Reasons Organic Food Is So Expensive – You might think that organic food would be cheaper than regular food since it doesn’t need chemicals, synthetic pesticides, or drugs to be grown. On the other hand, organic goods usually cost 20% to 100% more than their conventionally produced counterparts.
Many Americans can’t afford that price tag right now, even though most of them would rather buy organic. This is because the economy is still slowly recovering from the slump. If you’re in that majority, you’ve probably thought about why it costs that much.
Reasons Organic Food Is So Expensive
Here are the 10 reasons Organic Food is so expensive:
No chemicals = more labor
All of those chemicals and man-made pesticides are used by conventional farms because they get the job done faster and better, which lowers the cost of production. Without them, organic farms would have to hire more people to do things like pulling weeds by hand, cleaning up polluted water, and fixing pesticide damage.
“The price of organic food more accurately represents the actual expenses involved in its production: by replacing chemicals with labor and intensive management, the costs related to health and the environment, which are ultimately paid by society, are taken into account.” According to the Organic Farming Research Foundation.
Also, Read – 8 Tips for Buying Organic Food on a Budget
Demand overwhelms supply
Sales of organic food in stores increased from $3.6 billion in 1997 to $21.1 billion in 2008. Also, 58% of Americans say they would rather eat organic food than non-organic food.
But organic farmland only makes up 0.9% of all farmland in the world, and organic farms usually don’t create as much as conventional farms. Conventional farms have the land and supplies they need to keep costs low, since makers can get better deals when they make more of a product.
Higher cost of fertilizer for organic crops
Sewage sludge and chemical fertilizers are used by normal farmers because they are cheap and easy to move. You might not want these things in your food. To keep their crops natural, organic farmers don’t use these cheap options. Instead, they use compost and animal dung, which costs more to ship.
Crop rotation
To keep their land healthy and stop weeds from growing, organic farmers use complex crop rotations instead of chemical weed killers. When an organic farmer harvests a crop, they may use that space to grow “cover crops,” which add nitrogen to the soil to help the next crop grow better.
Conventional farmers, on the other hand, know which crops will make the most money on each acre. Organic farmers can’t grow the big amounts that are most cost-effective for conventional farmers because crop rotation limits how often they can grow crops that make money.
Also, Read – Is Organic Dog Food Better?
Post-harvest handling cost
After being picked, organic and standard crops must be kept separate so that they don’t get contaminated with each other. Conventional crops are shipped in bigger amounts because conventional farms can make more of them.
Organic foods, on the other hand, are shipped and handled in smaller amounts because organic farms usually grow less of them, which makes the costs higher. Also, organic farms are often farther away from big towns, which makes shipping more expensive.
Organic certification
It’s not easy or cheap to get USDA organic approval. Along with normal farming activities, farm buildings and ways of making things must meet certain standards, which might mean that buildings need to be changed.
It is necessary to hire people to keep strict daily records that can be inspected at any time. Also, organic farms have to pay a fee every year to be inspected and certified. The fee ranges from $400 to $2,000 per year, based on the agency and the size of the farm.
Cost of covering higher loss
Some chemicals are used by conventional farmers to cut down on crop waste. Synthetic pesticides, for instance, keep bugs away, and medicines keep animals healthy. Organic farms lose more because they don’t use these, which costs the farmer more and makes the price go up for the consumer.
Also, because they don’t have all the chemical stabilizers that regular foods do, organic foods need to be stored and eaten sooner.
Better living conditions for livestock
Organic farms have to pay more because they have to follow stricter rules about animal care. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations says that organic feed for animals like cattle can cost twice as much as regular feed.
Organic food grows more slowly
It costs money to waste time. Organic farms usually aren’t as big as conventional ones, and it takes them longer to grow food because they don’t use chemicals and growth hormones like conventional farmers do.
Subsidies
Subsidies from the government that are aimed at increasing production make crops cheaper generally. The House Appropriations Committee says that in 2008, $7.5 billion had to be spent on farm supports, but only $15 million was given to programs that promoted organic and local foods.
Money-saving tips
As of now, try to get most of your organic food from street shops. Because you won’t be buying from a store, you’ll be helping local farmers and getting the food for less money.
Also, keep in mind that not all things have to be organic. A “Clean 15” list of the 15 types of fruit that have the fewest pesticides can be found in the Environmental Working Group’s Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides. Buy the regular versions of these things instead of the organic ones to save money:
| Onions | Sweet corn | Pineapples |
| Avocado | Asparagus | Sweet peas |
| Eggplant | Cantaloupe — domestic | Kiwi |
| Cabbage | Watermelon | Sweet potatoes |
Conclusion
In this blog, you have learned about 10 Reasons Organic Food Is So Expensive. There isn’t enough healthy food to meet everyone’s needs. Costs to make organic foods are usually higher because they require more work and farmers don’t make enough of one product to lower the total cost.
