Just don't buy organic food at all.
There is no proven research that it is healthier than regular food. And if you are against GM food, nobody has ever died from it. And nobody has died from pesticides.
Go and support GM food- that is the only way you are going to feed people. Organic food is not sustainable- the farmland gets ruined very quickly. And besides, organic food is very delicate. GM food you can grow in a wide array of environments. In the 1970's Norman Borlaug was given the Nobel Peace Prize and credited with saving the lives of millions of people because of his promotion for GM food. Many African nations at this time were in the midst of famines (and many still are today), so Borlaug told them to use GM food. Greenpeace stepped in and said that they shouldn't use GM food because of how "harmful" it is and to go organic. Guess who's side they picked and how many people are dying now because of it?

Two words: Trader Joe's.
And a compound word: Greenmarket.

@triscuitbiscuit: A number of points:
* GM crops are HEAVILY regulated and the economics of it screw the customer over. See issues with companies patenting seeds and suing the everloving hell out of anyone that has them blow into their fields.
* GM crops reduce the diversity of crops, making us more vulnerable to significant losses of crops in the long term.
* GM crops often are unable to reproduce their own seeds, meaning that if anything were to happen to the producers those crops would be gone after one season.
* Organic/locally grown foods are usually tastier than factory farmed foods. So if nothing else there is good reason to buy them for their taste.

All food is organic.

Jesus christ riding a raptor, if food were inorganic you'd be eating rocks! The very word 'organic' has been stolen and repurposed just to make people feel smart about what food they buy while fleecing them for all their extra cash.

If you really want organic, grow the food yourself in your backyard or in boxes. Commercial organics are mostly frauds who use the same chemicals the big farms use but in much smaller amounts to keep their "Organic" status. Certification Issues

Be careful of what you eat, wash it well, and then prepare it in a way you find tasty. Dispense with all the spin-advertising in your head and look at things at how they are, not some bullsh_t ideal put out by mass marketing.

@SarcasticDwarf: So basically your entire argument boils down to "organic sort of might taste better, maybe." Nice.

@triscuitbiscuit: Borlaug didn't create what would generally be called GM food, though, because it wasn't altered by direct interaction with its genes, just by old-fashioned plant breeding. He's a supporter of GM food, but he wasn't doing it and that's not what got him the Nobel Prize.

I think the term "genetically modified" isn't as clear as it should be, since everything we eat is genetically modified, as are we, but it's being used to mean something specific these days, and it's not what he did.

@triscuitbiscuit: The only way you can say that "nobody has ever died" from pesticides is if you arbitrarily decide that farmworkers' lives don't "count".

As for the rest of your argument about crop yields, etc, I don't necessarily think that maximizing crop yields worldwide is a great idea. We shouldn't be TRYING to sustain an ever-growing human population; instead, we should be trying to reverse population growth. There are a lot of things we could do to sustain more and more people on earth, at ever increasing ecological cost. But eventually, those costs may well catch up with us.

Buy organic food. You might get less food for your money, but you'll soon realize that you probably don't need to eat as much as you think you do.

@triscuitbiscuit: The government heavily subsidizes the growing of a lot of our GM crops so that low price you pay at the store is artificial. Many "organic" foods don't have those subsidies so the price, while a bit higher, is probably much closer to the actual price it cost to grow and transport to your supermarket.

I should also add that you should be buying as much of your produce, dairy, and meat from local producers. The feasability, of course, varies depending on where you live. Aside from the nutritional and flavor benefits, buying locally, and organic, will keep your money in your community.

@johnva: Add, the inputs needed for factory farming draw from petrochemicals by an amazing amount, a further strike against their sustainability.

@triscuitbiscuit:

Many of the Indian nations that were part of the first Green Revolution in the 1940's (not the same meaning of green now), are starting to see massive problems with water. The abundance of growing with western methods is destroying their local aquifers.

So they solved the famines of the 50's by choosing unsustainable western methods of farming. They on the brink of famine far worse than anything that could have been imagined then, made even worse by the much larger population their current food production is, currently, able to sustain.

I'm not sure I totally buy into your unsubstantiated claims of the wisdom of factory farming...

@Chumas: Farmer's markets
Trader Joe's
Those crazy expensive boutique groceries like Whole Foods
Growing your own

Basically, consider the source when you're buying organic. I'll be the above's "organic" is worth the nominal extra $$$, and fits any reasonable definition.
Wal-Mart's "organic" section, or any of the big places, not so much.

Casting around so much FUD is a tactic what seemingly only Big Agra would employ.

If you don't care about the environment (less produce per acre when doing "organic" means more forests felled for farming), go right ahead and buy "organic" food.

And then stop and smack yourself for thinking that some food is not "organic" - in the same way that something might be "chemical-free" or "all-natural" (what else would it be? Supernatural?).

