Study Finds Organic Farming Superior

A new study examining the differences between industrial and organic strawberry farming has just shown organic farming to be the all around best method.

A paper by scientists at Washington State University was published in the online journal PLoS ONE yesterday. “Our findings have global implications and advance what we know about the sustainability benefits of organic farming systems,” said John Reganold, of WSU and lead author of the paper. “We also show you can have high quality, healthy produce without resorting to an arsenal of pesticides.” “There is no paper in the literature that comprehensively and quantitatively compares so many indices of both food and soil quality at multiple sampling times on so many commercial farms,” explained Reganold. Some of the reported results were are follows: Organic Farming vs Industrial

• The organic strawberries had significantly higher antioxidant activity and concentrations of ascorbic acid and phenolic compounds.
• The organic strawberries had more dry matter, or, “more strawberry in the strawberry.”
• The organic strawberries had longer shelf life.
• Anonymous testers, working at times under red light so the fruit color would not bias them, found one variety of organic strawberries was sweeter, had better flavor, and once a white light was turned on, appearance. The testers judged the other two varieties to be similar.

Organic farming is a rapidly growing practice around the world. Since 1990, the market for organic products has grown at a rapid pace, to reach $46 billion in 2007.

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