Thursday, October 15, 2009

What is the meaning behind "organic"?

Organic; we see this word stamped on lots of produce and meats in the market. Another word you could use for it us natural since it's basically the same thing. It means that everything was grown naturally, meaning there was no chemicals such as pesticides, genetic engineering, or radiation used in the process. For animals, things such as antibiotics and growth hormones are prohibited. In general, organic is good for the earth, the animals, and for us. They promote humane practices when it comes to raising the animals. For example, chickens are cage free. The downside to this is that it's more expensive to us, the consumers. This is because the farmers have to spend more time to make these crops since they can't use cheap shortcuts such as pesticides and genetically modified versions that grow bigger and faster. This means that they're at a disadvantage compared to their inorganic neighbor who produces double the amount.

The word "organic" is rhetorical because it appeals to all of our values. When you try to picture an organic chicken, you think of chickens running around the field freely and they they can't get happier than that. If you look at a why a vegetarian is in fact a vegetarian, you'd see that organic food is supposed to compliment with everything that they believe in. It convinces us that this is much better for us compared to its inorganic counterpart. What we don't know is that 2/3 of it is not really natural if you look into it. Reading this chapter makes you want to go out and buy your food straight from an organic farm where you can see everything going on compared to just following a label at your local supermarket.