@@FreeHempNow you do know that making videos on UA-cam doesn't get u a lot of money right? Unless you get a crap ton of views, its not a lot. Especially because making productions like this take time and research.
google why it is more expensive.. do some research.. large aggro farms and monsanto control most crop seeds, and mass produce for speed and quantity to maximize profits, but research why organic is so expensive, it is because of giant corporations like monsanto in bed with our government monopolizing farming that creates stupid laws for people growing natural foods, they need special tests for "contamentents", because chemicals were not used, lot of seeds have patents and are sold to small family farmsvat increased prices........in the end, if more people bought organic, they would listen to the lost revenue, thats all they care about --- profit - at all costs - the shareholders demand a good monthly check !!!!!!
As a mini farmer I use a lot of organic techniques in order to preserve the soil and to try and make the farm more efficient. Like having chickens roam freely to eat the bugs and collecting their poop for my hot compost pile.
As a produce grower for a local farmers market, we don't grow or market organic products. We do our best to use insecticides responsibly and as few times as possible through out the growing season. We would not be able to get a high yeilding crop or a very high quality crop from our gardens. Also, I always like to keep in mind that GMO could be something as simple as cross pollination, it's not always splicing genes. Even in that case it is typically to give a plant resistance to disease or to increase yield. Fancy lables on our food increase the price of things that raised conventionally, would be just as safe.
I'm happy to hear that. I think people think way too black and white, as usual. Organic farmers aren't angels and some people make it seem like anything that's not "organic" is deadly-pesticide-infused garbage that will mutate your children or something. I think GMO's can be done wrong as well as very right, and I wish the US (and also the EU, on the other extreme) would differentiate and regulate better. I also think governments should subsidize farming practices that make sense. Because they will ultimately pay the price of dead bees, multiresistant bacteria, no longer suitable crops thanks to changing climates.. the list goes on and on.
@@miriam7872 I strongly agree. I think that subsidies would not only help current farms but would also give other people the opportunity to start their own. The way my family thinks about it, we can either pay a little bit extra in taxes and for the subsidies and continue to enjoy the lowest food prices in the world, or pay the farmers the actual worth of their products wether it be produce or agronomic crops because of that was the case, we would be paying a lot more for food products than we do now. That's one reason so many dairy farms are going out of business, people just aren't buying the amount of dairy products they use to and prices of milk are at an all time low. That same principle applies to other agricultural products as well.
> Thomas Becker "GMO could be something as simple as cross pollination" Wrong. Selective breeding is not GMO. Can you really be that ignorant or are you trying to confuse those who are?
@@johnkesich8696 what does GMO stand for, Genetically Modified Organism. Cross pollination is a slower more natural process to get desirable genes in livestock or crops. The Organism's genetics are then "modified". Sorry this was coming across as ignorant or offensive to you. Not all GMOs are physically taking a gene from one specimen and putting it into another. Hope this was helpful. God bless!
As an agricultural engineer, I really appreciate videos like this. More sustainable agriculture (i.e. producing more food with fewer inputs and less environmental damage) is critical for the health of the human population, but terms like organic and natural often have more marketing behind them than science. Consumers associate organic with all that is good, and marketers take full advantage of that. Even products that are not organic certified take advantage of this association by using terms that sound like they mean the same thing as organic (i.e. natural, pure, etc) or by using specific packaging (green containers, muted colors, pictures of leaves or idyllic farms, etc). If you choose to spend the extra money on organic products, please do yourself a favor and look at the science rather than the marketing campaigns.
Excellent Video! Excuse me for the intrusion, I would love your opinion. Have you thought about - Parlandealey Impetigo Goodbye Process (Have a quick look on google cant remember the place now)? It is a smashing one off product for learning how to grow your own organic vegetables using hydroponics without the normal expense. Ive heard some decent things about it and my mate got astronomical results with it.
I wish you had talked about organic vs conventional meat more -- the lack of growth hormones and antibiotics in organic meat seems like it would be an important health benefit. Maybe another video?
I think it's important to make it clear that in America the USDA ONLY certifies food. So anything that says it's organic and is not food (beauty products are a good example) is probably lying
Brookshire's grocery chain, until recently, on the aisle directory signs (up above the aisles,) used to proudly proclaim this aisle to have 'organic water'. Not kidding. I ALWAYS assumed that was water, with the poop not filtered out.
I know this video is 2 years + old but I just saw it, or rather my son saw it and brought it to my attention. First - everything in this video has to do with large farms and does not take into account the very large amount of small farms (3 acres or less). I farm, on a micro farm, 2.66 acres total land area but we run 50 to 80 beds a year. We are not OMRI certified and never will be but we practice organic methods. The video says that organic farms cannot produce the same amount as conventional farms....on large scales this is true... because of their field model. But we annually out produce larger farms by factors of 10 easily. 2 Reasons for this - 1. We use a 2 wheel walk behind tractor 2. Our field model - 30 inch wide 50 and 100 ft raised beds. Both of these provide MUCH higher yields per square ft than conventional or large scale organic farming. An example Conventional farms grow carrots in rows with an avg of 6 rows between their tractor wheels - We get 12 rows per bed On every crop we grow, we at LEAST double that of a conventional farm on yields and number of plants. We have a MUCH smaller carbon footprint due to the use of the walk behind two wheel tractor combined with broad forking which further decreases the use of the two wheel tractor. We use low tunnnels and Catterpillar tunnels to extend our seasons and many farms run year round with this model. Crop rotation does virtually nothing to assist in pest control. It does help with soil borne disease control. OMRI certified or legal "organic" certification DOES NOT mean they do not use pesticides.......they use a LOT of them.....Products like Spinosad for broad based insect control. Spinosad is a bacteria that was found at an abandoned rum distillery in Cuba and was found to kill everything...including bees...which it is extremely toxic to. To me, calling this product organic is like going to Chernobyl and digging around and finding some new bacteria and saying "Hey its organic"....no its not ....not even close. And i sure as hell wouldnt eat it. Spinosad is listed as OMRI certified....so is bleach......So are a lot of products which are obviously not organic in any sense. The point - Organic DOES NOT mean pesticide free. At one time "Organic" was more than just marketing...but no more....its just marketing and a money game. It allows more room for grants and allready bloated federal and state ag departments more funds. Large scale organic operations offer little to no benefit vs conventional farming. To see any real benefit youll have to go to local small and micro farms either through your local farmers market or buy directly from local farms. Question how they grow, do they use pesticides, if so what kinds, do they use Fungicides, if so what kinds. Visit the farm and take a look at their operation.....If you dont see hoop houses or plastic covered tunnels or any size, if you dont see crops covered in finely meshed netting.....be suspicious of what they tell you. If they say they are not using pesticides or fungicides your looking for tunnels or covering over the crops...if you dont see it ask about how they are managing pests and have them explain thier methods. If it does not include "insect netting" "low tunnels" "caterpillar tunnels" "High tunnels" then just walk away as they are using fungicides and pesticides and lying about it. If your serious about your food you have to educate yourself...and if you want the full benifit of low carbon footprint, helping your local economy, pesticide free and fungicide free food, your only options at this point in time are your local farmers market and buying directly from small and micro farms in your community. And even then you need to check the farms your dealing with to make sure your getting what you want.
This is very informative! Thank you SciShow for many arguments pro and contra organic foods - much appreciated to help me understand its usefulness and value (or the opposite).
Hannah Consiglio It's still more expensive than non organic products. I have bought 365 products, and when I compared them to Aldi there was no comparison.
I refuse to pay for the meaningless, unscientific, and irrational “organic” marketing label. Come up with a meaningful “sustainable” label, or a “locally sourced” standard, I will take a look.
I've grown crops both organically (without pesticides) and conventionally. The amount of yield for the cops were the same. As far as health benefits, not eating a pesticide is a lot healthier, most do not wash off with normal cleaning techniques. Most of the studies that show that "conventional growing", or "conventionally grown" foods are studies which are backed by the pharmaceutical industry, so they deny publishing the true outcomes
It seems to me that because of a mix of what's available and what a supermarket is willing to carry there are certain foods that are more or less consistently better tasting from the organic section as compared to its non-organic counterpart, green onions, tomatoes, garlic, just to name a few. The difference in taste is huge. The quality of tast in cooking is such that I can use a LOT less of the organic garlic than I would use of regular garlic. You're get it garlic that I've been able to find is Floral and Rich slightly sweet and believe it or not you can actually bite into it because it locks the acidity and bitterness of non-organic garlic. And I could go on about other vegetables, but I think a lot of it is just the way the market selects for availability. In the end though I have to challenge your assertion that you shouldn't choose organic for taste because if one is using less material to accomplish the same thing true Organics then one is having less of an impact on the environment.
It bothers me when I see a pack of chicken and the package says “no antibiotics ever” because 1- no meat for human consumption has antibiotics in it, there is a wash out period farmers must follow and 2 it tells me the animals do not get the proper veterinary care while alive.
I don't mind sick animals being treated with antibiotics. But in a lot of countries they are added to feed preventively or even to promote growth. I'm happy people are choosing to market and purchase meat and dairy made with as little antibiotics as possible so we can combat antibiotic resistance.
The big problem with anitbiotics isn't the effect on the meat.. its the effect on the environment, and in particular the antibiotics that don't get absorbed when eaten or otherwise make it out into the wild have been a large part of fueling our current concerns over antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria.
No antibiotics doesn't mean no proper veterinary care. It does, however, mean that they're not pumping antibiotics in their feed and keeping them in unsanitary conditions where disease would spread like wildfire without antibiotics. Because, y'know, they aren't using antibiotics.
Its not about the meat if we keep givig animals antibiotics then bacteria strains will become resistant and screw over humans a good question is how much does your pets need antibiotics not a lot because they get proper rest space and activity so if animals got treated right we would have less antibiotic resistant strains also animals would have a better life
@Dream Delirium they dont get sick?Looks like your logic is poor!Like every living thing they too get sick,especially in the first few days.They get diarhea and die if not treated with antibiotics.Later on they can get pneumonia and die if not treated,list goes on and on!How do I know?I live on the farm,and even tho our chickens are kept free range and spend most of the time on the grass,they still get sick.The world is not a sterile place,not sure if you noticed that yet!
@@thespiritualenergy9816 ? what does af wym mean? If your having a go at me you should know that I used to go to a special needs college which only served "organic" food. Their food were the WORST food I have EVER had, by a LONG way. Their food were so bad that I once went for 5 days living off only tap water, yet all they could do was brag and boast! They were 100% recognised as an organic institution by the soil association and all that and their food made kept making me ill!
Very nice analysis as usual. But three important points left out: 1. antibiotics in farming seem to be playing and important role in generating antibiotic resistance 2. Animal hormones: could they interfere with human neuroimmunoendocrine system? 3. Ethics of animal exploitation. It is now clear animals can suffer, be stressed, etc. These perceptions and feelings are not unique to humans.
When Hank talked about “grape man” I literally paused the video, stopped doing the dishes I was in the middle of, and ran up to my sister to make her watch it so we could laugh about it together. 😂
I find some specific food items taste better organic, such as fresh fruits. I always thought it was because gmo foods might be selected to grow bigger or faster, so lose some flavor density, but maybe it's just because the irradiated stuff is slightly older. But if it's not going to be eaten raw, I usually won't buy organic because you're adding spices and breaking down the molecules anyway. Better to try to buy local than organic, I think.
