageous to the health of the consumer and the earth, it also means these farmers don’t utilize every acre for every growing season, which affects their profit model.

Supply and demand drives cost too. The market share for organic food is still significantly lower than conventional food. As the green movement continues its explosion, these numbers should balance out more.

Organic farmers pay fees for organic certifications. To gain certification, an organic farmer must follow a list of strict regulations and intimidating record-keeping policies. The fees and regulations of the industry add costs.

Adding to the problem, many conventional mass-scale farmers receive billions in government subsidies aimed at keeping food costs low to the consumer. However, almost all of these monies are given to farmers who use products and practices that increase yield, yet are widely known to cause adverse health effects in the consumer.

What can we do?

As a consumer, we drive the market, so its important to continue to buy organic as much as possible. If one can’t afford to buy all organic, buy where it matters. Fruits, such as strawberries and raspberries, with a lot of texture and nooks for pesticides to reside, are most important to buy organic. Whereas fruits such as bananas and oranges, with heavy peels, are much more safeguarded from harmful toxins. Think of the added cost as an investment in your health!

Ask your local representative to support the transfer of billions of dollars of farm subsidies–from large-scale conventional farmers to the organic guys, who use safer farming methods that protect our health as a nation.

GUEST POST: Darcy K. is a writer and stay-at-home mom to her young son Dax. In her blog (365) degrees, she talks about cloth diapering, breastfeeding, baby wearing, buying organic, and trying to green up her life one product at a time.

If you can afford organic (and local) foods then you are helping tell the market what’s important to you. Sadly many of us cannot justify the extra expense. The Environmental Working Group has developed a Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides. By visiting www.foodnews.org you can learn about the Clean 15 and the Dirty Dozen – foods that are almost always safe and foods that are almost always contaminated. Thanks Darcy for your guest post. If you would like to be a guest blogger on The Eco Chic email Calley@TheEcoChic.com and submit your ideas and topics.

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Green Holiday Shopping Specials

Calley — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 14:28:56 +0000

Today I thought I would share with you some emails that I have received with special holiday savings on cool green products. These are just a few…I know there are many more and I will post them as I receive them.

Earth Day Network
Free Shipping in December plus get a Free book with every $50 purchase.
T-shirts, posters, travel mugs, and more.
Don’t know what to get someone…how about making a donation to Earth Day Network to them. Depending on how much you donate they will recieve some cool stuff like an e-magazine and an Earth Day t-shirt.

www.GiftCertificates.com
Give a truely green gift this season and send it electronically to save shipping. Now until December 19th there are no service fees for every order over $50.
Don’t know what they like; give a Super Gift Certificate. This universal gift certificate can be exchanged for restaurants, shopping and more. You just decide the denomination and they take care of the rest. I got a few of these before and they really are great ideas!

Laptop Lunches
Save 20% off all items December 7-16th when you use coupon code holiday2008.

Cottontail Baby – Cloth Diapers and More
BumGenius 3.0 Four Packs are only $59.95 until December 12th.

Happy Shopping and Happy Holidays!

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Lets Go Green!

Calley — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 14:20:42 +0000

I received an email from www.LetsGoGreen.biz the other day with an offer to share with all my readers. Lets Go Green offers many home improvement items you can use to help Go Green! They have some of your favorite green cleaners, paper products, lighting and even a green gift section. Oh yeah, and if you shop at www.LetsGoGreen.biz you can even save 25% off your purchase by entering the word FRIEND into the coupon box! I hope you find some items you’ve been looking for; happy shopping!

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Product Reviews

Calley — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 22:36:53 +0000

I made a trip to Wal-Mart the other day and found a few green products worth blogging about. First was the dish detergent. I was out of our traditional Electrosol powdered detergent and had planned on picking up the same product. However, when I saw a liquid dish detergent by Palmolive called Eco I knew I had to try it. To my surprise it was a few dollars cheaper too. So I tried my first load last night and guess what…it worked great! I didn’t notice any difference from my old Electrosol. So I guess I’ve found my new product. It’s phosphate free so it won’t extra nutrients into the water system.

The next item was a total surprise, especially at Wal-Mart. They had a display of environmental themed t-shirts. Not only do they have a good message on them; they are also made from organic cotton. How cool is that? And for a total of $6 it couldn’t have been a better deal! I picked up one that said, “Green is the new black!” for myself. This adds to my new eco-tee collection. My girlfriend bought me a cute tee for my birthday that said, “Hug a Tree” that she found at JC Penney’s. It was also made of organic cotton.

