When is organic food truly organic? (1)

The popularity of organic food is getting higher nowdays.
At the same time, the organic issue is also getting more controversial.

Hence, there is a need to inform further the public
on what truly organic food is.

There isn't yet one mutually agreed definition of
"Organic" among the international organic communities.

And, exactly because of the 'loosely' defined organic industries,
at times, it draws a lot of debates and misunderstanding/confusion.

At one time, a research study would claim that
organic food is more nutritious;
at another time, another study would contradicts
that organic food is not much different from chemical-grown foods...

Set aside the questionable motives behind some of those research studies,
there are indeed loop holes in calling a crop being organically grown.

This boils down to the arbitrary guidelines/parameters
different certification bodies use to define organic agriculture.
Also, intrinsically, not all aspects of an organic crop can be measured.

In general,
an organically grown crop could be defined when a crop:
1. is not treated with chemical pesticides, herbicides or fungicides
2. is not fertilised with synthetic/chemical fertiliser
3. is not grown in an environment (ie land, water & air)
    which is contaminated with heavy metals, chemicals or any harmful substances
4. is not a Genetically Modified Organism (GMO)

When the ALL four criteria are satisfied,
usually a crop could be certified an organic crop

BUT, with that minimal set of criteria,
a crop can still be 'wrongly' defined as an organic crop.

Why? Find out from the next blog :)

Well regards,
Kee Yew



When-is-organic-food-truly-organic




{Learning Holistic Wellness for Wisdom and Compassion}

When is organic food truly organic? (4)

In reality,
it may not be easy to fulfill all the 6 definitive criteria.

Simply, some of the criteria are
- unmeasurable,
- arbitrary (if measurable) or
- non-achievable (given the unfavourable condition/background in certain region.)

Organic produce from different regions
are hence very variable in quality
depending on
the farming practice,
certification stringency,
land/region,
public's receptive-ness etc...

This fact however
should not contradict the need for organic agriculture.
Because we do whatever best achievable.
If we give up on organic agriculutre
just because we cannot perfect the organic agricultural system,
we will never have organic food.

When I led local organic tours in Singapore,
often I told the participants
that the farms we visited were not truly organic,
by strict definition.
However, we should still support them,
because of their organic spirit and
their good will to produce safer food with less chemicals.
Without them, we will never get anything close to organic.

This leads to one last criterion to define organic food
-- Gratitude.

This is getting a little bit far fetch to some of us.
But gratitude is indeed needed to ensure that
organic spirit will sustain and persist.

Our ancestors used to live in an organic world.

But this organic world slowly degenerates,
as mankind become less and less contented/grateful.

We want luxuries (e.g. "abundance" of meat)
which could not be provided by Mother Earth.

When Mother Earth can't catch up
with our ever-expanding demand,
we do silly and unnatural interventions
to 'fix the problem" from the surface,
by poisoning small animals,
     hormonising the live stocks,
     genetically modifying cash crops
and eventually intoxicating our ownselves,
-- under the excuse of saving world hunger...

As we can see now,
the lack of gratitude is the fundamental cause
that get non-organic agriculture started.

To revive the organic world
once our ancestors lived in,
we need gratitude.

Hence, Gratitude is the ultimate ingredient of true organic living.


With Gratitude :)
Kee Yew

p/s:
I recently set up an Organic Living Meetup Group.
and sincerely invite you to join in the force to support the organic industry
for the betterment of Mother Earth, if you are residing in Singapore =)

When-is-organic-food-truly-organic
{Learning Holistic Wellness for Wisdom and Compassion}

When is organic food truly organic? (3)

If growing a crop naturally is still not enough to
define an organic crop,
what criterion else is needed?

-- another criterion to ensure a crop being organic
is to abide with harmony.

This is the philosophical core of organic agriculture.

Being natural is not enough.
If a natural agriculture does not harmonise with
the people, animal and environment,
it defeats the ultimate purpose of organic farming.

This 6th criterion is actually the "blanket clause"
to cover all the 'loop holes' that Criterion 5 (plus 4 sub-criteria)
technically fails to cover,
and also to align with the spirit of organic farming.

To harmonise with people, animal and environment
means to cause no harm to people, animal and environment
and to support the survival/sustainability of people, animal and environment.

Anything we do with our food,
as long as
it harms people (e.g. spraying herbicides),
it harms animals (e.g. spraying pesticides),
it harms the environment (e.g. upset the eco-system),
it's drifted away from the spirit of organic living.

This brings up the myths of organic meat.