Just a thought, what if there was some sort of organized worm composting, where industrial and home organic wastes are managed in a way that they can be turned into rich soil back again, instead of anaerobically decomposing in a landfill? Would that be enough fertilizer? I just found out about worm composting and seeing how much plant and animal matter goes to the trash I think the amounts needed to grow crops could be easily met with good waste management.
You are bang on the money. I have several bathtubs full of worms and save about 20kgs a week from landfill by going through grocery shop bins. A bathtub can make 20 liters of organic fertiliser a day. The guys ignorant. i'd also day say he knows nothing about soil biology and what conventional farming is doing to it. I'm trying to educate people on how to set up worm farms. Wish i had the following this guy has. 6 million people composting would save a lot of landfill and emission.
There is one thing in the batch you forgot to mention though. Even if organic produces a bit less, compared to the amount of food that is gone to waste, we could still feed everyone with organic with a bit more of food management.
That's a fair point. We could also focus on more actual food production vs other applications such as corn ethanol, soy diesel and the like. That said I'm unsure if there'd be much wiggle room. The thornier question for me is that of what i perceive to be a strong overlap in organic consumers and those that are vegetarian. If you're going to need more manure, but want to cut down on livestock production, how's that gonna work?
Dear Gentlemen, It turns out, one does not even need that much manure in fact. With a proper crop rotation between crops with different needs and benefits one can have similar outputs as conventional farms without much inputs. Likewise, the 25% drops is in fact in the first 2-4 years because of the practice changes, but after some more years and habits, the output goes back to the level of a conventional farm. This being said, I agree it's easier to do for vegetables than say for big wheat fields...
@@mathieudehouck9657 that's a negative. You cannot remove nutrients without replacing them. And while there are nitrogen fixing plants for example, that nitrogen is primarily used to produce said crop. There's not enough left over for the next year's non - fixing crop to be successful. And that doesn't adress the other nutrients at all
Sure, I didn't mean "we would never ever need nutrients". My point was more, organic often comes with more diversity and more diversity also grants you with using less inputs because you don't "wash" the ground every year the same way. But surely enough, we need to bring back part of what we eat.
Yes, what they sell in most of the groceries as "organic foods" are just marketing techniques. Real organic food is what you grow in your garden. It takes more time, more resources and you need to do it carefully. But it is like a heaven. The smell and the taste of tomatoes and peppers in my grandmother's garden is worth more than every other food produced by companies. I guess it is the requirements of the ever evolving world but it makes me sad the we are forgetting about the beauties and the joys world offer us. Everthing now is mass produced without much care and we are becoming robots of the future. Mass produced clothes of modern popular culture, mass produced foods of rich companies, long work hours. I feel like we became a part in a capitalist system. Like another brick in the wall. I think the only thing that will chance this system is going to be the next world war. So sad.
If you ask me it's better than working 16 hours a day so I can survive in the woods. That being said the easiest way to live is to buy into the system just enough to get out of it what you need and contribute to it what you can. Don't try and keep up with the Joneses, don't shop on Amazon. Avoid debt
@@treaf7453 they are a monopoly, bad for the environment, treat workers poorly, target and kill small businesses, destroy millions of extra products weekly instead of donating them to charity & are all around a horribly toxic company. Research them if you want to learn more
So, once organic food allows the use of GMO's, sewage and ionizing radiation, it will become truly ecofriendly and healthy. Why not make a new standard called like "BOB" (Best of Both worlds) or something?
Sadly, many people just don't grow anything in their own yard/porch/balcony. We can all grow lots of things in our yards. And for those of you who live in an area where you want to garden in your front yard? If your City has an issue, you & your neighbors should get together to change the situation so you can have gardens in your front yard! It looks lovely. 🌾🌿🌱🌻🐞🐝
I really like the your contribution according to this topic! :) But something which is missing here is if it has a big effect on animal farming. Could you do a separate video about organic and animal farming according to beef, chicken, pork production? :)
Yea I hate the organic fad. I live around a bunch of farm land and our farms always rotate their crops to normalize nitrogen. The biggest issue with GMO is allergies. I am not allergic to strawberries, but I have an allergic reaction to GMO strawberries because they include a soy protein that acts as a pesticide. Back when I was a kid they used to give us “Lab #” that would be on the fruit that included something I was allergic too.
Unfortunately they don’t publicize that info anymore and I can’t even get it from my allergy doc. But basically just strawberries. There isn’t really a “type”. You can look up “GMO insect resistant crops” it’s all pretty cool.
I guess some people may never know since they don’t want to invest the time or money to understand what feels good in there body except the time it took to watch this video...trust your moral compass and have faith...godspeed!!! ❤️🧘♂️
As a food scientist, thank you for this thorough and easy-to-understand video! Everyone at scishow did a fantastic job as usual. Thank you for supporting the science of food!
JP Sears says eating organic makes you better than other people so that's why I do it. It keeps my status of being better than everyone else super high.
Simply due to my grocery store only having organic bananas and onions left when I got there, I totally have found that both of them have a much greater shelf life after I get them home
I live in the Monterey County, California, which is largely considered the salad bowl of the world. That said, I have worked for many different companies that produce all types of fruits and vegetables. I remember the organic ones specifically, our foreman would bring out a stack of boxes labeled “organic” in between our packaging and say: “It’s time to charge the idiots their up charge.”
This was a really great episode. Thank you PATREONS for asking these really great questions. As a student Registered Nurse, this really helps me help other people.
9:20 That's a MRE cheese packet. MREs are among the most healthy foods you can get your hands on, because they're packed with over 3000 kcal per meal, yet have the nutrient balance of an ornate salad. You can literally live off one a day if you're a civilian. It's also something to note that they're the opposite of organic.
Wouldn't say they are the most healthy things. They work for soldiers or highly active people, but chances are the average person couldn't fully utilize an MRE properly and it would for sure be an excess of calories. Not to mention sodium designed to replace lost sodium from sweating, etc.
@@DoYaLoveMeh89 you have a point there. I was just under the assumption that people would follow the advice of one a day for civilians, because a single one has all the nutrition you need in a day. Even if you had ramen to replace other meals, it would still be cheaper per day than McDonalds for a decent meal in my area (surplus stores sell at $60 for 12 MREs).
As much as I love the Bros. Green, the SciShow dismissal of GMO and eco-conscious food practices always makes me grit my teeth. Don't get me wrong- I'm well aware that there's nothing inherently wrong with the splicing of genes, and most reasonable people _wash_ their produce before they eat it. A much bigger reason for the concern with GMOs and with the pesticides and fertilizers widely in use is concern for the ethics and practices of the companies using them. A concern for the environment. A concern for indigenous species. A concern for farmers' rights to their own crops and seeds. No, that fertilizer might not make my tomatoes any worse for _me_ , but what is it doing to the fish? The birds? The native plants? That corn might not be poisoning us, (it's not,) but is it destroying a farmer's ability to maintain his crop season to season? Is the company he is fairly obligated to buy his products from extorting him, by engineering plants that will not produce viable seed for the next season's crops? And if he chooses to buy from some other company, are they going to sue him within an inch of his livelihood because the neighboring farm's pollen was carried into his field by the wind, bees, and wildlife? And if his crop is accidentally cross-pollinated with a terminator crop, will he be damned to lose next year's crop despite his efforts to the contrary? These concerns are not trivial, and they do not deserve to be dismissed as "hippy nonsense" given the current decline of the world's ecosystems.
All that, and the corn might be poisoning us (even if by tiny amounts). After all, most of the GMOs we're consuming are of the Roundup-Ready variety, and the glyphosate sprayed on the plants is a carcinogen.
The thing is that if you buy organic coming from small farmers it usually means better taste. Often when I buy food in a supermarket, whether it is organic or not, it tastes nothing like actual veggie or fruit is supposed to taste like. But buying from a farmer I know makes a huge difference! I support him in his efforts, have less or no pesticides and eat food that actually tastes like food.
I totally agree, not all of them are doing it properly, but since I know these people and since I grew up eating a lot of fruits straight from the tree, I know how a plum for example should taste like (and the supermarket, even the organic one, tastes like nothing at all). Don't need a blind taste to notice because the difference is huge :) Like eating a tire vs eating something juicy and sweet :D
@@jasper3706 the effects have been more apparent, harsh, and widespread in banana crops than in other crops. Not saying that it doesn't happen with other things... it certainly does.
When rotating crops there’s a period of time when the land is left to nature and it grows weedy. The weeds can be harvested & used to make a nutritious plant pulp tea to fertilize crops without manure. The plant pulp can then be added to a compost heap to make vermicompost. There are many options for fertilizing crops that don’t require chemical fertilizers. Rain water for instance can help naturally adjust the ph in soil for crops that grow best in low ph soil, as rain water tends to be acidic (even down to 4.5 ph). It also contains a lot of small particulates that can enrich the soil. Run off from crops nourished with manure can be collected & reused as a liquid fertilizer to keep the nutrients in the soil. A natural pond also contains a lot of plant & animal waste that can be collected to fertilize crops or crops can be grown in floating rafts on top of the pond for greater ease of use. In certain places they irrigate rice fields by diverting water from natural sources & then raise fish for food/sales in with the rice. Harvesting/growing native plants for food is another way we can use the natural conditions they thrive in to reduce our need for intervention when farming food crops. There’s modern organic farming & then there’s a very different kind of farming which has been done for generations by family owned farms & farmers.
For those who're concerned and want to know - it might not be the most palatable opinion here (har har) but...do some research for your own area. Is there are farm just outside your city - that you might visit, perhaps? Getting your physical eyeballs on the place where the food is coming from can be a great way to determine for yourself whether that is produce you'd prefer to have. "Locally sourced" can mean a heck of a lot more to eco-friendliness than "organic," and it's very much a possibility that there's some small farm near you making, oh say, tomatoes - available at a reasonable price, with OR without the fancy label. I've never really seen much difference between the various produce, organic vs not, in my own area. I *do* very much see a difference between the produce that had to be shipped from Guatemala (or even just from a couple of states over) and the things grown in my area, within an hour of the store. A lot of the local things *do* taste better because they are fresher! Age has far more to do with flavor, in this case, than how it was grown. There's also kind of a third choice - hydroponically grown crops - these are harder to pin down in some ways, but can be very affordable, and are fairly eco-friendly in the sense that hydroponic techniques can be carried out in buildings, on rooftops, underground, pretty much ANYWHERE, with zero soil and more or less zero runoff, at least with closed-system methods. But it's not often that you see those labels (at least, not yet, not in my own state). That said - yet another part of this third option is: grow it yourselves. You can use any number of methods to grow a few plants, and with modern cultivars being what they are, a single tomato plant will produce masses of produce, plenty for one family for the growing season; the same goes for most stuff. Green beans will go crazy given half a chance and you can get a decent privacy screen along with your fresh veggies that way. Grow squash or cucumbers and you just might be forced to preserve the excess, because there WILL be excess! And some things, like collard greens, will grow all year long even if they're just in a pot on the patio. Same goes for virtually every herb I know. For small amounts of food you can manage at least to grow your own salad even if all you have is a tiny balcony or a couple of windowsills. Will it solve world hunger? Oh hell no. But it *will* be produce you know exactly what was done to it, and it'll be the absolute freshest item possible. The risk of pests or spoilage is, well, your problem! :D
I worked for a horticulture lab...…. and hate to burst your bubble, but "organic" farmers use all kinds of weird stuff for fertilizer including Bat guano, worm casings, and other non traditional soil amendments. If you look at a lot of the recent e-coli breakouts or salmonella, from lettuce or other produce, many are from organic grown produce or hydroponically grown. The real danger is that washing it doesn't help because the roots actually draw the bacteria up and into the fibers of the plant itself. So I decided long ago that I won't by organic due to inexperienced small farmers or producers either not practicing growing methods correctly or down right "saying" its organic, when actually they just want to jack up prices. Just my personal opinion.
