What Makes a Food Organic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

What Makes a Food Organic - Essay Example Such chemicals make the foods lose their natural quality, because they have been raised up in an unnatural environment. We discussed how farmers can make their lands organic by enhancing soil fertility; and, how people can grow foods at a smaller scale at their homes, without the use of chemicals. In this paper, we shall discuss these issues in detail, giving great importance to how a food is made organic, both on small scale at homes and on large scale at farms. Literature has been sought, and may references of scholarly research have been quoted to support the argument that, although it is not scientifically proven how an organic food is more healthful than non-organic food, but it is believed that since organic foods are grown in the most naturally possible way, thus, they are better for health than non-organic foods, whether grown at small scale or large. ... Organic methods employed by farmers guarantee that such food is produced, and on such a scale, that satisfies global requirement without the need to increase or expand the agricultural land base, which is a very big advantage in the current situation of growing population and less land available to adjust it. However, according to Brian Halweil (2006), a Senior Researcher at World Watch Institute, Washington D.C., it is contradictory whether organic food supply can feed the world effectively, since organic farmers have to do a lot of hard work in land conversion; and, the crop yield is often less because the land takes many years to adjust to the conversion process. Whether organic food is tastier than non-organic conventional food is still a debate, but some studies, that have compared the organoleptic quality of both types of foods, have shown that organic food is better in taste and healthfulness (Sample, 2007). Two factors are responsible for this: higher levels of antioxidants a nd lower levels of average crop yields. When the aim is high crop yield, farmers tend to ignore the organoleptic quality of the crops. Availability of nitrogen to foods is also influential upon the quality and taste. Conventional farming involves lower levels of such antioxidants, thus, the integrity of cells is affected. Higher levels of nitrates tend to spoil the food. Since organic foods have lower levels of nitrates, and relatively higher levels of antioxidants, they have longer life when they come to market shelves. There have been many studies comparing organic and conventional apples for taste and quality; and, researchers have found that organic apples come out better, because they store