No Longer the Domain of the Earthy Crunchy
If you examine the eating preferences of Americans twenty or thirty years ago, it would be rare to hear the term "Organic" as a part of the conversation. Describing a food preference for organic those many years ago was mostly limited to the earthy crunchy crowd.
I must confess that little more than 20 years ago, the idea of eating organic was not on my radar, because I truly didn't know what the term meant. I just ate "food".
But in the interim we have had many changes in the way agriculture is practiced in the US. Today it is commonly called agri-business, not agriculture, because farms are the size of towns and are managed with equipment more than by people, The pest control and soil management on non-organic farms is executed through the use of chemical pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Often, genetically modified seeds are used to increase crop yield.
Organic Sales Increase Yearly
Around the turn of the century, sale of organic food was growing at a rate of 6% annually, Today the number is 11%. This suggests that more people are becoming concerned about what they are putting into their bodies. As I've said, if you want to have a healthy body, Food Becomes You and what you put in your body matters. It is showing in the buying choices or more and more consumers.
If you are interested in data about organic eating trends, you will find this link gives a pretty good picture of habits and preferences of consumers.
Avoid Ingesting Toxins
This is one of the most compelling reasons to go organic. Every year, millions of dollars are spent on research and treatment of disease, where if more was spent on developing safer ways of growing food, we may have far less illness. Developing more widespread organic growing would positively improve the environment including the soil, air and water. Current non-organic methods deplete minerals from soil and release toxic chemicals into the water supply.
One pro-active step everyone can take is to make smarter food choices. Know where your food comes from. Grow your food or buy from a local farm whenever possible. Write to your representatives and ask them to advocate for a reduction of harmful pesticides. Congressman Tim Ryan of Ohio is a strong advocate for improving the food fed to the nation and is looking for others in Congress to join him,.