Another Thumbs Up For Organic Produce

Because it is more expensive Saeed and I often hesitate in front of organic fruits and vegetables trying to decide if we want to pay the higher price or go with it's cheaper sister three feet away. Studies are now consistently showing that the nutritive value of organic produce is higher, significantly higher, than conventionally grown produce. They also show that the soil in conventional farming is just about dead. Of course there's also the environmental damage caused by all the chemicals in conventional farming.

An article in Science News yesterday reports a new study done by a professor at Washington State University. "The study is among the most comprehensive of its kind, analyzing 31 chemical and biological soil properties, soil DNA, and the taste, nutrition and quality of three strawberry varieties on more than two dozen commercial fields -- 13 conventional and 13 organic. There is no paper in the literature that comprehensively and quantitatively compares so many indices of both food and soil quality at multiple sampling times on so many commercial farms.

Among their findings:

• The organic strawberries had significantly higher antioxidant activity and concentrations of ascorbic acid and phenolic compounds.
• The organic strawberries had longer shelf life.
• The organic strawberries had more dry matter, or, "more strawberry in the strawberry."
• Anonymous testers, working at times under red light so the fruit color would not bias them, found one variety of organic strawberries was sweeter, had better flavor, and once a white light was turned on, appearance. The testers judged the other two varieties to be similar."

This confirmation of previous studies makes me that much more certain that buying organic is the right choice for me. It also makes me happy that I bought some organic strawberries yesterday... think I'll go wash them.  See ya!