Organic farming isn’t a new idea—rather, it’s a return to the way farming has been done for many thousands of years.

It is also the way people in Longevity Hot Spots work the land.

Modern farming methods began in the 1940s when chemical companies introduced synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides. At first, crop yields increased and pests were banished. Farming seemed easier. The new way seemed good.

After a while, though, the hardier breeds of weeds and pests evolved to resist the pesticides. So chemical companies developed stronger chemicals—and farmers applied them.

Pesticides work by destroying the central nervous system of pests. But farmers and gardeners started to suffer from nervous system disorders themselves. Child cancer levels increased in tandem with pesticide use—and studies started to show that women’s breast milk often has concentrated levels of pesticides.

Artificial fertilizers increasingly drained the soil of minerals such as zinc, calcium, and magnesium. The implications are far-reaching:

• The 1992 Earth Summit soil mineral depletion report showed soil depletion in North America to be at a staggering 85 percent.
• Mineral levels in vegetables have plummeted since modern farming methods were introduced.
• It’s estimated that up to 95 percent of Americans are now deficient in the nutritional minerals that are essential for health.

The latest threat to our health and that of the planet is the introduction of genetically modified (GM) foods. Genetic modification involves tampering with the DNA of plants and animals with the likely consequence of contaminating the rest of the food chain and disturbing natural ecological systems permanently.

GM foods may well have adverse consequences on our health: Leaked studies undertaken by the GM companies and kept from public knowledge have shown, for example, that rats had small kidneys and blood abnormalities and chickens were twice as likely to die when fed GM corn.

This means that we are the subject of a giant experiment being conducted without our consent. Three-quarters of all U.S. processed foods are estimated to contain GM ingredients, while 80 percent of U.S. soy grown is genetically modified. And all for what?

By contrast, a 2006 study found that organic farming methods could produce enough to feed the global population and more without increasing current agricultural land base (1). Furthermore, the 2008 UN Environmental Program found that organic agriculture in Africa “is more likely to be sustainable in the long term” and that in organic farms in Africa “yields had more than doubled” and “soil fertility and drought resistance improved.”

Organic farming may also be the answer to the problem of unpredictable weather patterns posing an increasing hazard to crop yields. Unlike conventional methods, organic farming does not cause loss of topsoil or soil erosion but helps maintain the integrity of the soil. Repeated studies show that organic farms can withstand severe weather conditions such as hurricanes and drought better than conventional farms, sometimes yielding 70-90 percent more than conventional farms during drought (2).

Opt for organic

The nutrition experts at Akea encourage you to opt for organic (or locally and naturally grown) foods whenever you can.

Like all good things, organic food has its detractors. There have even been reports that organic produce is no better for health than non-organic produce.

But at Akea, we’ve done the research on organic farming, and the facts are these…

• Pesticides can have many harmful effects on health, including immune system suppression, neurotoxicity, disruption of the endocrine system and reproductive function, and possibly even cancer.
• Even when pesticide levels are low, different types accumulate in our cells, creating a cocktail effect in which their toxicity can increase as much as hundred-fold.
• Studies show there is significantly lower pesticide exposure in children fed organic diets (4).
• When livestock are treated with antibiotics and growth hormones, the meat and dairy products from them end up in the body of the person who eats them.
• A study by scientists at Rhode Island Hospital found a substantial link between increased nitrates in our environment and food, with increased deaths from diseases including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s (8).
• The Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) studied two hundred farms and found that organic products have higher levels of secondary plant compounds and better essential fat levels (for meat and dairy products).
• A study published in The Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry found that levels of antioxidant flavonoids are double in organic tomatoes (5).
• Vitamin C levels have been found to be higher in organic plants (6).
• A four-year study conducted by the European Union found that organic fruit and vegetables contain up to 40 percent more antioxidants (7).
• Most of the studies suggesting that organic food is no healthier than other food have been found to be either agriculturally or analytically flawed—a recent review showed that organic produce has 10 to 50 percent higher phytonutrient status (9).

