The harmful effects from the use of toxic pesticides and herbicides have reached their geographic and pandemic peak. Or haven’t they just yet?

Zoologists around the World acknowledge that the vanishing of certain species of animals occur due to intensive chemical agriculture. The general weakening of the immune system of humans in many countries of the World is related by doctors with the quality of food which people generally consume. Most of that food has been grown with the use of synthetic fertilizers, toxic pesticides and herbicides, stored and transported in the conditions of deep conservation.

The harmful agrochemicals in foods are impossible to get rid of. Residues of pesticides in drinking water (coming from contaminated ground waters of the vast agricultural lands), vegetables, fruit and cereals remain in food and get consumed by people. The residues of pesticides and herbicides which accumulate in human bodies intoxicate immune systems with heavy metals and cancerous substances which eventually effect human genes. One of the most drastic negative effects on the human genes though come from the genetically modified (GM) crops which get consumer by humans.

Most of the GM plants come to the market with the depressed reproduction gene. The reproduction limitation is introduced by GM seed producers in order to control the steady supply of the seeds by demotivating farmers collect seeding material from the harvested GM crops.

The negative influence of toxic pesticides and herbicides applied on commercial crops is tremendous. There will come time when Syngenta, Aventis, Monsanto, Bayer, BASF, Dow, DuPont, Sumitomo, Makhtesim-Agan, FMC and other manufacturers of toxic pesticides and herbicides will be taken to the international court for their current earnings on the mass murder of animals and humans around the World.

Source: Pesticide-free Biodynamic Foods

Substances likely to be harmful to bees will also be outlawed as bees are essential for the pollination of crops, while 20 percent of pesticides are very toxic to bees. The harmful use of pesticides has been the major reason for the recent sudden die-off of bee communities around the Planet.

Aerial crop spraying of pesticides will also be almost completely prohibited, with minor exceptions.

The EU’s ban of the most toxic pesticides met an unprecedented opposition from the British parliamentarians of the UK’s Tory and LaboUr parties. The great resistance from the UK government and the British agribusiness was based on the primary assertion that food prices would soar as the crop yields would decrease. However, most unbiased agri experts believe there is now grounded verification of those worries, and, on the opposite, many crops varieties have been endangered by the use of toxic pesticides which have ruined the natural balance of pest control in the fields causing major losses in productivity. Not to mention the facts of immense harm caused by those toxins to the health of humans both farmers and consumers.

Organic farmers worldwide prove that better crops with no use of pesticides can be grown without any losses of yields. Moreover, such pesticide-free crops can be preserved much better. The UK’s Soil Association says research based on UK government data suggests that more food could in fact be produced under organic production compared to conventional farming.

A study published by the United States National Research Council in 1993 determined that for infants and children, the major source of exposure to pesticides is through diet. A study in 2006 measured the levels of organophosphorus pesticide exposure in 23 school children before and after replacing their diet with organic food (food grown without synthetic pesticides). In this study it was found that levels of organophosphorus pesticide exposure dropped dramatically and immediately when the children switched to an organic diet. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pesticides)

Happy people eat happy food. Happy food, just like happy people, enjoy their conditions: they don’t have stresses nor suffer from thirst, hunger or diseases. Happy foods grows in most favorable natural conditions on happy soils. And, happy soils in their turn, enjoy the best conditions the Earth can ever provide: friendly bacteria to supply with nutrients and enough moisture.

Eventually, the best food is well-balanced food. Best balanced food can only grow in an environment which is naturally balanced and doesn’t need any synthetic stimulation

The modern myth of inevitable need for mass production of everything including food has been invented by the large corporations who hardly recognize food for its quality or taste but rather for the profit margin it can deliver them preferrably in any market in the world. Big vendors replace real taste with flavor substitutes and even replace entire core indgridients covering up with all sorts of wellbeing and  health-protection stories.

One good example is butter which is often no longer made of natural cow milk but rather cheaper substitutes like palm oil. The story of “unhealthy” milk-based butter first came based on the attempt to persuade consumers that cholesterol which was contained in cow milk based butter was the reason for many heart deseases. The truth is totally opposite though. Only 25% of all choresterol comes with food (Source: American Heart Association). Out of that percentage, the volume of natural butter has never been as sugnificant to cause any heart deseases. Big vendors of popular butter brands simply needed to make more profit every new year on the traditional product which could not be improved that much anymore. So, they presented pseudo-cardiologists who “educated” consumers about the need of a “healthier” substitute.

The value of the natural taste today has been depreciated by the vendors’ cost-cutting attempt to the cheap, synthetic substitute of a [resembling] flavor. The rich nutrient contents of natural foods have been replaced by the lower-cost substitutes. Corporations will most naturally continue to cut costs on food production thus depreciating its natural value more and more IF ONLY the consumer doesn’t change the eating habbits.

The Best Food of the Future will be the authentic,  naturally grown food. The myth that only mass production or industrial conventional production of food can ensure the stable supply of inexpensive food is fully groundless. The mass production food consumer buy today in supermarkets carries more in marketing and logistics costs than in the actual value of the food itself. Not to mention the extra costs of synthetic conservatives which ensure a longer shelf life of a product in a supermarket.