In Denmark organic does mean more biodiversity, simply because you can't get the state regulated organic symbol without fulfilling a row of different requirements for ensuring biodiversity
You are dealing with an evolving and complex subject. It is natural that you fail bad about it. First, modern organic complex and agroforest systems are shown to be much more productive and climate resilient than conventional agriculture. Second, they do not depend on manure and any kind of fertilizers, so they are cheaper to be maintained. Third, they not only avoid petroil chemicals (fertilizers, pesticides, roundups) , but sequester more carbon from the air, fighting climate change. Fourth, as you said, they keep our rivers clean. Fifth, less pesticides in your food. Sixth more antioxidants. Seventh, workers are better paid and safe from chemicals. Eighth, bees are not killed and the system is more biodiverse and more productive (again) because there are bees to polinate it.More productive, less chemicals and climate resilient, means that it doesn't have to be more expensive, when compared with conventional crops WITHOUT government subsidies. Nineth, you made poor research on the subject. Tenth, you are certainly biased, being from chemistry background, looking thing in boxes instead of seeing the whole system.
Concerning the line "you shouldn't buy it because it's healthier or tastier", I get that organic foods may not be healthier but I've certainly noticed that many foods labeled organic taste better, which seems a perfectly good reason to pay a bit more.
I assume you mean it's a placebo effect? Taste is a pretty subjective thing in the first place, so perceiving a difference in taste is about the same as an actual difference. For me, some organic products have a clear improvement in taste from their non-organic counterparts that I am willing to pay a little extra for.
I think it's the fact that you paid more and your mind is tricking you into believing it tastes better (placebo effect). Taking a blind test would really clear things up. It's also important to note where something was grown. Some regions are better at growing certain foods than others. There are many factors that go into play, aside from an organic label that makes produce taste better (or worse). Even growing methods make a huge difference. Just look at France and how they grow their wine grapes. It would be interesting to see a study on this with a large sample size. I'm genuinely curious to see if it's indeed organic food that tastes better (although I have my doubts), or if it's just a placebo effect, or even, perhaps it's just a growing technique/regional thing (testing organic produce from multiple organic farms with non-organic ones.)
You seem to assume I haven't tested my opinion, but in fact it comes from a number of instances of accidentally blind tests. For example I buy a brand of macaroni and cheese that has one specific variety with both an organic and non-organic label. I used to buy only the organic version but then switched to non-organic to save money. I forgot about the switch until days later when I prepared a bowl and found it to be noticeably inferior; in that situation the taste came before the thought of the organic label or the money spent on it. I'm not in a position where I can thoughtlessly throw money at food; I start from low-priced food and then try different higher-priced varieties to see if they're worth investing in. I realize I'm not completely free of bias in this regard but I am highly incentivized to not spend money on things that produce no benefit, and indeed most of the time I return back to lower-priced labels when I experiment with more expensive varieties. I'm by no means an advocate of an organic lifestyle, but for me some organic foods simply do taste better and are therefore worth paying more for.
hey guys. thanks for making this video. it's a question i've asked many a time when standing in the supermarket. but i have another question, could you tell us about the meaning of "free range" and "grass fed"? i'd love to be able to sift through the bunk when it comes to buying food, thanks
I am GRAPE MAN! Not even organic food is created equal. I once sliced into an organic carrot and it squirted juice. Another time I cut into an organic carrot and it was pretty dry. However, I believe organic farming preserves the soil and that's a huge bonus.
I feel there is a bit of misinformation in this video, organic certification does not mean environmentally friendly, a proper living garden will have less run off because it is thriving with microbes, bacteria, fungi, full of glomalin, the soil full web holds the nutrient in the soil hence less run off. A good living soil will far out yield conventional farming. Since chemical fertilizer use a lot of energy to be produced, this energy has to come from somewhere and has to be factored in.
It is, and yet still it is often more economic to employ fertilizers to increase yields. This is why farmers do this in the first place...because it makes economic sense! The end result is often less energy used per hectare because of using these advanced tools. I predict over the coming years their will be a blurring between standard agro and organic as they both have up and downsides the other is starting to recognize. Things like crop rotation, understanding evolutionary pressure of pesticide use, ect... will help both sides develop better practices.
I find organic products generally tend to taste better. Maybe it's having more time to grow and absorb nutrients without being rushed with growth factors or similar.
What scares me about organic food is that I can get some kind of terrible fungi from it, like ergot, with all the consequences. And the name "organic" just sounds deceitful for me, to be honest.
For me, my choice to try and buy organic is a choice to try and vote with my pocket book against Koch Industries and against pollinator killing pesticides. I try to make up for the extra land my eating habits require by not eating animal products, which are very land and crop intensive. Higher yields are useless if we kill of pollinators with the few pesticides we do (over) use. In principle, I don't mind GMO's, but in practice US GMO's are tied up with predetory intellectual rights practices and the intentional killing of pollinators (as are seedless fruits, BTW, guess those 'Halos' aren't so angelic). So, in practice, I avoid all GMO's because companies don't exactly say, 'oh yeah, these GMO's kill bees and these ones allow us to sue farmers who don't buy our seeds but have a field near someone who does', and these ones increase the crops natural resistance to fungus'.
bio solids from sewage waste, how is it made safe for use on farmland? If it is from municipal sewage waste, it could contain, petroleum by products, medications, cleaning compounds like bleach, microbeads, pesticides, etc?
I think you severely underplay the importance of organic meat by focusing almost solely on crops. Hormone and anti biotic treatments on cattle, especially in the US, cause a freaking ton of consequences.
I forget the word for it, but it's got to do with how medical waste circulates through us and the things we do, and eat, into nature. You know, how birth control residue in our urine is changing the genders of fish? Yeah, I wish that was a joke, but it isn't. Wide-spread use of anti-biotics also leads to the risk of anti-biotic resistance. Not to mention how messed up it is that in the US, they pump animals full of these cocktails to make them grow much faster. There are many great reasons for why other nations don't allow it.
All those things get metabolized, so as long as the farmers stop giving them to the animals some weeks before taking the animals to the butcher, none of it will get to you when you eat the meat. Doesn't mean it won't contribute to antibiotic resistance, but that's for a different conversation. The real issue with "regular" foods is regulation. If there's good regulation then all of it is safe to eat, if not we're all in trouble. In an ideal world the public would go out and demand tons of regulation and surprise check-ups
In regards to anti-biotics, residue isn't the problem, it's how widespread use of it is a high risk for developing multi-resistant bacteria. Same as with overuse of anti-biotics when it comes to us humans. When it comes to growth hormones, they're banned within the EU, but they still come up in some tests. There have been cases in Spain, where people actually became SICK as a result of hormones in liver that they ate. It's also deemed inhumane to use them, which I can absolutely agree with. The hormones are either injected or given through the feed the animals recieve and is a sincere health risk to people. Natural hormones your body produces aren't a problem, but synthetic hormones are.
The main roles of plant stems and roots are to transport substances around the plant. They have two types of transport systems - xylem and phloem . Xylem transports water and minerals. Phloem transports sugars and amino acids dissolved in water.
Very informative video you shared. Actually we grow few fruits And vegetables organically for our personal use & for our patients. Few things we buy from genuine localorganic growers .
It seems the answer to global farming being more sustainable, less polluting and waaaay more efficient is to optimize all the parameters, and minimize land usage. That is essentially hydroponics/aeroponics (with genetic modification, of course). With hydro/aeroponics you can build vertical farms and reduce area usage!
Thanks for making this!!!! I think a lot of people have a misunderstanding of "how much healthier" eating organic is or isn't. Keep making your greatness SciShow! :-)
Not nearly as many. Sometimes pests do get into the building but the building itself can be treated against pests instead of the produce. Hydroponically grown foods can be grown with far fewer pesticides.
We have a green house that we grow peppers and tomatoes in. We aren't an organic farm by any means but we try to do our best to use as little pesticides and fungicide as possible. In our high tunnel, basically a small green house, we typically don't spray. However, that doesn't mean it's pest free. We still have issues with things like climbing cut worm and tobacco hornworms on the tomatoes. So in those cases, we can only hand pick the caterpillars off for so long. Once they get out of hand we decide that it would be economicly feasible to spray. And there are "organic" pesticides, just not very effective ones. Organic doesn't mean pesticide free, just limited use.
Yes you do, I do also work in a green house, and yes there are several practices that must be made by the personnel, to avoid introducing insects in to the green houses, but this is a really important thing anyone outside the farming industry must know : NOTHING WORKS FOR SURE AND IN THE SAME WAY ALL THE TIME. We are talking about living beings plants and insects and climate and several humans working with you, everything has a way to go outside of what you plan. Leave the greenhouse door open for 3 minutes, flies are suddenly in, someone was wearing a yellow shirt, suddenly insects, we had a week of raining, the chances of fungi jumps to the roof. See, this is the reason why greenhouse productions and managers must run preventive applications of chemicals, a green house is a closed system with the best conditions for plants to grow, but several other organisms can take advantage of that, which makes things happen quicker. There are benefits with greenhouses but you have to be careful of more things. Also not all crops and all regions and countries are ideal for greenhouse production
Manuel Aguilar Tirado Out of curiosity, are there smokers allowed to work inside of the green house? I've read that TMV can be transmitted by the body and clothing of people who smoke. The virus can even survive the high temperatures of a burning cigarette.
Very good video. From our experience in natural places in the Andes of Colombia, the systems pushes farmers to move into the "productivity" dream or lie. Generally because, at the end of the season, harvest, farmers, don't receive more, even if they have produce more, following what the academics tell them or SELL THEM to do. What the world, the population should move is towards ORGANIC, eating less but with a lot more nutrients, therefore your ENGINE will function better. The ENVIRONMENT will be better off, that way, less cows, more trees, diverse crops all year around, and instead of eating a "tonne of food" you will eat what is really necessary.
I wouldn't care about biosolids being used as fertilizer, outside of my concern that the plethora of medications that we take as a populace. I'd just like to see some data on that.
It's a huge problem for the sewage treatment industry, especially as water becomes more scarce and efforts move toward recycling wastewater. I don't have references off hand but I do recall, like, 2016 a study done in Seattle area because they were finding opioids and other pharmaceuticals in local fish.
It's important to not understate the negative impact of methane releasing manure and how much land it takes up. Treu, H., Nordborg, M., Cederberg, C., Heuer, T., Claupein, E., Hoffmann, H., & Berndes, G. (2017). Carbon footprints and land use of conventional and organic diets in Germany. Journal of Cleaner Production, 161, 127-142.
