Does Organic Food = Better Global Health?
Apr 18, 2009 in Diet and Nutrition
Organic bananas are under appreciated. If I even glance at them in the store, my friends try to convince me that buying them would be pointless. “They have a peel,” they argue, “They’re naturally protected! Who cares if they were farmed with pesticides!?” From the consumer’s perspective, they make an entirely accurate point: the personal health benefits are negligible (see Does Organic Food = Better Health?). But they’re not looking at the entire picture. Everyone, from producer to packager and on, is affected what types of foods we choose to buy.
For example, organic bananas differ tremendously from their conventionally grown counterparts. To meet consumer demand and to protect their vulnerable crop, conventional plantations utilize large amounts of agrochemicals – about ten times the amount used on crops in developed nations. And the chemicals, which are highly toxic, are spread manually by plantation workers to ensure their effectiveness.
If bananas were primarily produced in wealthy nations, where public health and safe work environments are a priority, governmental regulation would ensure minimal health consequences. However, a vast majority of bananas are cultivated in underdeveloped nations that lack the ability to adequately regulate agricultural practices.
Workers often go without protective equipment and are too underpaid to purchase their own. They spread granular nematicides with their bare hands and spray fungicides without proper respiratory protection. The excess chemicals leach through ground water into neighboring areas. Without the luxury of running water, local families have no choice but to continue using the contaminated water.
Whether we are conscious of it to our not, as consumers, our purchases ‘cast a vote’ on which methods farm owners employ. Indirectly, buying bananas produced by conventional methods condones the use of harsh pesticides, fungicides, nematicides, and fertilizers that affect the health of farm workers, their families, and their neighbors. When buying produce, we need to think about more than just our personal health, because our purchases could affect the health of people around the globe.
This article is Part 2 of 3. For the effects of organic foods on personal health, read Part 1: Does Organic Food = Better Health?, and for answers regarding the sustainability of organic farming, read Part 3: Organic Foods – Can They Feed Everyone Forever? (Happy Earth Day).
May 3rd, 2009 on 9:39 pm
That is a perspective I have never thought of when choosing to buy or not to buy organic. We are so totally consumed with our own well-being a lot of the time that we forget how our choices affect those around us and even those that are thousands of miles away.
May 3rd, 2009 on 9:39 pm
It is true that we should take into consideration the effects had on foreign producers of products and services we consume. You choose to focus on the sinister health and environmental effects wracked by non-organic banana farming. And indeed, it would be easy for those of us in wealthy societies to spend fifty cents more per pound for organic bananas. But what economic consequences would this have on producers of the non-organic nanners? (Speaking of which, I think the title for this post should have been “ATTACK OF THE KILLER NANNERS!)
Most directly, they would not be able to produce and sell as much (price increases lead to drops in demand and crop yields would fall as a result of the switch to organic.) This would engender profit losses, job cuts, poverty gains and other ripple effects through that country’s economy. Now take those results and project them onto a state such as Belize whose largest export and trading partner are bananas and the United States respectively. Should we, as environmentally conscious consumers, dictate to the farmers of Belize whether or not they can make a livelihood?
Government officials, private companies and citizens of these countries should weigh the above trade-offs and decide for themselves how much organic or non-organic produce is the right amount.
And while it is true that the avoidance of certain non-staple organics such as bananas might not have catastrophic implications for global levels of consumption, organic farming cannot by itself currently meet the world’s consumption needs. To do so, large chunks of the earth not presently being farmed would have to be converted and in the process adversely effect many eco-systems. Which, brings us right back to one of the main reasons for purchasing organics in the first place.
Indeed, the choice is not a simple one.
May 3rd, 2009 on 9:39 pm
“ATTACK OF THE KILLER NANNERS!”
Ha! I wish I would have thought of that before I posted the article. Hmm, I guess I could still change the title…
“Should we, as environmentally conscious consumers, dictate to the farmers of Belize whether or not they can make a livelihood?”
As with most organic produce, the current profit margins for organic bananas are much greater than those of conventionally grown bananas. Presumably the difference is attributable to the marketability of organic foods. In the short term, changing the production approach could benefit the Belize economy (not to mention the favorable public health outcomes). And even if the world slowly stopped buying bananas, farmers could switch crops to remain in business (hopefully one requiring fewer chemical inputs).
“Government officials, private companies and citizens of these countries should weigh the above trade-offs and decide for themselves how much organic or non-organic produce is the right amount.”
While I’m not familiar with the Belize government, I would assume they are very limited in their ability to enact and enforce worker safety standards. In a free market dollars drive decisions (triple alliteration bonus?), and if health-friendly production methods become profitable (and conventional methods less profitable) then governmental inability to regulate standards becomes moot.
Well, just as before, your comments have given away some of the points I had planned for my next post. Part 3 will address more of these issues with organic farming and propose an alternative approach.
May 3rd, 2009 on 9:40 pm
FAIR TRADE BANANAS…we did it with coffee, why not bananas?
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