The best foods of the future will come directly from the healthy fields to trustworthy food stores in your neighbourhood. Small private bakeries will bake tasty bread with flour freshly milled and custom delivered to them. In fact, you as a customer will pre-order that particular loaf of bread to make sure you always get your favorit food (the best food of yours) on time!

Source: biodynamic-foods.com

Material below is reproduced under CC from EWG’s Food News. Visit the FoodNews site for more details on the research  methodology and background information.

The Full List: 47 Fruits & Veggies

click here to print the printer-friendly full list.

Note: EWG ranked a total of 47 different fruits and vegetables but grapes are listed twice because it looked at both domestic and imported samples.

As an African American farmer from Mississippi who has visited and traveled to Africa many times, I am stunned that the real solutions continue to be ignored. We face multiple crises — financial, climate, energy, and water. Business as usual will not solve our global hunger crisis. More expensive genetically modified seeds, pesticides and chemical-intensive practices won’t help the hungry and will only allow more profits and control for seed companies like Monsanto and Syngenta.

While the G8 calls for more “free trade” in agriculture and more biotechnology, groundbreaking scientific reports and actions at the United Nations are actively calling for a different vision of agriculture. This would be based on agroecological methods that respects our planet’s resources and provide a decent living for family farmers. In 2008, the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD), backed by United Nations agencies, the World Bank and over 400 contributing scientists from 80 countries found that the most promising solutions to the world’s food crisis include investing in agroecological research, extension and farming.=2 0The Congress and Obama Administration need to take a serious look at the IAASTD report before funneling scarce resources into another Green Revolution in Africa.

Past public-private partnerships in Africa have proven to be failures, such as the 14-year project between Monsanto, USAID and the Kenyan Agricultural Research Institute to engineer a virus-resistant sweet potato. The GM sweet potato failed to show any resistance to the virus while local varieties actually outperformed the GM variety in field trials. The U.S. approach to helping Africa should not be a top-down process that excludes the voices of African farmers who have the knowledge of their land and what food to grow.

The UN is helping to move the discussion towards “food sovereignty” by appointing a Special Rapporteur on the “Right to Food.” and convening a Panel on the Right to Food. I was privileged to hear General Coordinator of La Via Campesina Henry Saragih of Indonesia and Professor Olivier De Schutter before the United Nations General Assembly. De Schutter said, “the right to food is not simply about more production, but about distribution and access. While high food prices are bad for consumers, so too are depressed prices for farmers who can’t20make a living. De Schutter pointed out that 60% of hungry people in the world are small farmers, pastoralists, fisherfolk and others who make a living off the land. An additional 20% are landless agriculture workers.”

A “right to food” framework therefore goes deeper than simply the misguided obsession with yields and productivity, and more fundamentally towards questions regarding democracy and access to resources, including land, water and credit. A recent report by Union of Concerned Scientists titled “Failure to Yield: Evaluating the Performance of Genetically Engineered Crops,” showed that despite 20 years of research and 13 years of commercialization, genetic engineering has failed to significantly increase U.S. crop yields while only driving up costs for farmers.

In comparison, traditional breeding continues to deliver better results. The scientific research and renewed focus on the “right to food” exposes why we must move away from Green Revolution monoculture practices and instead embrace ecologically sound practices, more equitable trade rules and local food distribution systems to empower family farmers. Now the governments of the world and the Gates Foundation need to finally get the message as well.

GREEN REVOLUTION A FAILURE IN AFRICA
APRIL 22, 2009
– Ben Burkett
Ben Burkett is a Mississippi farmer and President of the Mississippi Association of Cooperatives. He is also the President of the National Family Farm Coalition and represents North American on the Food Sovereignty Commission of La Via Campesina. The National Family Farm Coalition (NFFC) was founded in 1986 to serve as a national link for grassroots organizations working on family farm issues. www.nffc.net

Organic or bio food demand has been growing rapidly in the past decade as people have been becoming more knowledgeable about the negative impact of intensive chemical agriculture and aggressive commercial expansion of genetically modified crops.

Consumers worldwide have become more concerned about sustainability of the environment and the healthy daily menus.

Organic technologies in agriculture are the only way to ensure the production of organic fruit, organic vegetables and organic grains which constitute the daily menus of the entire World’s population.

Bio or organic food is not a premium segment as it’s often perceived by public. Somewhat higher prices for organic fruit and vegetables in retail outlets are determined by lower volumes of production and higher demand for organic food today.

With more and more farmers around the World turning to organic agriculture, there is a clear and promising future for more efficient organic production technologies such as biodynamic farming. Naturally, more efficient technologies will result in organic agriculture becoming the only acceptable way of growing food for daily consumption worldwide.

Organic food is the ultimate key to healthier living and it is a global responsibility to make organic food affordable for everyone by supporting sustainable agricultural production and promoting organic way of living in every country of the World.