From the commercial perspective this is right, but for growing some clean veggies in your back yard there are means to avoid using ANY kind of pesticides and even manure.
i have to respectfully disagree at the point you made at 4:50. there is actually a massive overproduction of food in europe and the united states. if you mean it would be quite difficult to mass produce organic meat in the same way i wouldn´t dissagree, but that wouldn´t even be a bad thing. also the pesticides do have a massiv negativ impact on the envirement and are harmful to humans. they pollut the groundwater, the food that you eat and the spaces around the fields.
Not all pesticides are harmful to humans, caffeine is a pesticide, for instance. The difference in humans and most pests, particularly insects endocrine system means some pesticides, particularly artificial ones, are completely non-toxic to humans. This is why many industrial agro people suggest that certain aspects of chemical pest control should be universally adopted because it is less toxic to people.
i get your point. on the other hand many of the used pesticides can be harmful, the ones containing neonicotinoids for example. so you may be right in saying that not all are harmful, but that doesn´t change my point. also where do you find the info about coffein? i´ve never heard that before and can´t find a possible source.
"Caffeine and related methylxanthines: possible naturally occurring pesticides" is the earliest study on this that I know of, but there are probably other pop sci articles that make for better reading with some lite googling :D My only point was that organic pest controls are often less targeted, so often times even more damaging to the broader ecosystem. We just don't talk about it as much because industrial agro practices are the ones that get the most medial attention. There are pros and cons to both, but the problem is we only ever talk about industrial agros downsides and give organic a free ride when they are full of as many trade offs on similar issues.
i guess you are talking about the use of copper. the negative effects of copper compounds used in the organic agriculture are known, but the compounds are just used as a last effort to stop fungi and not on a regular basis. we sure shouldn´t give the organic pest controle a free ride, but the negative effects of the organic methode are minor compared to the industrial ones. and thanks for the suggestion :)
The point was made that manure would not have as much run off, that depends on the method of application. If the manure is injected, I would agree, there is little to no run off. If it is spread over the top (most common around where I live) it could run off just as much if not more than other fertilizer with a good rain.
Could chemical/synthetic fertilizer be injected as well? Or is there something about that type of fertilizer that makes it so you have to put it surface level. Also, didn't know manure could be injected. Thanks for teaching me something today.
@@sarahcb3142 you can actually "inject" other kinds of fertilizer. I believe it's called in furrow, where the fertilizer goes down as the seed is being planted. Typically dry or granular fertilizer. Anhydrous amonia is something farmers inject as a nitrogen source for corn. Or they do a crop rotation of soy beans and corn since the soy beans produce tubers that are very good at fixating nitrogen in the soil. Once the plant dies, the nitrogen is in the soil for the next season when they'd plant corn. They could also rotate with alfalfa hay, but the field would typically be in hay for 3 or more years before they rotate to the next crop. In the produce business, you can fertigate. That is when a liquid fertilizer is hooked up to the irrigation line and the plants get fertilizer and water all in one go. The irrigation that I have seen is normally under a black plastic we call row cover. So in that case the rain would not get the chance to move the fertilizer that much. Glad I was able to help you learn something new today too. :)
@Throngdorr Mighty watch the video. There's not enough difference in nutritional value to justify organic preference over normal foods. And in ways, it's worse for our globe than normal goodies. Eat what's tasty for you, but don't buy into propaganda
@Throngdorr Mighty re-watch the video you goober. Pesticides are in organic foods too, not that the amount on normal food is up to dangerous amounts either. And there are environmental problems associated with organic foods as well.
You do not require either typical manure or polluting fertilizers. We could simply use plant-based fertilizers, like green manure. We would have to start collecting compost from every household, but it's actually incredible that this is still not mandatory.
I understand your point, but I'm fairly certain that sample tests are being done where home compost is being applied, and I'm quite positive that this system could be improved over time and would be more sustainable in the long run.
Make up something called 2nd Gen Organic, or Tier 2 Organic. Same rules as the first one, but it allows some GMOs, the sludge stuff, and irradiation. Sell the hipsters on it because it's a more complicated solution that's technically better (they love that stuff). Make it popular, the rest of world follows suit. Bam! Better long term sustainability for the planet.
Irradiation is also extremely quick and extremely effective too and pretty efficient. It’s really just you pass it under a UV light for a short amount of time that kills the microbes making the food sterile (or as sterile as it can be considering the endospores commonly found with the clostridium bacteria)
Let me save you 10 minutes - It's a term ironically appropriated from chemistry (the study of things people who buy "organic" foods are afraid of) to mean literally nothing more than that inefficient means were used to produce the produce thus making it more expensive, and since more expensive obviously means better..... And no. They actually have a much more negative impact not just on yields but also environmentally as "organic" is not federally mandated to mean that no scrrry chemicals were used on it.
You know what, this is very much a relief for my lifestyle. I don't have the money to buy expensive fruits and vegetables, yet I rarely eat anything else than fruits and vegetables. I think the ideal situation is to buy in farmers' markets when living in a city, and growing your own or buying from nearby farmers when rural.
Organic is unsustainable. If the whole world switched to organic tomorrow, approximately 2 billion people would starve from the deficit in food production.
Whew, I would’ve thought putting radiation on food would not be a good idea. Good thing various governmental agencies say it safe. You can always count on governmental agencies to have your best interest in mind.
Hello science teachers that may be teaching the topic of organic foods and wanted a video to explain it. I remember Hank being my favorite person to teach topics my teachers were too lazy to write out explanations for. Good times.
It would be great if we started doing the sensible thing of combining the positives from both sides. Organic is a noble effort but overshoots its goal of sustainable production and instead becomes part of what I call the "eco church" where doctrine seems more important than reality.
The greater argument against organic foods seems to me to be that we'd need to make a lot more of room for their crops so that they could feed everyone. Genuine question: Isn't the idea that we desperately need to produce a lot of food untrue? Do we not waste a lot of food? And if so, wouldn't introducing organics alongside better solutions to the food waste problem be the best solution?
Yes. The overriding problem with organic agriculture is overall substantially lower yields. Switching to organic would mean 100 million more acres would be ripped from nature to grow the same amount of food. Plus there is not enough manure if all organic was done. The solution is for organic to come into the modern world of safe, low impact synthetic pesticides and modern fertilizers to compliment manure/compost. Heresy I know. Perhaps these links might help clarify. Regards. www.forbes.com/sites/stevensavage/2015/10/09/the-organic-farming-yield-gap/#59d862f75e0e fafdl.org/blog/2018/02/07/there-is-not-enough-manure-sustain-agriculture/ geneticliteracyproject.org/2015/03/16/beyond-the-romance-of-organics-6-ignored-sustainable-farming-practices-that-organic-proponents-should-embrace/ geneticliteracyproject.org/2016/04/05/usda-annual-report-pesticide-residues-food-well-amounts-dangerous-humans/
Grocery stores should really be divided into two sections: "Organic" and "Things I can Afford" 🥕
Begging for money at the end, lol, jeeez the ads are not enough...greedy
@@FreeHempNow you do know that making videos on UA-cam doesn't get u a lot of money right? Unless you get a crap ton of views, its not a lot. Especially because making productions like this take time and research.
Two
google why it is more expensive.. do some research..
large aggro farms and monsanto control most crop seeds, and mass produce for speed and quantity to maximize profits, but research why organic is so expensive, it is because of giant corporations like monsanto in bed with our government monopolizing farming that creates stupid laws for people growing natural foods, they need special tests for "contamentents", because chemicals were not used, lot of seeds have patents and are sold to small family farmsvat increased prices........in the end, if more people bought organic, they would listen to the lost revenue, thats all they care about --- profit - at all costs - the shareholders demand a good monthly check !!!!!!
yea no sir that is not how the food system works
As a mini farmer I use a lot of organic techniques in order to preserve the soil and to try and make the farm more efficient. Like having chickens roam freely to eat the bugs and collecting their poop for my hot compost pile.
What do you do about weeds?
@@DukeGMOLOL Pull them?
The problem is scaling
m
@@DukeGMOLOL flame weeder
As a produce grower for a local farmers market, we don't grow or market organic products. We do our best to use insecticides responsibly and as few times as possible through out the growing season. We would not be able to get a high yeilding crop or a very high quality crop from our gardens. Also, I always like to keep in mind that GMO could be something as simple as cross pollination, it's not always splicing genes. Even in that case it is typically to give a plant resistance to disease or to increase yield. Fancy lables on our food increase the price of things that raised conventionally, would be just as safe.
I'm happy to hear that. I think people think way too black and white, as usual. Organic farmers aren't angels and some people make it seem like anything that's not "organic" is deadly-pesticide-infused garbage that will mutate your children or something.
I think GMO's can be done wrong as well as very right, and I wish the US (and also the EU, on the other extreme) would differentiate and regulate better. I also think governments should subsidize farming practices that make sense. Because they will ultimately pay the price of dead bees, multiresistant bacteria, no longer suitable crops thanks to changing climates.. the list goes on and on.
@@miriam7872 I strongly agree. I think that subsidies would not only help current farms but would also give other people the opportunity to start their own. The way my family thinks about it, we can either pay a little bit extra in taxes and for the subsidies and continue to enjoy the lowest food prices in the world, or pay the farmers the actual worth of their products wether it be produce or agronomic crops because of that was the case, we would be paying a lot more for food products than we do now. That's one reason so many dairy farms are going out of business, people just aren't buying the amount of dairy products they use to and prices of milk are at an all time low. That same principle applies to other agricultural products as well.
> Thomas Becker "GMO could be something as simple as cross pollination"
Wrong. Selective breeding is not GMO. Can you really be that ignorant or are you trying to confuse those who are?
@@johnkesich8696 what does GMO stand for, Genetically Modified Organism. Cross pollination is a slower more natural process to get desirable genes in livestock or crops. The Organism's genetics are then "modified". Sorry this was coming across as ignorant or offensive to you. Not all GMOs are physically taking a gene from one specimen and putting it into another. Hope this was helpful. God bless!
Cross pollination is called hybridizing and is not the definition of a GMO, which is the introduction of dna from another species.
As an agricultural engineer, I really appreciate videos like this. More sustainable agriculture (i.e. producing more food with fewer inputs and less environmental damage) is critical for the health of the human population, but terms like organic and natural often have more marketing behind them than science. Consumers associate organic with all that is good, and marketers take full advantage of that. Even products that are not organic certified take advantage of this association by using terms that sound like they mean the same thing as organic (i.e. natural, pure, etc) or by using specific packaging (green containers, muted colors, pictures of leaves or idyllic farms, etc). If you choose to spend the extra money on organic products, please do yourself a favor and look at the science rather than the marketing campaigns.
Kirsten Paff yes
you nailed it!
I always buy 'chemical free' food.
I survive on dark matter.
Ok chemist
Excellent Video! Excuse me for the intrusion, I would love your opinion. Have you thought about - Parlandealey Impetigo Goodbye Process (Have a quick look on google cant remember the place now)? It is a smashing one off product for learning how to grow your own organic vegetables using hydroponics without the normal expense. Ive heard some decent things about it and my mate got astronomical results with it.
lol
dark matter? plebeian, condensed space time is the only real food
@@TBomb15 20 hours ago?