And then blame yourself for the acceleration of the desertification of our lands and the loss of our species due to the aggressive expansion of farmland at the expense of the normal ecosystem. All because you needed a smug-boosting "organic" sticker on your kumquat.

Hey if you want to eat pesticides and stuff be my guest, I'll gladly pay the higher price, let the market decide and shut up.

@Chumas: Yep, I cringe when I see "organic" anything. To me, it's just another case of advertising trying to get my dollars. I'll buy whatever is cheap and is edible.

This reminds me of the "All Natural" labels I see everywhere. What the heck isn't all natural?

No matter what side of the organic food debate that you're on, those are good tips. Buying local, in season, and from co-ops and farmer's markets will save you money no matter what.

For some reason, organic milk lasts longer in my fridge, and I buy it for that reason alone. I can't go through a gallon, but sometimes I need that half gallon to go a little farther so I don't have to throw it out. I'm not sure why organic milk lasts longer, but it does.

Growing your own food does not take much effort. It is very cheap and it is guaranteed to be organic. I thought I was just cheap but who knew I was growing high-end produce.

@HooFoot: I'd cavil slightly there, though. Stuff's often more expensive at the farmer's market here, and this is agricultural country. If you're watching your budget, it's best to check the prices rather than just assuming.

@pecan 3.14159265: Organic milk is ultra-heat-treated during the pasteurization process.
[www.sciam.com]

I've run into at least one brand that really, really tastes cooked, too.

@YouDidWhatNow?: Organic food is not the main force responsible for that. Cattle ranching is up there, however.

I never do this, and I don't know about the legality of it either, but you _could_ just use the self-checkout and select regular (i.e. not organic) produce from the list. It still weighs the same, right? By the way, if somebody sees the sticker and asks you why you didn't tell it it was organic, you could play dumb and say you forgot you bought organic, or (more believable?) say you grabbed organic by mistake.

@johnva:

OK. Kinda like saying you're not going to stop punching yourself in the face, simply because it's not as bad as your other hand whacking your head with a hammer...

@YouDidWhatNow?: Saying that you should oppose organic food because of concern for the environment is a joke, and makes me think you're possibly a shill. Conventional farming is not good for the environment, for a variety of reasons. The argument you're making, that it's better because of it using less land, is theoretical nonsense, because in reality that's not what we're doing. What we really need to do is reduce the need for food, so that we don't need to use environmentally damaging methods to produce it.

@TEW: It's nearly impossible to grow anything significant if you live in an apartment complex or condo complex, though.

@Michael Norton: Yeah that's definitely shoplifting.

@johnva: Sounds great! You be the first to sacrifice having fresh food to eat, and then we will let other people join in once we see how you handle it. You know, since you're so eager to limit humans' food sources.

@GuinevereRucker: Much of the stuff in "all natural" foods are not all natural, like HFCS :). Gotta love honest and transparent food labeling.

Plants with tough skins that you are not going to eat --like bananas or watermelon, do not need to be bought organic. The skin is thick enough that the pesticides will not soak into the fruit.

Things like berries, definitely buy organic.

As others have posted, buy local and in season, that will also help keep costs down

@triscuitbiscuit: "There is no proven research that it is healthier than regular food."

Actually, there is -- it primarily has to do with soil health allowing greater mineral uptake by organics than by conventional produce -- but the USDA has been largely prohibited from distributing that research or calling it anything but "theoretical" in public because big Ag objects to it and claims if the USDA uses SCIENCE, it will negatively impact their ability to sell product, to the detriment of the American economy.

Others have addressed the errors in the rest of your post.

@johnva: And/or produce the right food on the right land. Cattle ranching in Brazil = environmentally devastating. Traditional (free-range) cattle ranching in the Great Plains? Excellent use of otherwise fairly agriculturally unproductive land. (It's only productive with massive water and other inputs, which creates serious issues, but it's awesome for grass, which is awesome for traditional ranching.)

Grain in the Great Plains? Expensive irrigated crop growth on land ill-suited to it. Grain in the Midwest? Woohoo. Oranges in the Midwest? Moronic.

Stop & Shop's Nature's Promise brand is very good, I've found.

@YouDidWhatNow?: Your basic misunderstanding of agriculture is comical. Maximizing produce per acre is pretty devastating for the land, as is irresponsible crop rotation to maximize ridiculous subsidies (lookin' at you, corn).

I don't understand the acrimony here. Is it better to buy local? Yes, even if that farmer uses pesticides. It's true. Is it better to buy cheaper? Maybe, that's of course a personal decision about the quality of food. Is modification wrong? No, but there needs to be a new set of ethics once one gets away from traditional breeding into direct-DNA transfer, and that debate needs to be about if the modification is good for the land, or if it's bad. Not whether it's done or whose property it is.

I mean really, can you explain this strange hard-on people get when it comes to bashing organic foods? Every food is based on carbon! Har har, good one. What's wrong with trying to figure out how to best manage and produce the food supply?

