Before we talk about the benefits of organic fruits and vegetables if compared to non organic, perhaps refreshing our mind about the difference of those two products is highly recommended. It is true that the market trend shows that organic product is becoming the new favorite but as a smart buyer you cannot just follow the market trend. You have to know exactly why organic product is better than non organic product.
What are Organic Fruits and Vegetables?
In general, organic product is all fruits and vegetables which cultivation processes were not using any pesticides and chemical based fertilizer.
Besides that the products also were not using any synthetic compound to make them grow bigger or fresh longer. In other words, all processes were organic to promote ecological balance for environment.
What are Non Organic Fruits and Vegetables?
Non organic products are the opposite of organic products which all the cultivation processes were using pesticides and chemical based fertilizer. And some fruits or vegetables are already through irradiation process to produce better, bigger and fresh-longer products. Economically non organic product might be profitable because of the much more interesting look if compared to organic product.
Since it is using pesticides, the look of non organic product will be perfect unlike organic products which are ruined by bugs or pests. Fertilizer will make the plants grow faster. And the irradiation process could enhance the quality of the products likes red tomato becomes redder, watermelon becomes bigger and vegetables could stay fresh longer in display.
As mentioned above the non organic product might be economically profitable but it is not always like that because right now the popularity of organic product is progressively increasing. The reason behind that is simply because people begin to aware about all the benefits of organic products as well as the dangerous of non organic products.
Furthermore, in long term, organic product is actually much more profitable, not only for the customers and supplier but also the farmer; especially the traditional farmer. Below are the explanations about the benefits of organic fruits and vegetables might open your mind to start consuming organic foods only:
Benefits For Customers
- Safe from Dangerous Chemicals
As mentioned above, the cultivation processes of organic fruits and vegetables were not using any chemical compounds as fertilizer. In other words all processes were natural and organic. So, foods you provide for your family will be free from dangerous chemicals that could cause serious diseases like cancer, cardiovascular diseases and in some cases, chemical compounds found in some fertilizer brands could affect human’s immunity system.
Furthermore, it should be a main concern for every mother with children who are still in development stages, every mother should make sure that their children were growing healthily and completely unaffected by dangerous chemical compound and toxins mostly found in non organic products.
- Safe from Pesticides
Asides from dangerous chemical found in the fertilizing process of non organic product, the use of pesticides to protect non organic plants from bugs and pests is also dangerous for human health. If compared to chemical compound from fertilizing process, the pesticides could be more dangerous because of the application system which was sprayed directly to the fruits or vegetables.
So, the possibility of the dangerous compounds found in the peels of fruits or vegetables’ leaves is higher. By choosing organic product only, you could make sure that fruit and vegetables you provide for your family are safe from pesticides.
- GMO-free
What is GMO? GMO or Genetically Modified Organism is the recent technology found to enhance the resistance of plants toward natural attack and herbicides genetically. So, is GMO safe to be consumed, since the DNA of the plan is already genetically modified? Since it is still new technology, studies were conducted only in short term but some animal studies have shown that GMO could cause some serious organ damage as well as affect the brain growth.
Would you take that kind of risk? Of course not, no matter how delicious the look of squash with GMO is. Making sure that your family is only consuming organic product will protect them from the risk that might be caused by food products with GMO.
- Contained Higher Antioxidants Compound
Recent studies also found that organic product contained higher antioxidants compound compared to non organic products. Well, there are two reasons behind that statement. First, there is no foreign chemical compound that will negatively interact with the natural nutrients contained in fruits and vegetables.
Second, to be safe, people tend to cook non organic foods to prevent all the dangerous chemicals entering their body, as we are already know, the chance of losing nutrients in cooked fruit and vegetable is higher if compared to if we consume them raw. If you are choosing organic foods, you don’t need to worry if you prefer to consume them raw since all the benefits of nutrients might be higher than the cooked one. You just need to make sure to wash them completely clean with running water.
- Taste Better
It is one of the benefits you could get from organic fruits and vegetables; they are taste better. There some reasons why organic products tend to have better taste, one of them probably because everything you got is provided by nature. If orange is supposed to taste sweet then nature will find its own way to make it taste like the way it is without any genetic modification that probably will ruin the original taste of orange.
Besides that, organic products we find in the market are always offered as fresh product because it cannot stay too long on display. If you find organic product in their best condition, it means they are really fresh or even just harvested on the same day which is taste much better than fruits or vegetables that were harvested a day before.
- Fresher Product
Well, the fact that organic product cannot stay too long on display that condition forces farmer and supplier to only sell fresh product is a great advantages for customers. Non organic products could remain fresh longer than organic product so sometimes customers are easily attracted by the fresh look of non organic product when the fact is those fruits and vegetables were already in display for several days.
So, if you are buying fruits and vegetables with organic label, you don’t need to worry or search for the date when the products were supplied because if it is in the best condition means it is really fresh.
- Better for Environment
By buying or choosing organic products mean you also have a big contribution for a better and sustainable environment. Organic fruits and vegetables were planted and cultivated in organic way which will protect environments from the harms of dangerous pesticides and chemical compounds found in fertilizers.
Organic way will provide sustainable farming practices which is not only good for you and your family but also the traditional farmers that are really depending on the condition of environment to plant and grow high quality yields. Besides that organic way means minimal pollution of water, soil and air. If the environment is already contaminated by dangerous chemical substances, farmer forever will depend on the use of fertilizers and pesticides for high quality yields.
- Richer in Certain Nutrients
Some studies might showed that generally when it comes to nutrients like vitamins and minerals in non organic and organic products are not really different. However, some nutrients like antioxidants and some more of natural substances might be a bit higher due to there is no interference from chemical compound that could reduce the nutrients contained.
