If You Can Read This, You Probably Can Afford Organic.

Before we can have a real discussion about why one should spend the extra cost associated with organic food, one must decide if he cares enough to take the extra time to learn about what those costs represent. When we start to truly look at organic food and examine why that extra 25-50¢ per pound is necessary, the cost is then understood as value.

When we don't have the benefit of living within a community that has ample access to local farms or CSA shares, the USDA organic label is our next best option. At least for now the USDA Organic label ensures that farms within the certification follow a certain set of regulations, ensuring a reasonably balanced method of raising food.

Organic food production cannot depend on inexpensive synthetic pesticides to protect crops from serious pest damage like industrial food. This means that organic farms must depend on other methods like crop rotation, integrated pest management, hand-picking pests or other labor-intensive practices that industrial farms are able to avoid by crop dusting.

All of the industrial farm activities are essentially subsidized by crude oil, the world's least expensive and most finite source of energy. Once we factor in the true cost of petrochemicals and fuels within the food supply, we can more easily comprehend that organic food doesn't really cost more, but "conventional" food simply costs less due to subsidy.

But even the price difference of organic food is still rather marginal when we compare it to the frivolousness we consume on the daily. Consider that the average non-specialty coffee (i.e. house coffee) with paper cup from boutique coffee house is $2.50, which many, many people consider a necessary part of their morning ritual, yet won't consider shelling out an extra $2.50 for 5lbs of organic potatoes, or half of that on organic carrots.

Further, it always seems so strange to me that people will have no issue at all paying "normal" bills for things like cable television, magazine subscriptions, cell phone data packages, etc., etc., etc., but have an aversion to paying a considerably smaller amount of money towards food that is not only healthier for themselves but also for the impacted environment, the farm workers and the towns that surround working farms.

For someone who does not spend the extra money on organic food, this is your challenge: spend the next several days recording your natural daily expenses. Do not alter your spending habits, but write down every purchase relentlessly, no matter how necessary or seemingly insignificant. At the end of your specific time frame (I suggest 10 days for ease of math), average your daily spending. Factor in all unnecessary monthly expenses (cable tv, extra gadget fees, etc.) and calculate their daily average. Add everything up. Compare these expenditures to the total increased cost of choosing organic over conventional whenever possible. This will help you know whether or not you truly fall under the income barrier for  buying organic.

Photo credit: kthread