If you have never watched a video I posted, this is the perfect time to start and this is the best video for you to see!
Organic farmers use organic pesticides. The next question is simple: What’s the difference?
Check out this video that features farmers that actually farm both conventionally and organically:
See? That’s why I keep telling you – organic is a marketing decision.
My favorite observation in the video is this – many times “synthetic” pesticides are only “synthetic” because of how they were created. This was mentioned in my article with Steve Savage about the little girl’s science experiment gone wrong. In our article, we discussed a new sprout inhibitor for potatoes called SmartBlock. SmartBlock is derived from natural sources – such as yogurt, tuna, soy and, mushrooms – but scientists recreated the exact same thing in the lab. That makes it much easier to collect and use (and, I imagine, cheaper), but prohibits it from being used in organic agriculture. But conventional farmers are starting to use it as an effective tool in prohibiting potatoes from sprouting.
Organic isn’t about whether something is better for the environment or safer – it focuses on this random distinction about whether something is sourced “naturally” or not.
Also interesting, in that same article, we noted that the organic sprout inhibitor was much less effective and had to be sprayed as many as 5-8 times to work. The farmers in the video confirmed that was the case for other organic pesticides as well.
It should be noted, however, that we don’t know for certain which system is more harmful. This is because we do not look at organic pesticides the same way that we look at conventional pesticides. We don’t know how long these organic pesticides persist in the environment, or the full extent of their effects.
What would cause the difference in effectiveness between the natural sprout inhibitor and the identical synthetic version? If there are the same compound, shouldn’t they have the same effectiveness?
I was discussing two different sprout inhibitors. The SmartBlock is not widely used (yet), but the synthetic variety is the same as the version found naturally. As for the organic inhibitor not being as effective, I was referring to the one that is in use now by organic farmers. I believe the original article states it a little more clearly than I did here. Sorry about that. 🙂