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.

Most Chicago-area residents living 'greener'

Tribune/WGN poll: 77 percent said they made changes to their daily routines to be more 'environmentally conscious' From his bucolic farm on the south side of Naperville, Steve Tiwald can see the imprint of the country's "green movement" on the faces of eager patrons as they arrive each week to collect their boxes of tomatoes, spinach and summer squash.

Poll: Most Chicago-area residents living 'greener'

From his bucolic farm on the south side of Naperville, Steve Tiwald can see the imprint of the country's "green movement" on the faces of eager patrons as they arrive each week to collect their boxes of tomatoes, spinach and summer squash. When Tiwald launched his community garden on less than 2 acres in the western suburb in 2002, he hoped to spread awareness about the importance of local ...

Most here living 'greener'

Tribune/WGN poll: 77 percent said they made changes to their daily routines to be more 'environmentally conscious' A Tribune/WGN poll shows three-quarters of residents across the city and suburbs have taken steps in the past five years to become more green.

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