Your best organic choices

Some produce is more likely to contain harmful pesticide residues than others. You can use this list to help you in your shopping choices:

* Download a printable organic shopping guide here

You can learn much about organic choices from the inhabitants of the Longevity Hot Spots. They love meat and dairy, but their choices are naturally limited to animals they have caught, or from their own limited livestock.

As a result, they consume meat and dairy in limited quantities.

The animals their meat and dairy products come from are organic, free-range, and growth-hormone free, and they live a natural life outdoors. You don’t find supermarkets with rows and rows of fatty, plumped-up meat or cheese from permanently pregnant, excessively estrogenic cows in the Longevity Hot Spots.

Modern farm animals eat foods that are unnatural to them—things like soy and corn, much of it genetically modified. Those feeds make the animals grow very quickly, but make their flesh and dairy products unnaturally high in saturated fats.

On the other hand, pasture-fed and wild ruminants and game, such as is eaten in the Longevity Hot Spots, feed on grass and other wild plant food. Their native diet makes their flesh much higher in beneficial monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats (MUFAS and PUFAS) and much lower in saturated fats than farmed animals. MUFAS and PUFAS are also an important accompaniment to meat, because researchers have found that animal protein without them can cause hypoaminoacidemia, which is detrimental to health (Cordain, 2002).

Steps to take now

Chances are you don’t have your own sheep or goats—and you aren’t about to go out and hunt a wild boar. That said, you can do much to make your dietary intake of meat and dairy products more similar to those of Longevity Hot Spot populations.

You can…

• choose leaner cuts of meat and game.
• use organic, free-range products.
• stew or casserole meat and skim the fat off the top.
• eat animal products in limited quantities.
• ensure a good intake of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats from olive oil, fresh-pressed seed oils, and fish oils.
• choose organic cheeses from quality suppliers.

It’s true that organic foods may be more expensive. But you can offset the cost by eating smaller amounts of them—and really relishing them.

Today, the organic farming movement is growing steadily as a result of popular demand from both consumers and farmers. The market for organic produce was $20 billion in 2001 and by 2007 it had grown to over $46 billion. However, it is still only a small proportion of the world market at around 1 – 2 percent.

One organization trying to fight the rise of GM foods and promote organic farming is IFOAM, the International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements, which has representatives from 108 countries. Their goal is ‘the worldwide adoption of ecologically, socially and economically sound systems that are based on the principles of Organic Agriculture.’ If you wish to support the global organic movement you can find out more about such organizations – or simply buy organic food whenever you can.

Organic farming is still, of course, practiced in the Longevity Hot Spots. Soil is kept rich and fertile by putting back what is taken out in the form of natural composts and manures. Crop rotation ensures that any one crop does not deplete the land of a particular nutrient and weeds are removed rather than being poisoned. Pesticides and other unnatural chemicals are eschewed. The result is that the land and plants which grow on it, and the people and animals who feed on those plants are robust and live in a state of vibrant harmony with each other. All of them are bursting with the vitamins, minerals and enzymes which give us our vital life force.

(1) Badgley, C. et al. Organic agriculture and the global food supply. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems (2007), 22:86-108 Cambridge University Press.

(2) Lotter, D. (2003) Organic Agriculture. Journal of Sustainable Agriculture 21(4).

(3) Holt-Gimenez, E. (2000) Hurricane Mitch Reveals Benefits of Sustainable Farming Techniques. PANNA.

(4) Ref: Lu, Chensheng et al. Feb 2006. Organic Diets Significantly Lower Children’s Exposure to Organophosphorus Pesticides. Environmental Health Perspectives 114(2).

(5) Mitchell, Alyson E. et al. Ten-Year Comparison of the Influence of Organic and Conventional Crop Management Practices on the Content of Flavonoids in Tomatoes. Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry 2007, 55 (15) pp 6154-6159.

(6) Magkos F (2003). Organic food: nutritious food or food for thought? A review of the evidence. International journal of food sciences and nutrition 54(5):357-371.

(7) UK Times 2007. Nature

(8) Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. Volume 17:3 July 2009.

(9) Shane Heaton in Organic Food Quality News (www.grinningplanet.com)