Nutrition Myth-Busting: Pesticides ARE Used in Organic Growing Methods — Here’s How They Are Different

By Sophia Claire Linkas, Rejuvenan Nutrition Team

In grocery stores, we are often faced with a choice between organic and non-organic foods. But what’s the real difference between them? Yes, organic foods tend to be more expensive, but why?

Many people assume that organic means absolutely no chemicals or pesticides are used during farming. This is not necessarily true.

Yes, eating organic food exposes you to far fewer pesticides, but the question of whether or not growers use pesticides is not the root of what makes organic farming better than conventional. Let me explain.

To use the “Organic” label you see in the grocery store, farmers have to be up to par on a stringent set of requirements, some of which may surprise you. For one, organic farmers are prohibited from using genetic engineering, ionizing radiation and sewage sludge in any of their growing practices. They are also not allowed to grow organic food on land that has been touched by any prohibited substances — mostly synthetic pesticides and fertilizers — within the past three years.

The real difference between organic and conventional food lies in the management practices required by the organic label. This is also where the confusion over pesticides in organic food lies.

To be able to label foods as organic, the USDA requires that farmers use physical, mechanical and biological controls for pest, weed and disease control before they can justify using biological, botanical or synthetic substances. This means organic farms use a pest management strategy ensuring they only use pesticides after all other preventive and less invasive measures have failed. Meanwhile, industrial farms tend to use mass applications of synthetic pesticides before they can tell whether it’s necessary, contributing significantly to water contamination, declining bee populations and biodiversity loss in soil.

For pest management specifically, the USDA requires that organic farmers use Integrated Pest Management (IPM) for all of their crops, aka all of our organic produce. To really understand how pesticides are used in organic growing, you have to understand IPM. I’ve listed the basic steps of IPM below. Organic farmers…

1. Set an action threshold, usually based on the projected economic losses if no pest management action is taken.

2. Monitor and identify pests. Farmers must know their system and recognize the specific problems their fields have.

• This step ensures farmers avoid treating problems they don’t have.

3. Exercise prevention using cultural methods that confuse, distract and relocate pests, such as trap crops, crop rotation, intercropping, and pest resistant seed varieties.

4. Implement controls, starting with the least risky methods — physical, mechanical and biological — then, if those don’t work, using highly targeted chemical controls including the following:

• Physical & mechanical: Directly kill pests, i.e. farmers manually finding and squishing potato beetles from crops
• Biological: Use natural enemies to control pests, i.e. farmers bringing parasitic wasps into their tomato fields to control hornworm populations
• Chemical: Repellants and microbials, i.e. using naturally-derived pesticides such as pyrethrins, chemicals from the chrysanthemum plant, to protect greens, or one of the few approved synthetic pesticides if applicable to the specific situation

5. Reassess

In Conclusion…

Organically-grown foods contain significantly lower levels of pesticides compared to conventionally-grown foods, because organic farmers are required to use Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in order to be able to use the “Organic” label in grocery stores. Not because they are prohibited from using pesticides in their growing process.

Bottom line — whether to choose organic or conventionally grown produce is a personal decision. If it comes down to a choice between conventionally grown produce or no produce at all, it’s always better from a human health perspective to eat more fruits and vegetables no matter how they are grown.