Better taste, better food, better for us

A while ago now I remember reading a report where Researchers from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine stated that organic veggies and fruit has no nutritional or health benefits over ordinary food.

I also remember saying to myself, 'That'd be right, go ahead and ruin it for everyone'. I also remember thinking I'd like to come up with a decent retort their research.

Well, as it happens, I was reading Country Life magazine last night and found an article that managed to encapsulate many of my thoughts in a fairly comprehensive fashion.  

Below in italics is a copy from page 23 of the August 5, 2009 edition of Country Life.

Better taste, better food, better for us
GOVERNMENT scientists have announced that organic food is no better for you nutritionally than conventional (whatever conventional is) food.  For those of you who sit down and look at your plate as a combination of fat,  protein and carbohydrate,  this may be important news.  For the rest of us who enjoy eating,  it's irrelevant.  For us,  food is about taste and trust.  What the majority of us really care about is good farming and farming methods.  Ask any top chef,  and they will tell you that it's the quality of the produce that is the key to great food.  Local food is miles better.  If the government wants us to eat more healthily,  it should spend its energy on promoting good farming methods and it should force supermarkets to sell more locally sourced food.  It's great tasting food, not more scientific mumbo jumbo,  that will encourage better eating habits and a healthier nation.

I'd like to know what you think. The best potatoes, onions, carrots, beans, toms and more are the ones I've grown in my veggie garden. How about you?

Cheers and happy veggie gardening

Stewart 

Others

Other hands may fell the last stands of rainforest. Others may clearfell forest wilderness for woodchips to make wasteful packaging for goods we do not need. Others may release the pollutants that degrade the oceans, the rivers, the air that we breathe and the atmosphere that makes the Earth alone among the planets a haven for life.

Others are the agents, but we are the principals, or at least the aiders and abettors. It is our values that are expressed in these actions. It is our lifestyle that makes such vandalism profitable. It is the governments we elect that permit it.

Hal Wootten QC
President, Australian Conservation Foundation, 1986

What will you do to-day?

Most Chemicals have not Been Tested for Safety

Cancer Pesticide Link - US President's Cancer Panel Report

Critical Issues around Chemicals Raised by the Report

Most Chemicals have not Been Tested for Safety 'Only a few hundred of the more than 80,000 chemicals in use in the United States have been tested for safety.'

Pesticides Linked to Many Types of Cancers
'Nearly 1,400 pesticides have been registered (i.e., approved) by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for agricultural and non-agricultural use. Exposure to these chemicals has been linked to brain/central nervous system (CNS), breast, colon, lung, ovarian (female spouses), pancreatic, kidney, testicular, and stomach cancers, as well as Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphoma, multiple myeloma, and soft tissue sarcoma. Pesticide-exposed farmers, pesticide applicators, crop duster pilots, and manufacturers also have been found to have elevated rates of prostate cancer, melanoma, other skin cancers, and cancer of the lip.

'Approximately 40 chemicals classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as known, probable, or possible human carcinogens, are used in EPA-registered pesticides now on the market.'


Read more here

• Organic Federation of Australia
  

• May 10, 2010 - Cancer Pesticide Link – US President's Cancer Panel Report

Go Green Tube

Hi, just found this web site and found it interesting. Probably nothing new or earth shattering but good to reinforce any organic beliefs and values you might have. Click here to go to Go Green Tube

I've included two videos about the Grailville Organic Farm which go through some of their organic growing practices. Hope you find it interesting. The video quality is a bit poor but worth persevering with. Thanks.

Search results for Grailville Organic Farming






Cheers for now

Stewart

Food for thought.

Hi, I pinched this from the Warm Earth Organic Gardening newsletter and thought it might provoke some deep thinking.

Feeding the world

The head of Australia's national science organisation says climate change poses extraordinary challenges to global food production in the future. CSIRO chief executive Megan Clark has warned higher prices on water and agricultural carbon emissions will make it difficult to sustain the world's growing urban population. Dr Clark told the National Press Club in Canberra that the amount of food needed over the next 50 years is equal to the total amount of food ever produced by humans. "That means in the working life of my children as much grain as has ever been harvested since the Egyptian time," she said. "As much fish as we've ever eaten, as much milk as we've ever taken from reluctant cows on frosty mornings, every frosty morning that we've ever known." She says the challenge will be made even more difficult because climate change will put a higher price on water and on agricultural carbon emissions. "One area where we will have to adapt very quickly is in food production," she said. "It is really hard for me to comprehend that in the next 50 years we'll have to produce as much food as we have ever produced in human history." (ABC News)

I don't know how we can do it!!
Cheers
Stewart

Jamie Durie launches the new Good Wood Guide

From the Greenpeace website:- Jamie Durie launches the new Good Wood Guide

Sydney, Australia — Every day, Australians buy illegal timber without even realising it. Now the Greenpeace Good Wood Guide is set to change that.

