The Benefits of Organic Produce Start and End with the Soil

(Photo courtesy of The Organic Center)

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An excellent new report from The Organic Center called The Benefits of Organic Produce — and funded by Organically Grown Company — looks at 85 research studies from the last three decades and gives us an overview of just how advantageous organic farming is to society.

And as the report accurately states, “In organic farming, building soil health is a fundamental tenet.”

A few highlights, as they relate to nutritional superiority.

• Organic apples have higher levels of antioxidants than conventional apples — 66% more flavonols and 31% more phenolic acids.
• Organic green beans, aided by their longer shelf-life, contain more potassium, magnesium, sodium, calcium, iron and zinc than non-organic green beans.
• Organic lemons have 20 to almost 40% more of three of the most common aroma-inducing compounds than non-organic. Aroma is a primary indicator of food quality.

Other highlights, as they relate to human safety and soil health.

• The levels of glyphosate in human urine dropped by over 70% after switching to an organic diet for only one week.
• A long-term research study at Rodale Institute found that yields in organic plots are 40% higher than those in conventional during times of drought, a strong indication of soil health.
• Organic apple production increases species richness in the soil by 38% compared to conventional farming, creating the possibility of retaining rich ecosystems while producing high yields.

THE SAME IN NAME ONLY

All of the studies that the co-authors, Peter Rubin and Amber Sciligo, PhD, looked at were comparing soil-grown organic vs. soil-grown conventional.

Yet, hydroponically-grown organic fruits and vegetables are showing up more and more in produce aisles — a production method that is allowed by the USDA’s National Organic Program even though it does not foster soil fertility, a key requirement of the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990.

“Hydroponics are taking over organic berries and tomatoes, and they are now moving into many different organic leafy greens, cucumbers, herbs and peppers in a very aggressive way,” said Dave Chapman, co-director of the Real Organic Project. “It is becoming very challenging, if not impossible, for shoppers across the country to find soil-grown, organic berries and tomatoes at a supermarket.”

One can easily conclude that organic hydroponics will fail to regenerate the soil or improve biodiversity, but given the dearth of studies comparing hydroponically-grown organics to soil-grown organics, it is hard to definitively state the nutritional disparity between the two. However, even if macronutrient levels were relatively comparable, hydroponics is grown without the microbiome, intelligence and energy of soil, which may not be measurable or fully understood by humans.

And it is precisely this rich, vital soil that makes organic what it is — an evolutionary system perfected over hundreds of millions of years and something that cannot be replicated in a bucket filled with water and drip fed nutrients.

We, as an industry, need to ask ourselves — do we want our organic produce to deliver all of the nutritional, human safety and environmental benefits that are spelled out in this report?  Or, are we okay with tolerating a soil-less system that delivers something vastly different?

Even though soil-grown and hydroponic are both labeled “organic,” they are just not the same.

With gratitude, Max Goldberg, Founder