Have you been organically misled?

When I asked a grocery store employee in Columbia, MO where the stick carrots were he directed me to the organic section without a second thought. I smiled and let him know that I prefer my veggies to be non-organic and asked where that aisle might be. With a look of confusion he pointed and sure enough there was a small area on the other side of the produce displaying the carrots I was in search of.  The employee was simply used to person my age, specifically a mom, purchasing organic in that city.  But is it really healthier? Am I doing my family a disservice by feeding them conventionally raised foods?

It is interesting to me when I hear about people eating organic or GMO free because it is the best for their family and because they want their families to be healthy. I want your family to be healthy too. I want you to live a long and beautiful life. Guess what…I also want MY family to be healthy and MY family to live long, beautiful lives. As farmers who raise GMO crops and crops with pesticide, we are not doing so with a blind eye or hard hearts. We actually have not only OUR families BEST interests at heart, but also YOURS!  If we didn’t believe our crops were nutritious and healthy and SAFE we wouldn’t serve them to our children.  The same beef, corn, wheat and soybeans we are selling to you are the same ones we eat as well as a family.

This quote written by Sarah Schultz with The Genetic Literacy Project jumped out at me today,

I could certainly afford to pay up to 50% more for organic food for my children to eat, but I refuse to. I decline to pay the premium for organic food because I cannot justify it when comparable conventional foods (including those with GMOs) are just as healthy and nutritious, and arguably more environmentally friendly.

What’s The Genetic Literacy Project? Is Monsanto behind it?  No, Monsanto nor any other “big wig” seed company or agricultural entity is funding it.  This project is an independent biotechnology research group affiliated with STATS and Sense About Science. Click HERE to read her full article.

Here’s another portion of an interesting article I came across this week…

One thing they {consumers like you} will not read on any label is a new finding from Academics Review, a group of scientists dedicated to testing popular claims against peer-reviewed science.

The scientists’ conclusion based on U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported recall information: Organic foods are four to eight times more likely to be recalled than conventional foods for safety issues like bacterial contamination. Nor will consumers see anywhere a reference to the body of peer-reviewed research finding that organic foods are no more nutritious than foods produced by conventional agriculture.

Why are consumers so misinformed? This is not an unimportant problem. It’s dangerous. The very people most likely to seek out organic food for its purported safety — the elderly, pregnant women, parents of young children and people with compromised immune systems — are most at risk from organic’s higher risk of contaminants, including deadly e-coli.

– JOHN R. BLOCK was U.S. secretary of agriculture from 1981 to 1986. The lifelong farmer now is senior policy adviser to the law firm of Olsson Frank Weeda Terman Matz PC in Washington, D.C.

Food for thought! This much thinking makes me hungry…

Combine Burgers 

These are PERFECT for taking to the field for the men while they work!

Ingredients:

1 can Crescent Rolls

1 lb of hamburger

3/4 C shredded cheese

2 T Worcestershire Sauce

Onion

Lowery’s Season Salt

1. Preheat oven to 350

2. Brown hamburger using onion, sauce and season salt (and anything else that sounds tasty to you!)

3. Pinch together crescent rolls on baking sheet to make 4 rectangles from the 8 triangles.

4. Spread cooked hamburger on dough (about 3-4 T per rectangle)

5. Sprinkle with cheese.

6. Roll up dough to form a burrito-ish crescent burger.

7. Bake for 15 minutes.

8. Wrap in foil and take to field with ketchup and mustard for dipping!