Can organic food exist without pesticides? essay sample

 

In the early 2000s, the USDA issued regulations on organic food. The Department of Agriculture demanded that the raw materials in organic products were produced without the application of GMO, pesticides, growth hormones, toxic agents, and antibiotics. Theoretically, crops produced conventionally with the seasonal application of pesticides cannot be put in organic products but anyway the part of conventionally produced “organic” food keeps growing. Even if the final product has an admissible amount of chemicals, it still could have been produced with the use of pesticides.

Despite the existing governmental regulations, more than 20 chemicals that include herbicides and pesticides could be used in organic farming according to the US Organic Standards. But most of those pesticides are organic and frequently unprocessed unlike the synthetic ones used in conventional agriculture. Years ago, farmers and scientists kept thinking that organic agents that repel insects are safer than synthetic ones, but the research in the area grows and now we know that organic pesticides can be just as toxic as those used for the industry.

Organic products in the US and Europe are often tested on the intake of pesticides, and many of them fail despite the “organic” label. Even small farmers cannot bear losses brought by insects, and they naturally use pesticides, especially the approved ones. Using little pesticides does not particularly help to get rid of the chemicals as well. Farm soils tend to accumulate chemicals over the years, and farmers who decided to go sustainable usually need to wait up to a decade until the accumulated pesticides are washed away with the water.