What you should know about organic food

The other day, when I was researching the best autoresponder, a completely unrelated thought came to mind. Unfortunately, organic food is regarded merely as food that has been grown without the use of artificial fertilizers or pesticides. This is no doubt true but the real purpose of organic food is to produce reasonable quantities of high quality food using techniques that complement natural ecosystems without clashing with them. This implies that you should understand the relationships between people, animals and plants.

The objective is achieved by nourishing the soil in the proper manner so that whatever is grown on it receives the proper nourishment and healthy food is produced in complete sync with nature. Soil is not an inert and characterless mass. About 50% of it is made up of pores that contain air and water. Most of the rest consists of minerals that remain after the parent rock has crumbled. There is also a small but important component called humus which is the remnant of plant and animal life.

This mixture creates right environment for the growing process of food. However, though it can take several hundred years for the creation of 1 inch of topsoil, it can be destroyed in less than 10 years by phenomena such as erosion and chemical destruction. The roots of plants produce chemicals that stimulate the microorganisms in the topsoil. In turn, these micro organisms produce substances such as antibiotics and acids that breakdown chemical compounds into nutrition that can be used by the plants.

These processes are extremely complex and not yet fully understood by scientists. Though the importance of organic foods and organic farming is understood by almost everyone, very little public money is spent on it and research is mostly funded by charitable organizations. This is one of the reasons why organic food is relatively costly. Sadly, chemical agriculture can produce large quantities of food at much lower costs.