Organic is better

Earlier this week I took a trip to my local Cub Foods. On this particular trip I planned to pick up some salad greens. When I approached the cooler I made the choice to purchase Earthbound Farms Organic Spring Mix. The decision to choose organic over standard greens has many ethical, economic and political implications for me.

I choose organic and local produce whenever possible because I believe it is important to pay the full cost of food. I don’t mind paying the high prices because I know that agro¬chemical agriculture is heavily subsidized through the government, whereas organic farming receives no subsidies at all. Therefore the renowned productivity and efficiently of our food system is an economic illusion. Food in America is cheap because we can avoid paying the total costs. Some costs have been paid by farmers forced into bankruptcy because they can’t compete with large agribusiness. Some costs have been paid by workers who suffer exploitative wages. Some costs are paid by the government through subsidies, price fixing and health care. Furthermore, future generations bear the burden of environmental degradation and social injustice caused by the system.

My economic view of the food closely follows the Friedman view. I think government intervention in the American food system has brought the market out of equilibrium, leading to more problems and erroneous solutions. In my view, the food system would be better off if the government did not regulate grain production or supply the guidelines for the food pyramid. Balance in the market could be achieved if private firms had control. They would ultimately provide products and services that would lead to a better industry. In terms of labeling this viewpoint as a political party, it most closely resembles the Republican Party’s virtue of a free market economic system with little intervention by government.

Above everything, my decision to buy the organic salad greens was a moral act. Choosing what I believe to be a fundamentally right and good way of life is a testament of my ethics. I know my individual food choices will not change the global food system, change the world or change the future of humanity. But I only get one body and what I put it in greatly affects how it works so I want to feed it food that is good quality.