5 Ways Organic Can Save Your Life & Bank Account

from Rodale.com

30 Years of Research Prove You Should Be Eating Organic

Virtually every problem we face today—from obesity and chronic diseases to climate chaos and unstable food prices—relates to the source of the food on your fork. Although organic farming has long been heralded by environmentalists, the health benefits of organic foodare overwhelmingly clear. Today, everyone from physicians to fitness buffs like Jillian Michaels say we need to eat organic so our bodies won't suffer the ill effects of food grown with toxic pesticides.
Not only is the food better for us, it's also better for the planet. For 30 years, the Rodale Institute has been conducting side-by-side field trials of organic and chemically grown produce to see which mode of farming can produce the highest yields for the best return on investment. Time and again, organic has won out. Here's a look at everything these trials have uncovered.

Organic Feeds Us When Weird Weather Strikes

No doubt, nature is one mad mother. And as we continue to see wild swings in weather due toclimate change, it's organic farming that will continue to keep supper on the table.
The facts: Rodale Institute data show that, during normal weather, organic and conventional farming produce about the same amount of food. But when weather starts to act up, organic wins out, producing 30 percent more in years of drought. That's notable considering that the biotechnology firms that produce genetically modified (GM) seeds are always bragging that biotech, not organic agriculture, is what farmers need to adapt to climate change. When the Institute introduced GM crops into the trials, it found that so-called "drought-tolerant" GM varieties only saw 7 to 13 percent improvement in crop yields during a drought.

Organic Can Help Stabilize a Wild Climate

Scientists overwhelmingly agree that human-generated greenhouse-gas emissions are causing climate change, which itself is causing stronger, deadlier storms, a rise in tropical diseases like dengue fever, increased insect-related illnesses like Lyme disease and West Nile virus, along with out-of-control allergies.
The facts: The Rodale Institute's Farming Systems Trial has shown that organic farming uses 45 percent less energy and is more efficient than chemical agriculture. Beyond that, chemical farming produces 40 percent more climate-altering greenhouse gases. Organic soil also holds more carbon in the ground and keeps it out of the atmosphere, where it leads to climate change.

Organic Farms Could Save You Money

One dollar hamburgers and 50-cent bottles of soda—America's cheap food addiction is made possible by chemical agriculture that relies on genetically modified crops and petroleum-based pesticides. But that cheap food comes with high costs that aren't accounted for in the dollar value you pay at the supermarket. .
The facts: It's true that pesticides have been linked to a variety of health problems, from attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in children to Parkinson's disease in adults. But they aren't the only toxic chemicals on farms. Pollution of drinking water supplies from the nitrogen and nitrates that seep out of fertilizers has been linked to reproductive problems, cancers, and spontaneous abortion. Based on Farming System Trial data, water leaching from the chemical farms was more likely to exceed the legal limit for nitrate-nitrogen concentrations in drinking water compared to the organic systems. You pay for these diseases and health problems at the doctor's office, and taxpayers wind up footing the bill for drinking water contamination.
Organic farming nixes the use of these chemicals, and organic soil is acts like a sponge and retains more nutrients, like nitrates, in times of flooding, reducing damage to neighbors downstream.

Organic Is Good For the Economy

Earlier this year, the nonprofit research firm Union of Concerned Scientists estimated that shifting a small amount of government subsidies from chemical systems that sicken us to to farmer's market programs could result in tens of thousands of new jobs. And the Rodale Institute has uncovered even more impressive numbers.
The facts: The Institute's 30-year trial revealed that organic systems were nearly three times more profitable than the chemical agriculture systems. Organic systems saw net returns of $558 per acre per year, versus just $190 per acre per year for chemical systems. Research from the United Nations and others has also shown that organic farms provide 30 percent more jobs per hectare than nonorganic farms, and that organic farmers net $45,697 in profit, compared with just $25,448 for nonorganic farmers.