Slaughtering, fundamentally does not adhere to the principle of
mutual harmony between
human (acidic food) and
animals (suffering and killing) and
environment (pollution).
Even tho' the animal is fed with purely organic feed,
the meat should not be considered as organic food.

Another perspective is that,
because meat is an inefficient manner to feed population on Earth,
hence not sustainable,
meat is totally out of the organic scene.

Organic living is more than just free from chemical, really.


Well regards,
Kee Yew


When-is-organic-food-truly-organic

{Learning Holistic Wellness for Wisdom and Compassion}

When is organic food truly organic? (2)

Why an organic crop could still be wrongly defined
even it doesn't get in touch with a single molecule of
harmful chemical, pollutant or contaminant?

This is because:

1. the four criteria mentioned previously
    could be technically 'plagiarised',
    e.g. fertilising crops with high-Nitrogen biomass-derived
          (ie non-synthetic) fertilizer
          that boosts the growth and green-ness of a crop,
          will result in risky level of residual
          nitrites in the plant, causing harm to consumers.

2. the fulfilment of the four criteria doesn't necessarily
    adheres to the core principle of organic agriculture
    e.g. traditionally crossing related species of crops to derive a super variety,
           eventually resulting in wiping off its wild type relatives in nature.
          [this effect can be as bad as growing a GMO, environmental-wise; but
           the crop is still defined as organic, since it fulfills all 4 criteria]

The four certification criteria emphsize on
only the measureable aspects of organic agricultural practice.

The 4 basic criteria hence have to be supplemented with
a 5th criterion which is
natural farming.
This is when 'organic' is getting difficult to measure or it's almost inmeasurable.

Natural farming means going by the flow of nature.
As mentioned, it's not quite measureable,
so it's not possible to list out all the parameters.

But there are a few examples here to illustrate:
E.g.1  to grow crops which are local
E.g.2  to grow crops according to season
E.g.3. to refrain from human manipulation (like cross-breeding, air-conditioning & sheltering)

~ growing crops on a non-indigeneous land or in the wrong season,
will compromise the survival/competence/health of a crop.
This in turn "justifies" for heavy fertilisation (even tho' non-synthetic)
and eventually leads to possible 'poisoning' of crop and low nutrient content.

That's why it's not surprising to see no difference in nutrients level between
both chemical-free organic Choy Sum
and non-organic Choy Sum grown in tropical Singapore
(which is not native to Choy Sum of temperate origin).

--  This is when parties with 'vested interest' invest in research studies
and claim that it's not worthwhile growing organic crops
since there is no added value in nutrition.

As one may observe by now,
Criteria 1-4 are actually the measureable subset of Criteria 5,
to facilitate certification and easy referencing.

To grow a crop organically
is to grow a crop in a manner abiding to natural laws,
so that the crop is full of life-force.
(note: the word 'organic' means pertaining to life)

So, if a crop is grown naturally and is full of life-force,
can it be fully-defined as an organic crop?

May or may not be.

Explanation to come..

Well wishes,
Kee Yew

When-is-organic-food-truly-organic


{Learning Holistic Wellness for Wisdom and Compassion}

Reviewing past content @ Learning Holistic Wellness (May 2009 - Mar 2011)

It's has almost been two years
since I first started to do blogging.
And before I realise,
there have already been almost 200 posts.

Hence, I thought it would be useful to
consolidate some special blog postings that
are worth re-visiting.
This content page will also provide convenience
for readers to access to some important wellness information :)

Happy reading!


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Vegetarian Wellness:

Appreciating the intrinsic ingredient of life -- Water
Awareness on the Rice
The Fats of Life
The Healing Power of Juices
The critical veg issue of Vitamin B12



Organic Living:

When is organic food truly organic?
How to kick start with Organic Living




Biogenic Living:

Raw Food with the OMMH!
Super Whole Food: Raw Sprouted Beans
The true life force behind Biogenic Cuisine
Life Force Recipes - Explanatory Notes



Holistic Science:

Stories Untold Behind Cancer
The humble truth of genes



Holistic support:

Vegehub.Org: A new landmark for vegetarian landscape
Enhanced Search Engine for Organic Living!
Putting Vegetarian Theories into Practice (Comparative listing of good water systems, edible oils and veg outlets)
The stories behind Simple Vegetarian



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Should there be any questions about the topics discussed above,
please do email pureland2012-at-gmail.com :-)



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You may also subscribe to Learning Holistic Wellness by Email,
if you would like timely notice of future blog posting.






Well regards,
Kee Yew
pureland2012-at-gmail.com


{Learning Holistic Wellness for Wisdom and Compassion}