I wish you had talked about organic vs conventional meat more -- the lack of growth hormones and antibiotics in organic meat seems like it would be an important health benefit. Maybe another video?
Now there's lab grown meat too! Which adds an ethicality layer now - we no longer need to kill animals at all
I think it's important to make it clear that in America the USDA ONLY certifies food. So anything that says it's organic and is not food (beauty products are a good example) is probably lying
Thanks for that. I didn't know!
The USDA certifies animal based foods but it’s the FDA that certifies most vegetables. Just fyi
Truuuue. I saw a sign on a salon for "Organic Relaxers & Brazilian Blowouts." I think I still have a picture of me flipping the place off.
@@murraybritton6729 you're right lol I always confuse those 2 because my dad works for the USDA
Brookshire's grocery chain, until recently, on the aisle directory signs (up above the aisles,) used to proudly proclaim this aisle to have 'organic water'. Not kidding.
I ALWAYS assumed that was water, with the poop not filtered out.
I know this video is 2 years + old but I just saw it, or rather my son saw it and brought it to my attention. First - everything in this video has to do with large farms and does not take into account the very large amount of small farms (3 acres or less). I farm, on a micro farm, 2.66 acres total land area but we run 50 to 80 beds a year. We are not OMRI certified and never will be but we practice organic methods.
The video says that organic farms cannot produce the same amount as conventional farms....on large scales this is true... because of their field model. But we annually out produce larger farms by factors of 10 easily. 2 Reasons for this -
1. We use a 2 wheel walk behind tractor
2. Our field model - 30 inch wide 50 and 100 ft raised beds.
Both of these provide MUCH higher yields per square ft than conventional or large scale organic farming. An example
Conventional farms grow carrots in rows with an avg of 6 rows between their tractor wheels - We get 12 rows per bed
On every crop we grow, we at LEAST double that of a conventional farm on yields and number of plants.
We have a MUCH smaller carbon footprint due to the use of the walk behind two wheel tractor combined with broad forking which further decreases the use of the two wheel tractor.
We use low tunnnels and Catterpillar tunnels to extend our seasons and many farms run year round with this model.
Crop rotation does virtually nothing to assist in pest control. It does help with soil borne disease control.
OMRI certified or legal "organic" certification DOES NOT mean they do not use pesticides.......they use a LOT of them.....Products like Spinosad for broad based insect control. Spinosad is a bacteria that was found at an abandoned rum distillery in Cuba and was found to kill everything...including bees...which it is extremely toxic to. To me, calling this product organic is like going to Chernobyl and digging around and finding some new bacteria and saying "Hey its organic"....no its not ....not even close. And i sure as hell wouldnt eat it. Spinosad is listed as OMRI certified....so is bleach......So are a lot of products which are obviously not organic in any sense. The point - Organic DOES NOT mean pesticide free.
At one time "Organic" was more than just marketing...but no more....its just marketing and a money game. It allows more room for grants and allready bloated federal and state ag departments more funds. Large scale organic operations offer little to no benefit vs conventional farming. To see any real benefit youll have to go to local small and micro farms either through your local farmers market or buy directly from local farms. Question how they grow, do they use pesticides, if so what kinds, do they use Fungicides, if so what kinds. Visit the farm and take a look at their operation.....If you dont see hoop houses or plastic covered tunnels or any size, if you dont see crops covered in finely meshed netting.....be suspicious of what they tell you.
If they say they are not using pesticides or fungicides your looking for tunnels or covering over the crops...if you dont see it ask about how they are managing pests and have them explain thier methods. If it does not include "insect netting" "low tunnels" "caterpillar tunnels" "High tunnels" then just walk away as they are using fungicides and pesticides and lying about it.
If your serious about your food you have to educate yourself...and if you want the full benifit of low carbon footprint, helping your local economy, pesticide free and fungicide free food, your only options at this point in time are your local farmers market and buying directly from small and micro farms in your community. And even then you need to check the farms your dealing with to make sure your getting what you want.
So you spray nothing on your crops? And you hand weed?
Why wouldn't you go ahead and get the USDA Organic certification?
Thank you! More truthful and informative than the actual video!
This is very informative! Thank you SciShow for many arguments pro and contra organic foods - much appreciated to help me understand its usefulness and value (or the opposite).
This is the most even-handed breakdown of one of the most controversial issues in science I could imagine. Thank you so much for it
Organic means expensive.
no not if u buy 365 brand at whole foods they want to make organic less expensive and healthy option
I grow organic medical cannabis and I have it priced at the same as synthetic grown cannabis.
Hannah Consiglio It's still more expensive than non organic products. I have bought 365 products, and when I compared them to Aldi there was no comparison.
@@mitchellmaytorena1137 isn't that illegal? It may not be, but I live in the United States.
I live in the US as well. All of my operations are in complete compliance with the laws set forth by the state of Oregon.
I think that GMO's are like rapidly evolved food. So why does it have a bad reputation?
Because people think any chemicals added by humans will give you cancer or some other disease
@@lucasbeck1391 what chemicals?
@@ethanrey98 Exactly, there isn't any
@@ethanrey98 anything
@@lucasbeck1391 what chemicals specifically?
I refuse to pay for the meaningless, unscientific, and irrational “organic” marketing label. Come up with a meaningful “sustainable” label, or a “locally sourced” standard, I will take a look.
Yes! I try to buy local as much as possible, and not just for food, even locally made clothing.
Yeah you have to read the entire package
The milk of grazing cows does taste better tho
@@Hromovlad1 im lactose intolerant.
@@brianjensen5661 well that sucks
Thanks for all being concise, and having good sources! This clears up a lot of stuff.
Right🌼🌺🌸 it is helpful.
I've grown crops both organically (without pesticides) and conventionally. The amount of yield for the cops were the same. As far as health benefits, not eating a pesticide is a lot healthier, most do not wash off with normal cleaning techniques. Most of the studies that show that "conventional growing", or "conventionally grown" foods are studies which are backed by the pharmaceutical industry, so they deny publishing the true outcomes
You hit the nail on the head! You put it very simply and where anyone can understand the facts of the matter. Some people just don't get it.
It seems to me that because of a mix of what's available and what a supermarket is willing to carry there are certain foods that are more or less consistently better tasting from the organic section as compared to its non-organic counterpart, green onions, tomatoes, garlic, just to name a few. The difference in taste is huge. The quality of tast in cooking is such that I can use a LOT less of the organic garlic than I would use of regular garlic. You're get it garlic that I've been able to find is Floral and Rich slightly sweet and believe it or not you can actually bite into it because it locks the acidity and bitterness of non-organic garlic. And I could go on about other vegetables, but I think a lot of it is just the way the market selects for availability. In the end though I have to challenge your assertion that you shouldn't choose organic for taste because if one is using less material to accomplish the same thing true Organics then one is having less of an impact on the environment.
It bothers me when I see a pack of chicken and the package says “no antibiotics ever” because 1- no meat for human consumption has antibiotics in it, there is a wash out period farmers must follow and 2 it tells me the animals do not get the proper veterinary care while alive.
I don't mind sick animals being treated with antibiotics. But in a lot of countries they are added to feed preventively or even to promote growth. I'm happy people are choosing to market and purchase meat and dairy made with as little antibiotics as possible so we can combat antibiotic resistance.
The big problem with anitbiotics isn't the effect on the meat.. its the effect on the environment, and in particular the antibiotics that don't get absorbed when eaten or otherwise make it out into the wild have been a large part of fueling our current concerns over antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria.
No antibiotics doesn't mean no proper veterinary care. It does, however, mean that they're not pumping antibiotics in their feed and keeping them in unsanitary conditions where disease would spread like wildfire without antibiotics. Because, y'know, they aren't using antibiotics.
Its not about the meat if we keep givig animals antibiotics then bacteria strains will become resistant and screw over humans a good question is how much does your pets need antibiotics not a lot because they get proper rest space and activity so if animals got treated right we would have less antibiotic resistant strains also animals would have a better life
@Dream Delirium they dont get sick?Looks like your logic is poor!Like every living thing they too get sick,especially in the first few days.They get diarhea and die if not treated with antibiotics.Later on they can get pneumonia and die if not treated,list goes on and on!How do I know?I live on the farm,and even tho our chickens are kept free range and spend most of the time on the grass,they still get sick.The world is not a sterile place,not sure if you noticed that yet!
Gobs Of Nutritious Poo would be a good name for a band.
Unfortunately there's no way to know if you're really getting organic food.
Usda label.
there is, it is the worst food you have ever tasted, THAT'S organic!
@@ronaldmcdonald8303 organic good af wym
@@thespiritualenergy9816 ? what does af wym mean? If your having a go at me you should know that I used to go to a special needs college which only served "organic" food. Their food were the WORST food I have EVER had, by a LONG way. Their food were so bad that I once went for 5 days living off only tap water, yet all they could do was brag and boast! They were 100% recognised as an organic institution by the soil association and all that and their food made kept making me ill!
@@ronaldmcdonald8303 it wasnt good then , but in my opinion organic be hitting
Very nice analysis as usual. But three important points left out:
1. antibiotics in farming seem to be playing and important role in generating antibiotic resistance
2. Animal hormones: could they interfere with human neuroimmunoendocrine system?
3. Ethics of animal exploitation. It is now clear animals can suffer, be stressed, etc. These perceptions and feelings are not unique to humans.
When Hank talked about “grape man” I literally paused the video, stopped doing the dishes I was in the middle of, and ran up to my sister to make her watch it so we could laugh about it together. 😂
I good point of the "organics" is the lack of antibiotics because I help to prevent the appearance of antibiotics resistance.
I find some specific food items taste better organic, such as fresh fruits. I always thought it was because gmo foods might be selected to grow bigger or faster, so lose some flavor density, but maybe it's just because the irradiated stuff is slightly older. But if it's not going to be eaten raw, I usually won't buy organic because you're adding spices and breaking down the molecules anyway. Better to try to buy local than organic, I think.
Just a thought, what if there was some sort of organized worm composting, where industrial and home organic wastes are managed in a way that they can be turned into rich soil back again, instead of anaerobically decomposing in a landfill? Would that be enough fertilizer?
I just found out about worm composting and seeing how much plant and animal matter goes to the trash I think the amounts needed to grow crops could be easily met with good waste management.
You are bang on the money. I have several bathtubs full of worms and save about 20kgs a week from landfill by going through grocery shop bins. A bathtub can make 20 liters of organic fertiliser a day. The guys ignorant. i'd also day say he knows nothing about soil biology and what conventional farming is doing to it. I'm trying to educate people on how to set up worm farms. Wish i had the following this guy has. 6 million people composting would save a lot of landfill and emission.
There is one thing in the batch you forgot to mention though.
Even if organic produces a bit less, compared to the amount of food that is gone to waste, we could still feed everyone with organic with a bit more of food management.
That's a fair point. We could also focus on more actual food production vs other applications such as corn ethanol, soy diesel and the like.
That said I'm unsure if there'd be much wiggle room.
The thornier question for me is that of what i perceive to be a strong overlap in organic consumers and those that are vegetarian. If you're going to need more manure, but want to cut down on livestock production, how's that gonna work?
