What is Organic Farming?

What is organic farming? The short answer would be that it is farming that is done without the use of additional pesticides and without the use of any type of chemical or hormonal enhancement. The promise of organic farming means that you and your family are provided with totally natural vegetables, dairy, and meat products that have been shipped to the grocery store or Farmer's Market in the state that nature would have created them in the wild. However, there are degrees of organic and understanding these degrees helps you make right choices for you and your family.

Today's organic farming trends have hit supermarkets and small town markets with some serious gusto. In fact, some of the most incredible turn around in the farming industry is a direct result of the organic farming trend. With an increase in illness and disease, and increase in obesity and relatively oversized children, and with an increased understanding of what chemical enhancement can do to a human body, organic farming is the proven key hero in farming solutions.

When you are wandering the aisles of the grocery store and you come across the organic section, take a minute and pause. Does some of the food look different, smell different, and taste different? Some people believe that it does while others believe that it doesn't. Only you can determine whether organic farming makes a big difference in the taste, texture, size, or quality of your favorite foods. Some people swear that they can taste a more natural flavor of the food while others swear that it doesn't alter the taste at all but it feels good eating totally unenhanced foods.

However, not all organic products are unenhanced. The organic farming industry has been granted a little leeway when it comes to producing unenhanced foods. The term "organic" that appears on many of the packages that are most commonly purchased implies that the food is unenhanced with any type of chemical or hormone. That generally is not the case, however. The word "organic" can be labeled to any food that meets a 75% standard of organic ingredients. There are specific chemicals and hormones that can never be added in any quantity to organic foods but the list is rather small and somewhat fluid.

Anything in your grocery store or Farmer's Market that has been labeled as 100% organic is actually between 98 and 99% organic. But this is still a far cry from the 75% consumers are receiving when it comes to their organic products. The farming techniques that are used almost always require at least a small amount of mostly natural pesticides, otherwise the insects will happily enjoy the organic foods that were originally meant for you. Simply knowing the difference between organic and 100% organic will help you make better choices for your family based on your needs. And the next time your kids get interested in their food and want to know what is organic farming, you'll have an industry secret to share with them.

Schwarzenegger vetoes overtime for farmworkers

The governor agrees with giant agribusinesses and organic-farm owners who contend that an eight-hour workday isn't practical in the agriculture industry. Saying he didn't want to damage California's agricultural economy, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday vetoed a first-in-the-nation bill that would have given farmworkers the same rights to overtime pay enjoyed by all other hourly workers ...

Urban Farm Lot 59 Seeds Planted

Sometimes its not easy to return to ones roots. Confronted by a sloping hill covered in weeds, dead brush and brambles, with oil derricks swaying beyond the hills crest, Sasha Kanno realized creating Long Beachs first urban farm was not going to be an easy endeavor.

Six farm families to be recognized at State Fair

DES MOINES -- Six Iowa farm families will be honored as recipients of The Way We Live Award at this years Iowa State Fair. Each family will be honored in an individual award ceremony during the fair, Aug. 12-22.

Best of the Bay 2010 Editors Picks: Food and Drink

A Web search for every cafe, a cafe for every Web search? All well and good, but what if your search is for the best goldarn double-sided dildo there is and you're sick of that uptight suit over there eyeing your Googles? Proudly pervy surf-and-sippers, you officially have a kick-it spot.

Community Briefs for July 29, 2010 edition

Oakhurst Sierra Rotary Club helps Heartland