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.

Community Service Spotlight - CSNews Online

Community Service Spotlight CSNews Online This spring, four MA'O Organic Farms interns from Wai'anae, Hawaii, will receive associate of arts degrees from Leeward Community College through the MA'O Youth Leadership Training College Internship program, which Aloha Petroleum Ltd. supports in the ...

Growing places on Oahu - National Post (blog)

National Post (blog)

Growing places on Oahu National Post (blog) Gary and Kukui's vision: An organic farm that not only grows and supplies good food to as many Hawaiians as it can reach, but that invites local youth to learn to do so as well. Internships see college-age students learn the ins and outs of growing, ... and more »

Job Shadow Day Brings Out Some of the Island's Brightest - Patch.com

Job Shadow Day Brings Out Some of the Island's Brightest Patch.com Now, Molly and Eric own the Grey Barn Farm in Chilmark where they live with their two boys. The Grey Barn Farm is dedicated to the cultivation, production and preparation of local food seasonally and organically. They are a small scale New England farm ...

Fiddle Foot Farm - an offer to share in the bounty - Orangeville Citizen

Fiddle Foot Farm - an offer to share in the bounty Orangeville Citizen An association, CRAFT, is a network of organic farms in Ontario, grouped geographically in cells. Primarily, this network is geared to finding and offering education while working to interns. Many of these are coming out of universities or colleges; ...

California College of Ayurveda Receives $10000 Dollar Sponsorship from ORGANIC ... - San Francisco Chronicle (press release)

California College of Ayurveda Receives $10000 Dollar Sponsorship from ORGANIC ... San Francisco Chronicle (press release) In a show of tremendous generosity and support for Ayurvedic education and the promotion of herbs as medicine, ORGANIC INDIA, an herbal company based in Lucknow (India) and Boulder, Colorado (USA), has committed to helping the college build the first ... and more »