Illegal logging of timber for Australian and other markets is linked to loss of livelihood and biodiversity, and devastating deforestation that contributes to climate change.

The updated 2009 Good Wood Guide helps consumers make an informed, environmentally responsible decision when buying wood and wood products. is the essential shopping tool for builders, renovators, designers, architects and consumers. With the guide, you can:

• find Good Wood timber products, including outdoor furniture, decking and joinery
  
• search a timber species to check whether it’s Good Wood.

Read more

Say it isn't so!

Can this be true?

Fruits and vegetables yielding fewer nutrients than in the past

Organic systems producing higher yields

Press release from Organic Federation of Australia.
From the desk of:
Andre Leu, Chairman

Four recent credible studies show organic systems producing higher yields

"Best practice organic agriculture can get better yields than conventional agriculture. Four recent credible studies show organic systems producing higher yields, particularly in the drier years that are predicted to increase with climate change." stated Andre Leu, Chair of the Organic Federation of Australia.

• United Nations Study - organic agriculture increased yields by 116%
  The report by the United National Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) found that organic agriculture increases yields in Africa. '...the average crop yield was ... 116 per cent increase for all African projects and 128 per cent increase for the projects in East Africa.' Read more.
  
  
• The Wisconsin Integrated Cropping Systems Trials.
  The Wisconsin Integrated Cropping Systems Trials found that organic yields were higher in drought years and the same as conventional in normal weather years. Read more.
  
  
• Scientific Review by Cornell University into 22 year-long Rodale Field Study
  The scientific review found:
  
  • 1. The improved soil allowed the organic land to generate yields equal to or greater than the conventional crops after five years. Read More
  
  
• US Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Pecan Trial
  
  • The ARS organically managed Pecans out yielded the conventionally managed, chemically ferilized orchard in each of the past five years Read more
    
    
    
    
    The Organic Federation of Australia is the peak body and the largest representative organic organisation in Australia. For further information please visit www.ofa.org.au
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

It's Official: Organic really is better

"EU-funded Quality Low Input Food project indicates significant nutritional benefits from organic food". Soil Association

Ok, as if we needed any more convincing about how good organic (home) grown food is for us, but here are some early results of the £12 million 4-year Quality Low Input Food (QLIF) study.

As stated in a press release from Biological Farmers of Australia below

The evidence from the $27million four-year European Union-funded project should end years of debate and is likely to overturn official advice that eating organic food is a lifestyle choice and that there is no clear evidence that it is "more nutritious than other food".

The study will be peer reviewed and published over the next 12 months. But already one conclusion is clear: organically produced crops and dairy milk usually contain more "beneficial compounds" - such as vitamins and antioxidants believed to help to combat disease.

Nutritionist and spokesperson for Australia’s largest organic body, the Biological Farmers of Australia, Shane Heaton, welcomed the study, saying, "This adds to the growing body of evidence from around the world that organic produce not only contains less of the things you don’t need, but also more of the things you do need in your diet."

The press release from the Soil Association web site also asserts that, 'Early results indicate organic fruit and vegetables contain 40% more antioxidants (believed to cut the risk of heart disease and cancer) in organic produce compared to non-organic foodstuffs. There were also higher levels of other beneficial minerals such as iron and zinc'.

A more in depth review of the study can be found here at the Soil Association web site.

MEDIA RELEASE Organic Food Benefits

Some light reading while I water my garden.

MEDIA RELEASE
Organic Federation of Australia
March 25 2007

Organic Food Benefits
‘Numerous studies show that on balance organic foods have higher levels of nutrients and significantly lower levels of pesticides’ Andre Leu, Chair of the Organic Federation of Australia (OFA), stated.

‘A scientific study published in the Journal of Applied Nutrition in 1993 clearly showed that organic food is more nutritious than conventional food. Organically and conventionally grown apples, potatoes, pears, wheat, and sweet corn were purchased in the western suburbs of Chicago, over two years, and analysed for mineral content. The organically grown food averaged 63% higher in calcium, 73% higher in iron, 118% higher in magnesium, 178% higher in molybdenum, 91% higher in phosphorus, 125% higher in potassium and 60% higher in zinc. The organic food averaged 29% lower in mercury than the conventionally raised food. ‘
‘A recently publish review of scientific research by Charles Benbrook, Ph.D. reveals that on average organic foods contain about one-third higher in antioxidants than comparable conventional produce.’

‘These phyto-nutrients have been shown to have major roles in preventing and reversing diseases such as heart disease and arterial diseases. They are important for preventing and reducing inflammatory and auto-immune diseases such as asthma and arthritis. Most significantly they are shown to have anti cancer and other protective properties for our health and well being.’ Mr Leu said

‘A study by the Danish Institute of Agricultural Research and the University of Newcastle's showed that cows raised on an organic diet produce milk with 50% more Vitamin E and 75% more beta carotene than conventionally farmed cows. The organic milk has two to three times more zeaxanthine and lutein, which are powerful antioxidants. Higher levels of omega 3 essential fatty acids, that provide protection from heart and other diseases, are also found in organic milk.’
‘A scientific article published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry stated that organically grown corn, strawberries and marionberries have significantly higher levels of cancer fighting antioxidants than conventionally grown foods.’