(NB: farmland has drastically expanded with monoculture farming since Earl Butz. We have more farmland with less farmers. Would that it were the other way around, but alas)

@Trai_Dep: And it's important to remember what Michael Pollan tells us: "You are what you eat eats, too"

@Chumas: Jesus, you guys need to take a class in Statutory Interpretation. The ordinary meaning of a term is often different from the ditionary meaning. Nevermind that it doesn't even matter in this case as the OED's second definition of organic is "not involving or produced with chemical fertilizers or other artificial chemicals". The meaning of words and phrases are inherently ambiguous and evolve over time, accept it.

/my car gets 40 rods to the hogshead and that's the way I likes it...

Here's an article about all this stuff that I thought was fairly interesting (disclaimer: what the dude says may or may not be right, I just think it's a good read): [skeptoid.com]

@Eyebrows McGee (on Twitter: LPetelle): "Actually, there is"

Actually, there isn't. Why? Because there is nothing that forces dealers of 'organic' food to adhere to the same standards for what is 'organic' in scientific studies.

You mention using 'science'. Well, there is no science in slapping an 'organic' label on marked up food. Scientifically, 'organic' is an extremely vague word. It can mean anything from, of or pertaining to living organisms, to carbon-based molecules.

This new, conveniently confusing buzzword, 'organic' should raise alarms for any remotely vigilant consumer.

Yes there are powerful lobbies who want to keep things the way they are regardless of how harmful they are to the public. But don't forget! There are also snake oil salesmen!!!

@pepelicious:

Then couldn't you just buy less non-organic food, and realize you don't need it, and also save money? o.O

@pepelicious:

Yes, community is good and all that. I love to support local businesses, but um. A sweeping generalization like, "buy as much as you can locally" is a little dumb, don't you think?

We're in a global community. I live in a state that is known for its pig farmers. The best bacon I have ever had comes from the other side of the country. It is stupid for me to believe that buying local bacon is somehow better in every way when I *know* that I can get some that is a million times better from a supplier that is hundreds of miles away.

I wouldn't bother with organic pasta. I haven't done much research into it, but I'm pretty sure that certain foods like rice and pasta are not worth buying organic.

@Radi0logy: I didn't say I wanted to limit humans' food sources. I said that I want to limit population. There's a difference. I won't even touch the various logical errors in your reasoning.

@greenunicorns: I agree that the word "organic" is kind of a stupid name, but it's the one we're stuck with because it's codified by the government.

But you're wrong if you think that there is "nothing" forcing dealers of "organic" food to adhere to standards. It's not just something that can mean anything...there is actually a USDA standard. Now, enforcement is way too lax, and the USDA standard isn't the most stringent, but it does exist.

@mizike: Seriously. I think that it's kind of a dumb term for this type of food, too, but it's the one we have. I too am quite sick of the smug people who think they're smarter than everyone else just because they "see through" the meaning of the word.

@Andy Guerra: ...that is, assuming that pesticides are the only reason you want to buy organic.

Buy as little conventional/GM food as possible.

GM companies have no incentive to do proper research which might show negative properties of their produce.

Government bodies have no incentive to protect people from the long term health implications and every incentive to promote business.

As far as Organic labelling is concerned, in the US, you want USDA or California (CCOF) certification. And in the UK, Soil Association.

So, with that in mind, if you want to reduce the amount of organic produce you buy, ask yourself "why organic?".
If it's for taste, aim to minimize the time from production to stomach (and secondly minimize processing)
Sacrifice the organic label for knowing how the food was sourced.

If it's to avoid GMO, choose organic or avoid:
Corn, Soy, Canola, Zucchini, Squash, Papaya, all meat and dairy and Aspartame.
That's quite a challenge but any attempt is better than none.

@YouDidWhatNow?: I would like some supernatural cabbage please.

I buy organic not because the food itself is healthy but because it is a case of where you put your money. It is a small thing, but it is what I can do. For my PhD I've looked at what pesticides to do the environment, to the water, to human health, to ecosystems...And the stuff simply doesn't stay where you put it. I have found pesticides in samples from protected areas in the Amazon and parks in Central America up to hundreds of MILES from the nearest agriculture.

This is troubling to me, because the stuff is remarkably toxic. And pesticides are applied the same way in North America. So if you think that conventional agriculture is a-ok, then that's fine, but consider the impact it may be having on ecosystems nowhere near the farms...and if you're not so much an ecosystem person, then consider what the stuff can do to human health. I can recommend www.atrazinelovers.com as a good link for non-academics, maintained by an academic who studies atrazine, a commonly used pesticide.

@johnva: Or assuming that your pesticide intake is the only reason you want to buy organic foods. Many people are also concerned about environmental and farmworker impacts of pesticide use.

(I think you've mentioned this previously, but I couldn't resist putting in my two cents).