DTcorn77 Vegetarians aren’t the problem, vegans are.
Dear Gentlemen,
It turns out, one does not even need that much manure in fact.
With a proper crop rotation between crops with different needs and benefits one can have similar outputs as conventional farms without much inputs.
Likewise, the 25% drops is in fact in the first 2-4 years because of the practice changes, but after some more years and habits, the output goes back to the level of a conventional farm.
This being said, I agree it's easier to do for vegetables than say for big wheat fields...
@@mathieudehouck9657 that's a negative. You cannot remove nutrients without replacing them. And while there are nitrogen fixing plants for example, that nitrogen is primarily used to produce said crop. There's not enough left over for the next year's non - fixing crop to be successful. And that doesn't adress the other nutrients at all
Sure, I didn't mean "we would never ever need nutrients".
My point was more, organic often comes with more diversity and more diversity also grants you with using less inputs because you don't "wash" the ground every year the same way.
But surely enough, we need to bring back part of what we eat.
It will be nice to have a bit deeper dive on organic meat and diary.
Yes, what they sell in most of the groceries as "organic foods" are just marketing techniques. Real organic food is what you grow in your garden. It takes more time, more resources and you need to do it carefully. But it is like a heaven. The smell and the taste of tomatoes and peppers in my grandmother's garden is worth more than every other food produced by companies.
I guess it is the requirements of the ever evolving world but it makes me sad the we are forgetting about the beauties and the joys world offer us. Everthing now is mass produced without much care and we are becoming robots of the future. Mass produced clothes of modern popular culture, mass produced foods of rich companies, long work hours. I feel like we became a part in a capitalist system. Like another brick in the wall. I think the only thing that will chance this system is going to be the next world war. So sad.
If you ask me it's better than working 16 hours a day so I can survive in the woods. That being said the easiest way to live is to buy into the system just enough to get out of it what you need and contribute to it what you can. Don't try and keep up with the Joneses, don't shop on Amazon. Avoid debt
@@treaf7453 they are a monopoly, bad for the environment, treat workers poorly, target and kill small businesses, destroy millions of extra products weekly instead of donating them to charity & are all around a horribly toxic company. Research them if you want to learn more
You need so many acres around you that are spray free to claim that your produce is organic. Sprays and seeds drift.
I think it should be noted by Sci-Show that we face a problem with topsoil erosion and techniques we use exacerbate the problem.
So, once organic food allows the use of GMO's, sewage and ionizing radiation, it will become truly ecofriendly and healthy. Why not make a new standard called like "BOB" (Best of Both worlds) or something?
Sadly, many people just don't grow anything in their own yard/porch/balcony. We can all grow lots of things in our yards. And for those of you who live in an area where you want to garden in your front yard? If your City has an issue, you & your neighbors should get together to change the situation so you can have gardens in your front yard! It looks lovely. 🌾🌿🌱🌻🐞🐝
I really like the your contribution according to this topic! :) But something which is missing here is if it has a big effect on animal farming. Could you do a separate video about organic and animal farming according to beef, chicken, pork production? :)
Would really like to see this.
this is also the main reason I eat organic meat. Makes me feel less bad knowing the animal had a pretty decent life
I buy exclusively organic milk because the cows have better lives.
You may find this website useful-
www.cornucopia.org
It has a scoreboard for different brands of eggs, milk, and yoghurt treat the animals.
The money you just saved me at the grocery store is going to patreon
Yea I hate the organic fad. I live around a bunch of farm land and our farms always rotate their crops to normalize nitrogen. The biggest issue with GMO is allergies. I am not allergic to strawberries, but I have an allergic reaction to GMO strawberries because they include a soy protein that acts as a pesticide. Back when I was a kid they used to give us “Lab #” that would be on the fruit that included something I was allergic too.
What kind of GMO strawberries have soy proteins? I can't find any information about them.
the real issue.
Unfortunately they don’t publicize that info anymore and I can’t even get it from my allergy doc. But basically just strawberries. There isn’t really a “type”. You can look up “GMO insect resistant crops” it’s all pretty cool.
Theyre looking into GMOs that reduce allergens in produce as well so maybe in the future soy will be ok for you to eat
People:ALL PRODUCE IS ORGANIC!!! You’re paying for a WORD, not a FACT !!
It’s nothing at all different from the catch phrases of the 80s and 90’s of “fat free” and (supposedly) “lite/light”... 🤷🏼♂️
What powers do you think Grape Man would have?
The power to welch people out of a good deal at the groceries.
He would have a lot of apeal
Turn water into wine
Whining
He's just Muscle Hank but purple.
I guess some people may never know since they don’t want to invest the time or money to understand what feels good in there body except the time it took to watch this video...trust your moral compass and have faith...godspeed!!! ❤️🧘♂️
As a food scientist, thank you for this thorough and easy-to-understand video! Everyone at scishow did a fantastic job as usual. Thank you for supporting the science of food!
JP Sears says eating organic makes you better than other people so that's why I do it. It keeps my status of being better than everyone else super high.
Love it, no bias. No bloated 2 hour run times. Just the information currently available with a logical, non-political analysis.
Simply due to my grocery store only having organic bananas and onions left when I got there, I totally have found that both of them have a much greater shelf life after I get them home
I live in the Monterey County, California, which is largely considered the salad bowl of the world. That said, I have worked for many different companies that produce all types of fruits and vegetables. I remember the organic ones specifically, our foreman would bring out a stack of boxes labeled “organic” in between our packaging and say: “It’s time to charge the idiots their up charge.”
So, basically you're saying everyone who buys organics are idiots?
:(
I dunno, my family gets organic foods all he time, because for some reason where I get it they taste better and seem fresher.
Placbo
"Diarrhea in Space" should be a horror movie.
This was a really great episode. Thank you PATREONS for asking these really great questions. As a student Registered Nurse, this really helps me help other people.
9:20 That's a MRE cheese packet. MREs are among the most healthy foods you can get your hands on, because they're packed with over 3000 kcal per meal, yet have the nutrient balance of an ornate salad. You can literally live off one a day if you're a civilian. It's also something to note that they're the opposite of organic.
Oooh. I totally wanna try an MRE now. For science.
Wouldn't say they are the most healthy things. They work for soldiers or highly active people, but chances are the average person couldn't fully utilize an MRE properly and it would for sure be an excess of calories. Not to mention sodium designed to replace lost sodium from sweating, etc.
@@DoYaLoveMeh89 you have a point there. I was just under the assumption that people would follow the advice of one a day for civilians, because a single one has all the nutrition you need in a day.
Even if you had ramen to replace other meals, it would still be cheaper per day than McDonalds for a decent meal in my area (surplus stores sell at $60 for 12 MREs).
If you only eat mre's please make sure you're taking a laxative. They'll constipate you.
As much as I love the Bros. Green, the SciShow dismissal of GMO and eco-conscious food practices always makes me grit my teeth. Don't get me wrong- I'm well aware that there's nothing inherently wrong with the splicing of genes, and most reasonable people _wash_ their produce before they eat it. A much bigger reason for the concern with GMOs and with the pesticides and fertilizers widely in use is concern for the ethics and practices of the companies using them. A concern for the environment. A concern for indigenous species. A concern for farmers' rights to their own crops and seeds. No, that fertilizer might not make my tomatoes any worse for _me_ , but what is it doing to the fish? The birds? The native plants? That corn might not be poisoning us, (it's not,) but is it destroying a farmer's ability to maintain his crop season to season? Is the company he is fairly obligated to buy his products from extorting him, by engineering plants that will not produce viable seed for the next season's crops? And if he chooses to buy from some other company, are they going to sue him within an inch of his livelihood because the neighboring farm's pollen was carried into his field by the wind, bees, and wildlife? And if his crop is accidentally cross-pollinated with a terminator crop, will he be damned to lose next year's crop despite his efforts to the contrary? These concerns are not trivial, and they do not deserve to be dismissed as "hippy nonsense" given the current decline of the world's ecosystems.
All that, and the corn might be poisoning us (even if by tiny amounts). After all, most of the GMOs we're consuming are of the Roundup-Ready variety, and the glyphosate sprayed on the plants is a carcinogen.
Yep. This video was super superficial
This should be the top comment.
The thing is that if you buy organic coming from small farmers it usually means better taste. Often when I buy food in a supermarket, whether it is organic or not, it tastes nothing like actual veggie or fruit is supposed to taste like.
But buying from a farmer I know makes a huge difference! I support him in his efforts, have less or no pesticides and eat food that actually tastes like food.
A lot of times they just buy it from the store and resell it. It could be placebo. Do a blind taste test to make sure.
I totally agree, not all of them are doing it properly, but since I know these people and since I grew up eating a lot of fruits straight from the tree, I know how a plum for example should taste like (and the supermarket, even the organic one, tastes like nothing at all). Don't need a blind taste to notice because the difference is huge :) Like eating a tire vs eating something juicy and sweet :D
My stepmom grows food in her own garden now and the difference in taste is extremely noticable, much richer
If organic food doesn't taste better than regular food, why is this Aldi organic salsa so tasty?
Yes it does you can taste it
I like to buy organic bananas not for any health benefits for me but for the benefit of the farmers who are physically harmed by all the pesticides.
Pesticides that are uses in organic farming are often more harmful to the users of them because they are less targeted than chemical ones.
This comment confuses me. Why bananas specifically?
Jasper Stuart cos nom nom
Guess what? That still happens at a different place and you have done nothing to prevent it.
@@jasper3706 the effects have been more apparent, harsh, and widespread in banana crops than in other crops. Not saying that it doesn't happen with other things... it certainly does.
When rotating crops there’s a period of time when the land is left to nature and it grows weedy. The weeds can be harvested & used to make a nutritious plant pulp tea to fertilize crops without manure. The plant pulp can then be added to a compost heap to make vermicompost. There are many options for fertilizing crops that don’t require chemical fertilizers. Rain water for instance can help naturally adjust the ph in soil for crops that grow best in low ph soil, as rain water tends to be acidic (even down to 4.5 ph). It also contains a lot of small particulates that can enrich the soil. Run off from crops nourished with manure can be collected & reused as a liquid fertilizer to keep the nutrients in the soil. A natural pond also contains a lot of plant & animal waste that can be collected to fertilize crops or crops can be grown in floating rafts on top of the pond for greater ease of use. In certain places they irrigate rice fields by diverting water from natural sources & then raise fish for food/sales in with the rice. Harvesting/growing native plants for food is another way we can use the natural conditions they thrive in to reduce our need for intervention when farming food crops. There’s modern organic farming & then there’s a very different kind of farming which has been done for generations by family owned farms & farmers.
I prefer inorganic food myself, but I have never been able to find any. :-)
Ever hear of McDonald’s?
For those who're concerned and want to know - it might not be the most palatable opinion here (har har) but...do some research for your own area. Is there are farm just outside your city - that you might visit, perhaps? Getting your physical eyeballs on the place where the food is coming from can be a great way to determine for yourself whether that is produce you'd prefer to have. "Locally sourced" can mean a heck of a lot more to eco-friendliness than "organic," and it's very much a possibility that there's some small farm near you making, oh say, tomatoes - available at a reasonable price, with OR without the fancy label.
