Is organic food more expensive for farmers?

The production of organic food costs more and also entails significant price premiums at the farm level. We compared more than 100 product combinations in total. On average, organic foods were 47 percent more expensive, but the range was enormous. In a couple of cases, the organic product was actually cheaper, up to 13 percent for honey on Amazon Fresh.

In fact, depending on where we bought, we found organic lettuce, carrots, maple syrup, olive oil and cream cheese for the same price or less than their conventional counterparts.

Organic food

reflects the real cost of producing food, from providing sustainable remuneration for farmers to the elimination of toxic synthetic pesticides, added hormones, antibiotics and GMOs. Organic Valley said that the organic label “is not easy to obtain and partly explains why consumers pay more for these products. All animal foods must be organic and not raised with synthetic pesticides such as glyphosate or GMOs.

In developed countries, uncertified organic foods are often sold directly to consumers through programs that support local communities, such as checkout systems, farmers' markets and at the farm door. Organic foods are more expensive, in part because of the strict USDA organic certification standards that are required on the farm, during transportation and at production facilities. However, because we refuse to cut costs and because everything we do is and will always be organic, our organic food is often a more expensive option. In the spirit of not wasting a drop, organic foods, such as single-serving milk that cannot be stored, are a great addition to lunches and snacks, and make sending donations safer for us.

Although uncertified products do not benefit from price premiums, there have been some documented cases in which uncertified organic agriculture increases the productivity of the total agricultural agroecosystem and saves on the purchase of external inputs. The “natural label,” according to Organic Valley, an organic food cooperative associated with several New York farms, simply means that a food product contains no added colorants, artificial flavors, or synthetic substances, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). There he is in the supermarket, looking at the shelf wondering why Organic Valley and other USDA-certified organic products are more expensive than other foods. Organic is one of the most stringent food certifications in the country, and organic agriculture is an approach to growing food with nature.

Uncertified organic agriculture refers to organic farming practices intentionally and not by default; this excludes unsustainable systems that do not use synthetic inputs but that degrade soils due to the lack of soil construction practices.