Orfo-nomics: Making a head and tail of the cost markup

The other day a trip to a street corner organic store yielded quite a few brow raising revelations. A 10 minute chat with the store owner reeked of hypocritical treatment being doled out to those in the business of making the cleanest and safest of food. An organic food producer requires to go for extensive documentation and certifications, while a street hawker thrives and sells a pesticides laden pumpkin without an iota of administrative hassles, forget remorse. Yes, the burden of proof, in its entriety, lies on those who strive for a better world and a healthier you. That really does create quite a few entry barriers and barriers in your path of treading the organic lane.

This being one, what other things drive the cost, or rather makes it prohibitive for an individual to re engineer his food basket? Density is one reason. You need far more land to generate the same amount of organic product as compared to "non" organic. More land costs more. Takes more time to work. Labor costs are higher. And the "loss" of product to insect and disease is far greater.

Still, why does organic produce tilts the scales when you weigh it against the extra moolah you dish out? Interestingly, a four-year, $25 million European Union study raised fruits, vegetables and cows on adjacent organic and nonorganic sites at a 725-acre farm near Newcastle University in England. Researchers found organic produce contained upto 40 percent more anti oxidants, besides containing higher levels of iron, copper and zinc. As for the organic milk, it contained up to 90 percent more antioxidants. Just for the record, oxidative stress contributes to the development of a wide range of diseases including the deadly Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and most notably cardio vascular diseases.

So if growing organic foods is healthier for the farmer, the shipper, the cattle and of course the consumer, not to forget it doling a benign treatment to our soil, water and air, then don't you feel the extra cost of organic foods is a wise long-term investment? Economies of scale is the only solution I see, breaking the barriers to you going on the organic super highway. Once again, at the cost of sticking my neck out, the parity leading to a transformation from an 'initiative' to an 'imperative' shall come sooner than you think, 5 years and your 90% of the food basket shall be organic! Amen.