Why Organic Food Is Better For the Environment

Most people are aware that food that is grown according to organic principles is free from exposure to many harmful herbicides and pesticides, but that is only one small part of organic agriculture. A larger part of organic agriculture involves the health of the soil and the ecosystem in which crops and livestock are raised. Organic practices recognize that a healthy, vibrant, and live soil and ecosystems significantly benefit crops. When you garden organically, you think of your plants as part of a whole system within Nature that starts in the soil and includes the water supply, people, wildlife and even insects. An organic gardener strives to work in harmony with natural systems and to minimize and continually replenish any resources the garden consumes.

Natural, undisturbed soil is alive with microbiotic organisms which exist in harmony between the native plant life and the inorganic minerals that provide the soil's substrate. When you begin using herbicides, pesticides, and fast acting inorganic fertilizers, you destroy the microbiotic activity, and soil becomes merely an anchor for plant material, which requires constant input to continue.

In practice such systems have tended to avoid the use of synthetically compounded fertilizers, pesticides, growth regulators, and livestock feed additives. These substances are rejected on the basis of their dependence on non-renewable resources, disruption potential within the environment, and their potential impacts on wildlife, livestock and human health. For example, synthetically compounded fertilizers and pesticides generally suppress biological activity in the soil. Some growth regulators and feed additives are implicated in retarding the decomposition of manure and are potential human health hazards. Instead, sustainable agriculture systems rely on crop rotations crop residues, animal manures, legumes, green manures, off-farm organic wastes, appropriate mechanical cultivation, and mineral bearing rocks to maximize soil biological activity, and to maintain soil fertility and productivity. Natural, biological, and cultural controls are used to manage pests, weeds and diseases.

Why Buy Local Produce

• Local markets support local growers and local networks
• Fresh local produce can be easily traced to the fields in which it was grown - that means safe and healthy eating!
  Buying locally means that we do not have to transport food from thousands of miles away which means less pollution and less road congestion


• Local orchards are rich in wildlife and attract many species - buying locally means we can keep orchards in business
• Often buying local market produce involves less packaging
• Buying produce in season is better for the environment. gives better flavor and more enjoyment

Buy in Season

Different fruits and vegetables are available at different times of the year due to the natural cycle of the season. The spring, summer, autumn, and winter months all provide different varieties of naturally grown produce. Buying fruit and vegetables which are 'in season' helps to protect the environment because no chemicals are needed to grow crops at times when they would not otherwise naturally grow. Seasonal produce also provides year round variety and flavor.