Organic food has swept the nation, and retained a firm foothold across the United States. This is no wonder in the face of an increasing risk of obesity and overall health concerns stemming from poor eating habits.
The barrier most face when looking to make the switch from non-organic to organic food is one simple issue - cost. Organic food often costs more across the board in comparison to non-organic food, and the heavier price tag is often what prevents consumers from making the switch.
The healthy side of organic food largely stems from the concept of no chemical additives, and no large-scale handling. In terms of production, these two things are key to the efficiency of our current system of supplying non-organic food. With chemical additives, the agricultural producers can plant many more plants, protecting them all equally and easily. Beyond just range for potential mass planting, chemical additives allow for plants to grow much quicker. This leads the store shelves to be filled with more efficient to produce non-organic options, with the fewer and smaller farms growing the world’s organic substitutes.
Not only is the difference in the production side of things, though. For organic food, there is even more hoops to jump through to compete in price and quantity, and be granted government subsidies. The American government subsidizes more agricultural production setups, encouraging growth of key crops using additives to ensure speed and efficiency for the market. While organically grown produce is a wonderful option to have available, there are strict guidelines and government supervision required to be allowed to call the produce organically produced. This is not an easy hurdle to cross, nor is it inexpensive. Therefore, the cost of the produce is greater to the consumer.