Organic food is now a huge market s

Organic food is now a huge market segment, driven by consumer demand for food that’s healthier. The biggest misconception held by many organic lovers is that organic produce is not grown with fertilizers (肥料) or pesticides (杀虫剂). That’s simply wrong. Organic fertilizers and pesticides are manufactured by all the major producers. Pests attack crops whether they’re certified organic or not; and all plants take nutrients (营养物) out of the soil that have to be replaced. Many think organic farms handle that through soil management. And so they do, but so do all farms. Every farm rotates crops as much as possible to keep the soil healthy and reduce the spread of pest; by no means is this unique to organics. It’s been a farming fundamental for centuries. Chemicals are one of a farm’s biggest expenses, and both organic and conventional farms strive to reduce that expense. Modern agriculture depends on efficient fertilizers that deliver the needed nutrient load with a minimum of waste, and on newly developed seed strains that thrive with less fertilizer and that are naturally resistant to pests. Organic practices, however, prohibit both of these innovations, restricting farmers to less efficient fertilizers made from post-consumer and animal waste, and banning the use of the newest crop strains. Why? Because that’s what organic is. It was never about farming in the best way we know how; it’s about farming in a particular way, that rejects modern developments. At the end of the day, there’s no real difference. The Internet is full of videos where volunteers can’t tell organic from conventional produce in blinded tests. Daily variations in produce quality are much larger than any inherent difference between organic and conventional. And yes, you can find studies that show organic food is healthier, but to find them, you have to dig past a much larger number of studies that find no difference at all. If organic is what you want, great, buy and enjoy whichever you prefer, but just don’t be fooled by bad science and marketing efforts.