Sunday, September 16, 2007

What Happened To Dolly Kumar

Is a luxury organic products?


Judging by its price, it seems so. When we reflect on what we take home, is clearly not. Something to be considered expensive or fancy, in fact, depends not only on price but the relationship between quality and price:

What gives us organic food, which does not give us the conventional?
  • Increased concentration of nutrients. Chemical fertilizers are basically three elements: nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium. This produces larger fruit and nice, but una mayor proporción de agua. La agricultura orgánica fertiliza con estiércol y compost (residuos vegetales digeridos por bacterias, lombrices, etc.), lo que permite que los oligoelementos (magnesio, zinc, selenio…) vuelvan a la tierra. Esto hace que los productos ecológicos sean más ricos en micronutrientes: minerales y vitaminas, y también en proteínas e hidratos de carbono.
  • No contienen pesticidas ni fertilizantes. Muchos agroquímicos tienen efectos cancerígenos comprobados, y algunos de ellos son auténticos disruptores endocrinos, es decir, sustancias que se comportan como hormonas en el interior del organismo, causando la "feminización" male individuals. This is threatening the reproduction of many animal species, and is one of the causes of hormone-dependent cancers (breast, prostate) and the progressive decrease in the amount of sperm in the male semen.
  • Mayor taste which offsets the fact that organic products are not brilliant and uniform appearance of conventional products.



Many wonder: if no chemicals are used, what is it that more expensive?
  1. Industrial agriculture is largely subsidized lo que disminuye su precio.

  2. Requiere más mano de obra, y eso incrementa su coste, ya que este tipo de cultivo es más artesanal. Pero también crea más empleo y de más calidad.En la agricultura biológica no sirve el modelo extensivo: los grandes monocultivos son una invitación a las plagas. La agricultura ecológica combina el cultivo de distintas variedades de plantas, para evitar que sean invadidas por un gran número de insectos del mismo tipo, es decir, una plaga. Siempre deja zonas de terreno virgen, con una variedad de plantas salvajes que sirvan como alimento a los insectos, y de árboles que "sujeten" el terreno fértil, y combina el cultivo of different species. This will remove the danger of major pests, and also enriches the soil.

  3. The difference in cost between them and other products is also about the environmental cost. The cost of the effort and care needed to keep the soil alive for future generations. Since organic farming:

    • Keep and life-maintaining soil fertility. Let bacteria. The bacteria in our intestines (with ten times the number of cells in our body), have the primary mission of complete digestion of food, control the spread of harmful microorganisms and protect intestinal walls. Without them there would be no life. Similarly, bacteria, microorganisms, insects, and worms. fertile soil make a continuous work of digestion of vegetable waste to make bio-available nutrients and thus allow new plant growth. The organic matter from a fertile soil is not prepared to withstand the pressure of a type of agriculture chemical force, and also leaves the soil outdoors. These microorganisms are very sensitive to direct sunlight, and water, which can easily drag the unprotected topsoil. When these organisms disappear, the organic layer, and agricultural land is eroded. For these reasons, each year are abandoned "desertified" vast agricultural areas around the world. The final chapter is the desertification process, an irreversible loss of fertility.

    Preserves and maintains the existence and public ownership of the genetic heritage of the seeds. Thanks to organic seeds still retain many native plant varieties, not genetically engineered. GMOs have the great disadvantage that it is impossible to avoid when pollinate their genes are combined with those of neighboring crops. The threat, therefore, not just hovers over GM crops itself but also for those who may genetically contaminate.

    The intelligent management of agricultural and forest lands is essential to preserve the diversity of species, including ours. Agroecosystems create the human being to get their food should be an essential part of proper management and conservation of ecosystems, which depend on a variety of living beings, animals and plants. • Keep

    and maintains the social fabric of rural culture, which is a benefit for all and an essential part of our society, our culture, and our food security.

    But the most effective get to stop being a luxury, is to invest in their development. In Germany and about 50% of production is, or is in conversion to organic farming, thanks to financial support from the State.

There is one last reason to afford to eat organic , addition to improving our health. Our choices and purchase decisions have a "side effect" to promote a type of agriculture or another. So shopping can be an act lucid, playful and free support to those with the detail and enthusiasm to cultivate land like the one we have.