‘The European Journal of Nutrition published a study by Dr John Paterson from the University of Strathclyde, UK. The study found that organic vegetable soups contain almost six times as much salicylic acid as non-organic vegetable soups. Salicylic acid is produced naturally in plants as a protective compound against stress and disease. It is responsible for the anti-inflammatory action of aspirin, and helps combat hardening of the arteries, heart disease and bowel cancer.’ Andre Leu stated.

Two comprehensive studies have been published that compared the differences between organic and conventional foods. Both studies analysed around 40 previously published studies, each independently of the other. One study was conducted in the UK by nutritionist Shane Heaton and the other in the USA by Virginia Worthington as a peer reviewed university graduate thesis. Both studies came up with similar conclusions showing that there is overwhelming evidence that organic food is more nutritious than conventional food. Heaton stated: ‘On average our research found higher vitamin C, higher mineral levels and higher phytonutrients – plant compounds which can be effective against cancer.’

Many studies show that conventionally farmed foods have pesticide and other chemical residues. Repeated tests show that many of these foods can carry a cocktail of synthetic poisons. Studies by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control found a cocktail of many toxic chemicals in the blood and urine of most Americans that they tested.

Reduced Exposure to Residues
A detailed scientific analysis of organic fruits and vegetables in the USA, published in the peer-reviewed journal Food Additives and Contaminants, showed that organic foods have significantly less pesticide residues than conventionally grown foods.
A similar study in Australia by Ruth McGowan for the Victorian Department of Primary Industries conducted 14000 tests on 300 hundred samples of certified organic produce. The study concluded that: “The results demonstrate that Victorian organic produce is virtually ‘chemical free’.”

‘Both of these studies showed that vast majority of organic foods have no residues. Where residues were found these were due to the widespread contamination caused by several pesticides used in conventional farming. Even then, these residues were substantially lower in organic foods than in conventionally produced food.’ Mr Leu stated
‘Most importantly scientific studies are beginning to show that that eating organic food results in lower levels of these pervasive chemicals in humans.’ Andre Leu said.

A study published in Environmental Health Perspectives found that children who eat organic foods have lower levels of pesticides in their bodies. The University of Washington researchers who conducted the study concluded ‘The dose estimates suggest that consumption of organic fruits, vegetables, and juice can reduce children's exposure levels from above to below the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's current guidelines, thereby shifting exposures from a range of uncertain risk to a range of negligible risk. Consumption of organic produce appears to provide a relatively simple way for parents to reduce their children's exposure...’

Conclusion
The United Nations FAO states the case very succinctly. ‘It has been demonstrated that organically produced foods have lower levels of pesticide and veterinary drug residues and, in many cases, lower nitrate contents. Animal feeding practices followed in organic livestock production, also lead to a reduction in contamination of food products of animal origin.’
‘The facts show that organic foods have health benefits because of higher nutritional values. They excel in the antioxidants that prevent heart disease, cancers, anti-inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.’ Mr Leu stated

For Interviews:
Andre Leu Chair 07 40987610
Email: chair@ofa.org.au
Web: www.ofa.org.au

MEDIA RELEASE

72% of Consumers want one Organic Symbol

72% of organic food buyers say they would prefer to have one, new certification symbol used by all organisations, compared with only 14% who prefer to continue with different certification symbols.
The research conducted by Newspoll found that changing to one, new certification symbol is generally viewed as easier, clearer and less confusing. Having one symbol is also viewed as being easier to recognise and remember, and as having a clearer and stronger meaning. Some also saw it as providing confirmation of uniformity in certification procedures by certification organisations.
The Newspoll was commissioned by the Organic Federation of Australia, the peak body for the organic sector and was conducted nationally among main grocery buyers.
Regular organic food buyers were asked to rate the current system of having eight different certification symbols on a scale from 0 to 10, where 0 is "very confusing and hard to identify organic foods" and 10 is "very clear and simple to identify organic foods".
Their average rating was only 3.1 out of 10, which shows that the current system is seen as confusing.
‘The research showed very poor awareness of most of the certification symbols and that the words
"Certified Organic" were important in guiding consumer awareness about genuine organic products.’ Andre Leu, Chair of the Organic Federation stated
‘The experience from around the world shows that having one symbol to identify organic products generates a huge increase in sales.’ Andre said
The survey was conducted among 966 main grocery buyers nationally aged 18 years and over.


The Organic Federation of Australia is the peak body and the largest representative organic organisation in Australia. For further information please visit www.ofa.org.au