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Happy New Years Eve

Calley — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 13:53:04 +0000

It’s almost here, 2008! Looking back at 2007 I have made a good effort to make small changes in my everyday life that will benefit the environment; or at least lessen our impact. So what are going to be my environmental resolutions for 2008?

I’m in need of a new vehicle this year; so I’m going to research hybrid cars and other non-hybrid alternatives to the regular car. I promise right here to stay with something mid-sized and not but a gas guzzler!
My first home project for 2008 is to remodel our guest bathroom. I am going to try to find a reuse for many of the items that I am replacing; at the very least I am going to find a way to recycle things like the tub, toilet, and vanity. Also when purchasing the replacements I’m going to think green.
I resolve to use my green bags more often at the grocery store (and other stores as well).
I want to start a small garden in the back yard. With that garden I also want to start a compost pile and a rain barrel. My garden is going to be organic with no pesticides or chemicals used.
Continue to replace our incandescent light bulbs with CFLs when they burn out.

So what small steps can you take in 2008? I’d like to hear your resolutions for the environment. Have a great New Years Eve and be safe.

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Can you really ClickGreener?

Calley — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 17:08:18 +0000

Are you an online shop-a-holic? Why not help the environment next time you decide to shop online. There are tons of sites just like this already out there…but not that benefit the environment. ClickGreener will donate 51% of their referral fee from the purchases made when you click to a vendor from their website to a non-profit partner for the environment. Right now their non-profit partners include World Wildlife Federation – Canada, Carbonfund.org, Canadian Wildlife Federation and Tree Canada. Obviously the founder is probably in Canada. It’s a great idea, I wonder if there are any other websites like this that will benefit other non-profit organizations. I’m adding ClickGreener as one of my favorites next time I decide to do some online shopping.

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Green Your Black Friday!

Calley — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 14:17:43 +0000

I won’t have time to post tomorrow since I’ll be enjoying Thanksgiving with my family but I wanted to give you some tips for how to Green your Black Friday shopping! The first time I experienced Black Friday was several years ago while I was working in the retail industry. I had to arrive at work at 4:30 in the morning to see hundreds of crazy shoppers looking for the bargins. After 3 yrs of being behind the counter I decided to actually try this one year…as a shopper. Everyone is in a good mood first thing in the morning, it’s not until later in the day that all the grumps come out. Anyways…this year I wanted to give you some ideas on how to buy environmentally responsible gifts for your loved ones.

1. Consider buying gifts that are made of renewable resources or made from recycled materials. For the chef in your family consider a new set of bamboo cutting boards.
2. Remember when buying those electronics to look for Energy Star products.
3. Look for gifts that will get used many times, stay away from disposable gifts and cheap gifts that will break quickly. What about the gift of nature? Buy a bird lover a new bird feeder. Buy the gardener some new garden tools or some seeds for their garden. Think outside of the box this year.
4. Give a gift to a State Park, theme park, zoo or aquarium this year. Not only can they use it over and over again, but in most cases the money is going towards conservation.
5. Give a gift certificate this year for hard to buy for individuals. This will eliminate the item from being discarded after the holidays if they don’t like it.

Here are some great links to more ideas for everyone on your list:
www.green.yahoo.com
www.treehugger.com
www.earth911.org

And my personal favorite goes to the people over at www.poopoopaper.com. That’s right The Great Elephant Poo Poo Paper store has the most environmentally friendly gift of all for the journalist on your list. You have to read it for yourself…I’m not sure my rendition would do it justice. I’m considering this as a gift for a good friend of mine who enjoys journaling; I know she can hardly wait for me to give her poo!

Later in the week, I’m going to give you some ideas on how to wrap these gifts while reducing waste. Remember last year, how much trash did you throw out the next day? I hope you have a wonder, safe and GREEN Thanksgiving! Enjoy your GREEN Friday! Thanks for reading!

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Bag It!

Calley — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 01:25:38 +0000

Next time you are at the grocery store (or any other store for that matter) why not bring your own bag. We’ve all seen the green fabric bags that some grocery stores sell for you to tote your goodies home in but how many of us really use them? I had two friends this week tell me that they brought (and/or bought) their own bags to the grocery store. I guess I’ve been rubbing off on some people…but I need to try this one myself.

So what difference will it make? There are some really neat websites out there that go futher into the debate over paper-vs-plastic and which one is better for the environment however, both choices use natural resources that are intended to be used once and then disposed of. While many of us have reuse options for these bags (cleaning the kitty litter box, carrying our lunch to work, bathroom trash can liners, etc) I would have to say that most of us have more bags than we have uses.

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