There has been much talk in recent years about the global environment and what issues have developed since the bulk of farming is conventional farming instead of the more traditional organic farming.  Conventional farming allows for the use of synthetic chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides—some of which has been found to harm the environment, even when used correctly.

Countries throughout the world are, to varying degrees, exploring organic farming techniques as environmentally-friendly ways to grow produce for the world’s population while keeping the environment as healthy as possible.  Organic farming, as we know it today, began in Central Europe and in India.  Today, there are many countries dedicated to growing produce using organic techniques without reducing the world’s food supply.

In the US, organic food can be formally certified “organic” by passing strict guidelines assuring the food is truly organic. The certifying organization is known as the “National Organic Program”. 

There are other organic food movements in the US, however, that are trying to bypass the formality of certification by proposing other, less expensive standards, like the “Authentic Food Standard”. 

This standard allows for the passage of various criteria, including that all foods be sold by the organic producer, that fresh produce, milk, eggs and meat be sold within 50 miles of their production and that cheese, wine, bread and other fermented products be produced using traditional methods.

Another US-based organic food approach is based on producing and selling organic food products locally.  Consumers partner with local farmers and pre-purchase a certain percentage of the year’s harvest.  Supporters believe that locally-produced and sold organic foods taste better than those foods transported over long distances in refrigerated trucks. 

Throughout the world, food that is grown using strictly organic techniques accounts for approximately 1-2 percent of gross food sales. 

Organic food sales, however, are growing dramatically worldwide.  In fact, the world organic food market has been growing consistently since 1990 at a rate of 20 percent per year.

In the European Union, the EU-Eco-regulation organization regulates all of the organic food in Europe.  In Austria, organic farmers have been given incentives and experts expect that up to 10% of all foods grown locally.  In Germany, almost all baby food is completely organic and, in some places, up to a third of all bread is baked using organic ingredients.  

Italy has gone even further to assure that its children eat organic food.  Its government has legislated that, as of 2005, all food prepared in school lunch programs must be organic food.

In the UK, it was reported that more than 600,000 hectares of land was allotted and managed under organic care standards and sales of organic foods increased from approximately 100 million pounds to over 1.2 billion pounds in only ten years.

Perhaps the biggest change has happened in Cuba, where, in 1990, the government banned many chemicals used in conventional farming and converted the land in the entire country to organic farm land.  This means that it would be rare to even find a piece of conventionally grown produce within the country. 

Clearly the globe is going organic and several countries are light years ahead of the US in promoting organic eating and providing incentives to organic farmers.  The trend, however, is definitely headed in the right direction.

Fifteen years ago, you may have had a hard time finding an organic tomato in your local supermarket.  Due to recent farming advances and public awareness, however, consumers can find a host of organic products in supermarket shelves and in the produce section of grocery stores across America.  How did we come to the point we’re at today and when did buying produce become so complicated.

In truth, it’s the type of farming in which farmers use artificial pesticides, herbicides and other conventional farming techniques that is really historically new to us.  Before 1940, much of the produce grown and eaten in American homes was totally organic and was often picked no further than one’s own backyard.  

The use of chemical additives and even farm implements we see today gradually found its way into farming in the first half of the Twentieth Century.  In 1950, there were three million tractors in the US, up from 600 tractors in 1910.  At about the same time, proponents of organic farming techniques began to practice their trade, beginning in Central Europe and India around 1920.  

Organic farming methods began to reach consumer awareness, beginning in the 1950s and, in the following two decades, there was an increasing concern about the environmental effects of farming techniques using chemical pesticides and herbicides. 

This was when food-purchasing cooperatives and specialized organic food producers came to the forefront among some consumers.

In the 1970s and 1980s, regulators recognized a growing need for some way to provide organic certification to those farmers who followed specific growing rules and who used approved growing techniques.  It wasn’t, however, until the 1990s that the formal or governmental certification of organic foods became available in the US and in several countries throughout the world.

In the last two decades, the availability of organic foods on the market grew dramatically and, at one point, the surge of growth of the organic food market exceeded twenty percent per year.  In fact, the sales of organic baby food increased by almost twenty-two percent in 2006 alone.

In the last five to seven years, multinational food companies have jumped on the organic food bandwagon and have increased their research and development of foods that could be certified organic.  This has led to an increase in the availability of processed organic foods and in the lowering of the cost of these types of products.  

In today’s time, organic foods continue to be more expensive than their conventional counterparts, in part due to the fact that organic farmers must meet stricter quality guidelines.  This is a labor intensive process that drives up the costs of the product.

To meet consumer demand, supermarkets strictly devoted to providing organic foods, such as the Whole Foods Market and Waitrose (in the UK), have gone into business and are providing quality organic foods to consumers.  In order to provide organic foods to a larger population, Wal-Mart announced its plans to increase the availability of organic foods to its customers and at a lower cost than the supermarkets.

It appears that, almost as soon as the big farmers began putting synthetic pesticides and herbicides on their crops, a backlash developed and a group of dedicated farmers and consumers worked—and continue to work toward improving the availability and quality of organic foods for those food consumers who can’t grow an organic produce garden in their own backyard.