I've never really seen much difference between the various produce, organic vs not, in my own area. I *do* very much see a difference between the produce that had to be shipped from Guatemala (or even just from a couple of states over) and the things grown in my area, within an hour of the store. A lot of the local things *do* taste better because they are fresher! Age has far more to do with flavor, in this case, than how it was grown.
There's also kind of a third choice - hydroponically grown crops - these are harder to pin down in some ways, but can be very affordable, and are fairly eco-friendly in the sense that hydroponic techniques can be carried out in buildings, on rooftops, underground, pretty much ANYWHERE, with zero soil and more or less zero runoff, at least with closed-system methods. But it's not often that you see those labels (at least, not yet, not in my own state). That said - yet another part of this third option is: grow it yourselves.
You can use any number of methods to grow a few plants, and with modern cultivars being what they are, a single tomato plant will produce masses of produce, plenty for one family for the growing season; the same goes for most stuff. Green beans will go crazy given half a chance and you can get a decent privacy screen along with your fresh veggies that way. Grow squash or cucumbers and you just might be forced to preserve the excess, because there WILL be excess! And some things, like collard greens, will grow all year long even if they're just in a pot on the patio. Same goes for virtually every herb I know.
For small amounts of food you can manage at least to grow your own salad even if all you have is a tiny balcony or a couple of windowsills. Will it solve world hunger? Oh hell no. But it *will* be produce you know exactly what was done to it, and it'll be the absolute freshest item possible. The risk of pests or spoilage is, well, your problem! :D
I worked for a horticulture lab...…. and hate to burst your bubble, but "organic" farmers use all kinds of weird stuff for fertilizer including Bat guano, worm casings, and other non traditional soil amendments. If you look at a lot of the recent e-coli breakouts or salmonella, from lettuce or other produce, many are from organic grown produce or hydroponically grown. The real danger is that washing it doesn't help because the roots actually draw the bacteria up and into the fibers of the plant itself. So I decided long ago that I won't by organic due to inexperienced small farmers or producers either not practicing growing methods correctly or down right "saying" its organic, when actually they just want to jack up prices. Just my personal opinion.
Oh, you're such a good troll.
ua-cam.com/video/dK__WF96F8I/v-deo.html
I truly stopped caring about the "organic" label once I saw "organic" salt.
Vile Mike 💀
Organic salt?
In Denmark organic does mean more biodiversity, simply because you can't get the state regulated organic symbol without fulfilling a row of different requirements for ensuring biodiversity
You are dealing with an evolving and complex subject. It is natural that you fail bad about it. First, modern organic complex and agroforest systems are shown to be much more productive and climate resilient than conventional agriculture. Second, they do not depend on manure and any kind of fertilizers, so they are cheaper to be maintained. Third, they not only avoid petroil chemicals (fertilizers, pesticides, roundups) , but sequester more carbon from the air, fighting climate change. Fourth, as you said, they keep our rivers clean. Fifth, less pesticides in your food. Sixth more antioxidants. Seventh, workers are better paid and safe from chemicals. Eighth, bees are not killed and the system is more biodiverse and more productive (again) because there are bees to polinate it.More productive, less chemicals and climate resilient, means that it doesn't have to be more expensive, when compared with conventional crops WITHOUT government subsidies. Nineth, you made poor research on the subject. Tenth, you are certainly biased, being from chemistry background, looking thing in boxes instead of seeing the whole system.
Concerning the line "you shouldn't buy it because it's healthier or tastier", I get that organic foods may not be healthier but I've certainly noticed that many foods labeled organic taste better, which seems a perfectly good reason to pay a bit more.
maybe it just your expectation
I assume you mean it's a placebo effect? Taste is a pretty subjective thing in the first place, so perceiving a difference in taste is about the same as an actual difference. For me, some organic products have a clear improvement in taste from their non-organic counterparts that I am willing to pay a little extra for.
Right, I just suddenly forget that word
I think it's the fact that you paid more and your mind is tricking you into believing it tastes better (placebo effect).
Taking a blind test would really clear things up.
It's also important to note where something was grown. Some regions are better at growing certain foods than others. There are many factors that go into play, aside from an organic label that makes produce taste better (or worse).
Even growing methods make a huge difference. Just look at France and how they grow their wine grapes.
It would be interesting to see a study on this with a large sample size. I'm genuinely curious to see if it's indeed organic food that tastes better (although I have my doubts), or if it's just a placebo effect, or even, perhaps it's just a growing technique/regional thing (testing organic produce from multiple organic farms with non-organic ones.)
You seem to assume I haven't tested my opinion, but in fact it comes from a number of instances of accidentally blind tests. For example I buy a brand of macaroni and cheese that has one specific variety with both an organic and non-organic label. I used to buy only the organic version but then switched to non-organic to save money. I forgot about the switch until days later when I prepared a bowl and found it to be noticeably inferior; in that situation the taste came before the thought of the organic label or the money spent on it.
I'm not in a position where I can thoughtlessly throw money at food; I start from low-priced food and then try different higher-priced varieties to see if they're worth investing in. I realize I'm not completely free of bias in this regard but I am highly incentivized to not spend money on things that produce no benefit, and indeed most of the time I return back to lower-priced labels when I experiment with more expensive varieties. I'm by no means an advocate of an organic lifestyle, but for me some organic foods simply do taste better and are therefore worth paying more for.
hey guys. thanks for making this video. it's a question i've asked many a time when standing in the supermarket. but i have another question, could you tell us about the meaning of "free range" and "grass fed"? i'd love to be able to sift through the bunk when it comes to buying food, thanks
I really loved this episode! So helpful in helping me to make more informed decisions about the foods I eat. :) Thank you so much!
I agree😍👍💚🧡
I am GRAPE MAN! Not even organic food is created equal. I once sliced into an organic carrot and it squirted juice. Another time I cut into an organic carrot and it was pretty dry. However, I believe organic farming preserves the soil and that's a huge bonus.
I feel there is a bit of misinformation in this video, organic certification does not mean environmentally friendly, a proper living garden will have less run off because it is thriving with microbes, bacteria, fungi, full of glomalin, the soil full web holds the nutrient in the soil hence less run off. A good living soil will far out yield conventional farming. Since chemical fertilizer use a lot of energy to be produced, this energy has to come from somewhere and has to be factored in.
It is, and yet still it is often more economic to employ fertilizers to increase yields. This is why farmers do this in the first place...because it makes economic sense! The end result is often less energy used per hectare because of using these advanced tools. I predict over the coming years their will be a blurring between standard agro and organic as they both have up and downsides the other is starting to recognize. Things like crop rotation, understanding evolutionary pressure of pesticide use, ect... will help both sides develop better practices.
Thank you so much SciShow for providing such a great video to link to when someone brings up organic food.
I find organic products generally tend to taste better. Maybe it's having more time to grow and absorb nutrients without being rushed with growth factors or similar.
yes I agree
What scares me about organic food is that I can get some kind of terrible fungi from it, like ergot, with all the consequences. And the name "organic" just sounds deceitful for me, to be honest.
For me, my choice to try and buy organic is a choice to try and vote with my pocket book against Koch Industries and against pollinator killing pesticides. I try to make up for the extra land my eating habits require by not eating animal products, which are very land and crop intensive. Higher yields are useless if we kill of pollinators with the few pesticides we do (over) use.
In principle, I don't mind GMO's, but in practice US GMO's are tied up with predetory intellectual rights practices and the intentional killing of pollinators (as are seedless fruits, BTW, guess those 'Halos' aren't so angelic). So, in practice, I avoid all GMO's because companies don't exactly say, 'oh yeah, these GMO's kill bees and these ones allow us to sue farmers who don't buy our seeds but have a field near someone who does', and these ones increase the crops natural resistance to fungus'.
Charles Bosse Amen!
bio solids from sewage waste, how is it made safe for use on farmland? If it is from municipal sewage waste, it could contain, petroleum by products, medications, cleaning compounds like bleach, microbeads, pesticides, etc?
Finally someone who thinks instead of mindlessly applauding videos labeled "science".
I think you severely underplay the importance of organic meat by focusing almost solely on crops. Hormone and anti biotic treatments on cattle, especially in the US, cause a freaking ton of consequences.
Like?
I forget the word for it, but it's got to do with how medical waste circulates through us and the things we do, and eat, into nature. You know, how birth control residue in our urine is changing the genders of fish? Yeah, I wish that was a joke, but it isn't. Wide-spread use of anti-biotics also leads to the risk of anti-biotic resistance. Not to mention how messed up it is that in the US, they pump animals full of these cocktails to make them grow much faster. There are many great reasons for why other nations don't allow it.
Yeah, this can also shorten the lifespan of the antibiotic used, quickening the evolution of resistant strains (of bacteria, fungus, etc.).
All those things get metabolized, so as long as the farmers stop giving them to the animals some weeks before taking the animals to the butcher, none of it will get to you when you eat the meat. Doesn't mean it won't contribute to antibiotic resistance, but that's for a different conversation. The real issue with "regular" foods is regulation. If there's good regulation then all of it is safe to eat, if not we're all in trouble. In an ideal world the public would go out and demand tons of regulation and surprise check-ups
In regards to anti-biotics, residue isn't the problem, it's how widespread use of it is a high risk for developing multi-resistant bacteria. Same as with overuse of anti-biotics when it comes to us humans. When it comes to growth hormones, they're banned within the EU, but they still come up in some tests. There have been cases in Spain, where people actually became SICK as a result of hormones in liver that they ate. It's also deemed inhumane to use them, which I can absolutely agree with. The hormones are either injected or given through the feed the animals recieve and is a sincere health risk to people. Natural hormones your body produces aren't a problem, but synthetic hormones are.
The main roles of plant stems and roots are to transport substances around the plant. They have two types of transport systems - xylem and phloem . Xylem transports water and minerals. Phloem transports sugars and amino acids dissolved in water.
Could you make a video about permaculture. I've heard it's very effective and good for the soil. I'd love to know more.
Very informative video you shared. Actually we grow few fruits And vegetables organically for our personal use & for our patients. Few things we buy from genuine localorganic growers .
Thank you SciShow! I continue to appreciate your thoughtfully written content! ^_^
It seems the answer to global farming being more sustainable, less polluting and waaaay more efficient is to optimize all the parameters, and minimize land usage. That is essentially hydroponics/aeroponics (with genetic modification, of course). With hydro/aeroponics you can build vertical farms and reduce area usage!
Thanks for making this!!!! I think a lot of people have a misunderstanding of "how much healthier" eating organic is or isn't. Keep making your greatness SciShow! :-)
Yes this video is good👍😍💚🧡💛🌼🌺🌸
In Britain organic fruit and veg tastes significantly better compared to unorganic. Not so for dairy though,not much difference.
Unorganic is not a word. Genius.
@@brianjensen5661 Actually I just checked. Unorganic is officially a word in Britain,dating back as far as 1779!
Last time I bought organic it was because I couldn't find the normal version.
In a closed greenhouse do you still need pesticides?
I mean, are there still bugs in those futuristic enclosed vertical farms that use hidroponics?
Not nearly as many. Sometimes pests do get into the building but the building itself can be treated against pests instead of the produce. Hydroponically grown foods can be grown with far fewer pesticides.
