As a certified organic farmer, you are simply not allowed to use fertilisers as they pollute rivers and contribute to algae blooms in most Australian rivers. Certified organic farmers use more natural measures to fertilise their crops, these include:
- Planting crops to enhance soil quality
- Rotating crops
- Composted manure
- Weed companion planting
Great For the Organic Farmers
In my opinion someone who buys regular produce is, in a small way, promoting the bad health of Australian farmers, the people who work for them and their next door neighbours - scary thought.
Farming produce with the use of toxic fertilisers and fertilisers is dangerous. Farmers who use convectional farming methods have:
- An increased chance of prostate cancer
- Birth defects in children
- Have a better chance of having a child with a hyperactivity disorder
Better For Your Babies & Children
Put simply, babies are more susceptible to toxins that adults. Babies that eat organic food, as mine does, are found to contain less than 1/6 the amount of pesticide residue in their urine than babies fed on regular non-certified organic food.
Incredible as it may seem but these disturbing results can even inhibit your babies physical and mental development and as scary weaken the immune system. All this and we are yet to even mention the words additive and preservative.
Preservatives, food colouring & other food additives have been closely linked to a wide range of disorder in children, including ADHD.
Babies, toddlers and young children need healthy, organic & clean food. The benefits will last a lifetime.
What About The Poor Animals
Certified organic animals are treated better, lead more wholesome and involved lives and certainly taste better.
Animals brought up on organic farms have a greater outdoors experience, are not genetically modified, are not injected with growth hormones and antibiotics and live in less stressful conditions.
The whole ethos behind organic animal farming is that animals be well managed and lead health and nutritious lives.
Organic Produce Tastes Better
I begrudgingly bought some bananas, or 'nanas' as my baby daughter calls them, from a local supermarket the other day as I simply had no choice.
Driving south on the Pacific Highway to meet the grandparents later that day I passed the 'nana' back to my bubba, in some way to stop the crying and make the drive easier. Still crying 'nana', some minutes later I quickly turned back to see what all the fuss was about, and it wasn't that she wanted another.
To my great surprise most of the 'nana' had ended up on the floor, or the once clean floor of the car, together with the toys, spilt milk and enough crumbs to keep a colony of ants happy for a lifetime.
I peeled the second banana and decided to take a bite myself and the penny dropped - what 'nana'? Had it not been for the brilliant yellow sheath and that mushy texture I may have found it hard to decipher what it really was - hence the persistent tears in the back.
You see, my daughter has been spoilt with organic bananas for the last year, they really do taste better and even she knows it.
Have you tried organic produce lately? Is it worth the extra cost? Does organic farming really do any good? Take a bite of an organic banana or organic apple one day and see for yourself.
Andrew