But still, choosing organic products will provide you one layer of safety whereas there is no additional dangerous chemical compound you should worry about as long as you are sure that you have completely washed the fruits and vegetables before you serve them to your family.
- Healthy Products Only
By choosing organic product means you are only providing healthy products only. Why? Because you could guarantee that foods you serve for your family are safe from any dangerous chemical compounds that could cause some medical conditions.
In common cases like allergic reaction, asthma and rashes in skin but the exposures of dangerous chemicals found in pesticides and fertilizers are also linked to cancer, hormonal problem, genetic problem and in pregnant mother, the chance of baby was born with birth defect is higher.
- You Could Have Some Peace of Mind
For your family and children of course you only want to provide the best products. By only choosing organic products you could have some peace of mind that your family are safe from dangerous chemical compounds found in non organic products.
Disadvantages:
- More Expensive
It is true that you might find the price of organic products if compared to non organic product is slightly higher. However, you should aware that it is only in short term. How about in longer term? Well, below points may open your mind that perhaps choosing organic product is much cheaper:
- Healthy family means lower health care cost. By providing organic food you could lower the risk of disease or medical problem caused by non organic food. So it means more money to save.
- Organic fruits and vegetables gave your body all the best of nutrients, so your body will be accustomed to consume healthy food only and you could save more money since your body is no longer craving for junk foods.
- You may start considering buying organic products from the traditional farmer directly and you will be surprised about how much money you could save than if you should buy the organic products from the market.
- Easily Contaminated by Bacteria and Worms
Since organic fruits and vegetables were not using any pesticides to fight the attacks caused by nature like bugs and pest, the chance of being contaminated by bacteria and worms are probably higher. However, compared to chemical compounds, washing the bacteria and worms off from the fruits peels and vegetables leaves is much easier to do. Besides, if you cook organic products those bacteria and worms were easily killed but it won’t work the same way with the chemical compounds.
Benefits For Traditional Farmers:
- No additional budget for Fertilizer
Organic way will give some advantages for traditional farmer as well. One of the advantages is they don’t need to have additional budget to buy chemical based fertilizer. Some traditional farmers prefer to use natural compost to assist the optimal growth of their plants.
The compost is commonly made from household waste, decayed plants and animal waste. In other words, the farmer is not only able to provide additional nutrients required by their plants but at the same time they also able to utilize all the wastes that could harm the environment.
- No additional budget for Pesticides
Just like saving on budget for chemical fertilizers, traditional farmers also don’t need to pay for pesticides. Actually, pesticides are not the only way to deal with the nature attack (bugs and pests) there are much easier and traditional way, like planting some plants that functioning as the nest for the natural enemies of those harmful insects, bugs and pests.
- GMO-free
GMO free plants are also beneficial for traditional farmers. Well, perhaps GMO plants is not yet becoming popular subjects this day, but there is one important thing you should know, though at the first time GMO plants could be profitable for farmer but not in long term.
Why? Simple example is soybean plants. Organic soybean could be used again as seedling in the next planting season but soybean with GMO cannot be used as seedlings, so farmer should buy new seedlings in every new planting season. That’s why by planting fruits and vegetables in organic way, farmer could save the budget of buying new seedlings in every planting season.
- Good for Environment
There is no doubt that organic way of practice is good for environment. It provides sustainable solution for environment since all the materials used for cultivation is not harmful for environment. So the pollution of water, air and soil could be reduced to the minimum level.
Disadvantages:
- Fresh Products Only
By providing fresh product only could be a disadvantages for traditional farmer since their products cannot be too long on display. Actually, this condition could be deal with by cooperating with trusted supplier and they could sell their fruits and vegetables directly to customers. Or farmer could be the supplier themselves by cooperating with certain restaurants to provide fresh products only.
- Higher Cost in Transport
Since farmer should harvest and send out their products daily the cost of transport might be higher. That is why cooperating with local market that is not too far from the cultivation area is the best solution.
Advantages For Supplier
- More Expensive
The price of organic product which is higher than non organic product might be the disadvantage for customer but not for supplier. The higher the price the bigger profit suppliers could make. However, they don’t need to worry anymore since the awareness of customers of choosing organic product instead of non organic products would not cause any loss for supplier.
- More Popular
The popularity of organic product is progressively increasing day by day; that is why suppliers become eager to supply organic products due to its popularity. Because of all the benefits people will prefer to buy organic products instead of non organic products.
- Provide Fresh Product Only
Suppliers that are only supplying the best and fresh products will be loved by their customers. Once a customer is satisfied by the product they will come back again. So, supplying organic and fresh product only is like a long term investment for supplier as well as for customers.
Disadvantages:
- Daily Supply
Speaking of disadvantages of supplier perhaps there is only one; that supplier should make the daily supply. It is true that non organic product that could stay fresh for several days will safe some energies because supplier don’t need to change the old products with the new products daily but it won’t work that way if they are supplying organic products since daily supply is required.
It is true that even organic products have some disadvantages that cannot be taken for granted. However, so far, there are still some solutions to deal with those disadvantages. So, why not? If you make another list of advantages and disadvantages of non organic products, you will find the same result that organic product is still much more recommended than non organic products.
The reason is simple because when it comes to sustainability, organic product is the best choice. Sustainability means investment for the future generation. Organic products will guarantee that.
With all the explanations about advantages and the disadvantages of organic product, what will you choose for your family, organic or non organic products? Well, it is true that it might be just in the matter of choice, though perhaps non organic product is much cheaper and fit best to your budget in the current time but could you make sure about it in long term? Organic food means healthier food, healthier food means healthier lifestyle. Healthy lifestyle is also good investment for future life.