We have a green house that we grow peppers and tomatoes in. We aren't an organic farm by any means but we try to do our best to use as little pesticides and fungicide as possible. In our high tunnel, basically a small green house, we typically don't spray. However, that doesn't mean it's pest free. We still have issues with things like climbing cut worm and tobacco hornworms on the tomatoes. So in those cases, we can only hand pick the caterpillars off for so long. Once they get out of hand we decide that it would be economicly feasible to spray. And there are "organic" pesticides, just not very effective ones. Organic doesn't mean pesticide free, just limited use.
Yes. Just try and keep the aphids out! god dam aphids!
Yes you do, I do also work in a green house, and yes there are several practices that must be made by the personnel, to avoid introducing insects in to the green houses, but this is a really important thing anyone outside the farming industry must know : NOTHING WORKS FOR SURE AND IN THE SAME WAY ALL THE TIME. We are talking about living beings plants and insects and climate and several humans working with you, everything has a way to go outside of what you plan. Leave the greenhouse door open for 3 minutes, flies are suddenly in, someone was wearing a yellow shirt, suddenly insects, we had a week of raining, the chances of fungi jumps to the roof. See, this is the reason why greenhouse productions and managers must run preventive applications of chemicals, a green house is a closed system with the best conditions for plants to grow, but several other organisms can take advantage of that, which makes things happen quicker. There are benefits with greenhouses but you have to be careful of more things. Also not all crops and all regions and countries are ideal for greenhouse production
Manuel Aguilar Tirado
Out of curiosity, are there smokers allowed to work inside of the green house? I've read that TMV can be transmitted by the body and clothing of people who smoke. The virus can even survive the high temperatures of a burning cigarette.
Very good video. From our experience in natural places in the Andes of Colombia, the systems pushes farmers to move into the "productivity" dream or lie. Generally because, at the end of the season, harvest, farmers, don't receive more, even if they have produce more, following what the academics tell them or SELL THEM to do.
What the world, the population should move is towards ORGANIC, eating less but with a lot more nutrients, therefore your ENGINE will function better.
The ENVIRONMENT will be better off, that way, less cows, more trees, diverse crops all year around, and instead of eating a "tonne of food" you will eat what is really necessary.
Where is Muscle Hank?? Is he not here yet? Should we be worried??
The gym. No. And no.
Grape Man got him! *dramatic music*
I wouldn't care about biosolids being used as fertilizer, outside of my concern that the plethora of medications that we take as a populace. I'd just like to see some data on that.
It's a huge problem for the sewage treatment industry, especially as water becomes more scarce and efforts move toward recycling wastewater. I don't have references off hand but I do recall, like, 2016 a study done in Seattle area because they were finding opioids and other pharmaceuticals in local fish.
*Grabs popcorn and waits for the raw food fundies to sniff this video out.*
lol. I'm waiting for someone to yell Shill. Not sure he'd be who he'd be shilling for, but someone's gonna say it.
Isn't raw food the most organic you can get?
It's important to not understate the negative impact of methane releasing manure and how much land it takes up. Treu, H., Nordborg, M., Cederberg, C., Heuer, T., Claupein, E., Hoffmann, H., & Berndes, G. (2017). Carbon footprints and land use of conventional and organic diets in Germany. Journal of Cleaner Production, 161, 127-142.
No mention of the bees? :-( I buy organic food for the bees
From the commercial perspective this is right, but for growing some clean veggies in your back yard there are means to avoid using ANY kind of pesticides and even manure.
i have to respectfully disagree at the point you made at 4:50. there is actually a massive overproduction of food in europe and the united states. if you mean it would be quite difficult to mass produce organic meat in the same way i wouldn´t dissagree, but that wouldn´t even be a bad thing.
also the pesticides do have a massiv negativ impact on the envirement and are harmful to humans. they pollut the groundwater, the food that you eat and the spaces around the fields.
Not all pesticides are harmful to humans, caffeine is a pesticide, for instance. The difference in humans and most pests, particularly insects endocrine system means some pesticides, particularly artificial ones, are completely non-toxic to humans. This is why many industrial agro people suggest that certain aspects of chemical pest control should be universally adopted because it is less toxic to people.
i get your point. on the other hand many of the used pesticides can be harmful, the ones containing neonicotinoids for example. so you may be right in saying that not all are harmful, but that doesn´t change my point.
also where do you find the info about coffein? i´ve never heard that before and can´t find a possible source.
"Caffeine and related methylxanthines: possible naturally occurring pesticides" is the earliest study on this that I know of, but there are probably other pop sci articles that make for better reading with some lite googling :D
My only point was that organic pest controls are often less targeted, so often times even more damaging to the broader ecosystem. We just don't talk about it as much because industrial agro practices are the ones that get the most medial attention. There are pros and cons to both, but the problem is we only ever talk about industrial agros downsides and give organic a free ride when they are full of as many trade offs on similar issues.
i guess you are talking about the use of copper. the negative effects of copper compounds used in the organic agriculture are known, but the compounds are just used as a last effort to stop fungi and not on a regular basis. we sure shouldn´t give the organic pest controle a free ride, but the negative effects of the organic methode are minor compared to the industrial ones.
and thanks for the suggestion :)
Have you drank a gallon of organic pesticide? Is this what pretending to make a real argument looks like?
The point was made that manure would not have as much run off, that depends on the method of application. If the manure is injected, I would agree, there is little to no run off. If it is spread over the top (most common around where I live) it could run off just as much if not more than other fertilizer with a good rain.
Could chemical/synthetic fertilizer be injected as well? Or is there something about that type of fertilizer that makes it so you have to put it surface level. Also, didn't know manure could be injected. Thanks for teaching me something today.
@@sarahcb3142 you can actually "inject" other kinds of fertilizer. I believe it's called in furrow, where the fertilizer goes down as the seed is being planted. Typically dry or granular fertilizer. Anhydrous amonia is something farmers inject as a nitrogen source for corn. Or they do a crop rotation of soy beans and corn since the soy beans produce tubers that are very good at fixating nitrogen in the soil. Once the plant dies, the nitrogen is in the soil for the next season when they'd plant corn. They could also rotate with alfalfa hay, but the field would typically be in hay for 3 or more years before they rotate to the next crop. In the produce business, you can fertigate. That is when a liquid fertilizer is hooked up to the irrigation line and the plants get fertilizer and water all in one go. The irrigation that I have seen is normally under a black plastic we call row cover. So in that case the rain would not get the chance to move the fertilizer that much. Glad I was able to help you learn something new today too. :)
Just a fancy word for overpriced, right?
yes
@Throngdorr Mighty Except they do use pesticides. Just not synthetic ones.
@Throngdorr Mighty watch the video. There's not enough difference in nutritional value to justify organic preference over normal foods. And in ways, it's worse for our globe than normal goodies. Eat what's tasty for you, but don't buy into propaganda
@Throngdorr Mighty heavy metals are not allowed in food, you biased person.
@Throngdorr Mighty re-watch the video you goober. Pesticides are in organic foods too, not that the amount on normal food is up to dangerous amounts either. And there are environmental problems associated with organic foods as well.
You do not require either typical manure or polluting fertilizers. We could simply use plant-based fertilizers, like green manure. We would have to start collecting compost from every household, but it's actually incredible that this is still not mandatory.
The problem with this is that all this does is concentrate toxic chemicals by recycling them through the food chain.
I understand your point, but I'm fairly certain that sample tests are being done where home compost is being applied, and I'm quite positive that this system could be improved over time and would be more sustainable in the long run.
Make up something called 2nd Gen Organic, or Tier 2 Organic. Same rules as the first one, but it allows some GMOs, the sludge stuff, and irradiation. Sell the hipsters on it because it's a more complicated solution that's technically better (they love that stuff). Make it popular, the rest of world follows suit.
Bam! Better long term sustainability for the planet.
"I'm sorry, do you have x-ray mutant sludge steaks? I've heard this 'organic' stuff has animal manure in it, and that's, like, barbaric."
Tricking hipsters? What a wild and new marketing idea!
"Come on man! No one's doing it yet!"
Irradiation is also extremely quick and extremely effective too and pretty efficient. It’s really just you pass it under a UV light for a short amount of time that kills the microbes making the food sterile (or as sterile as it can be considering the endospores commonly found with the clostridium bacteria)
Let me save you 10 minutes - It's a term ironically appropriated from chemistry (the study of things people who buy "organic" foods are afraid of) to mean literally nothing more than that inefficient means were used to produce the produce thus making it more expensive, and since more expensive obviously means better..... And no. They actually have a much more negative impact not just on yields but also environmentally as "organic" is not federally mandated to mean that no scrrry chemicals were used on it.
You know what, this is very much a relief for my lifestyle. I don't have the money to buy expensive fruits and vegetables, yet I rarely eat anything else than fruits and vegetables.
I think the ideal situation is to buy in farmers' markets when living in a city, and growing your own or buying from nearby farmers when rural.
Organic is unsustainable. If the whole world switched to organic tomorrow, approximately 2 billion people would starve from the deficit in food production.
Whew, I would’ve thought putting radiation on food would not be a good idea. Good thing various governmental agencies say it safe. You can always count on governmental agencies to have your best interest in mind.
Exactly
Hello science teachers that may be teaching the topic of organic foods and wanted a video to explain it. I remember Hank being my favorite person to teach topics my teachers were too lazy to write out explanations for. Good times.
It would be great if we started doing the sensible thing of combining the positives from both sides.
Organic is a noble effort but overshoots its goal of sustainable production and instead becomes part of what I call the "eco church" where doctrine seems more important than reality.
Hank, you're amazing. The whole SciShow team is amazing. Please never stop what you're doing!!
I was in Jakarta. A beauty store said they only sold 'vegetarian make up' I laughed so hard. Who is going to eat make up . Lol.
It means those make up won't eating your face
It translates to no animal cruelty
I think the translator was going for vegan, tho cruelty-free seems to be the standard term in the US at least.
The greater argument against organic foods seems to me to be that we'd need to make a lot more of room for their crops so that they could feed everyone. Genuine question: Isn't the idea that we desperately need to produce a lot of food untrue? Do we not waste a lot of food? And if so, wouldn't introducing organics alongside better solutions to the food waste problem be the best solution?
Yes. The overriding problem with organic agriculture is overall substantially lower yields. Switching to organic would mean 100 million more acres would be ripped from nature to grow the same amount of food. Plus there is not enough manure if all organic was done. The solution is for organic to come into the modern world of safe, low impact synthetic pesticides and modern fertilizers to compliment manure/compost. Heresy I know. Perhaps these links might help clarify. Regards.
www.forbes.com/sites/stevensavage/2015/10/09/the-organic-farming-yield-gap/#59d862f75e0e
fafdl.org/blog/2018/02/07/there-is-not-enough-manure-sustain-agriculture/
geneticliteracyproject.org/2015/03/16/beyond-the-romance-of-organics-6-ignored-sustainable-farming-practices-that-organic-proponents-should-embrace/
geneticliteracyproject.org/2016/04/05/usda-annual-report-pesticide-residues-food-well-amounts-dangerous-humans/
I love your thinking here. Great question.
I wish there were "organic" food with the GMO/other things that are genuinely helpful :P
Organic is totally the way to go. Grow my own as much as I can
I could take apart some of the things said on organics producing lower levels of greenhouse gases, but I really really can't be bothered