What is Regenerative Organic?

Article by Stefan Burns - Updated December 2021. Join the Wild Free Organic email newsletter!

Regenerative organic is a farming method that enriches the Earth, treats animals humanely, and increases the production of crops through the latest in permaculture science. Regenerative organic farming is very similar to biodynamic farming. Regenerative organic farming and production creates and maintains a regenerative cycle that enriches the land it uses with nutrients.

Farms around the world that practice regenerative organic methods are helping to mitigate the effects of climate change, reduce factory farming, and empower rural economies.

Regenerative Organic Farming

There are many different practices that are important to regenerative organic farming, and the methods listed below and are the most notable.

• Cultivation and maintenance of vegetative cover on cultivated land

• Crops are rotated in order to keep soil nutrients balanced and free of depletion of any particular nutrient

• Nitrogen fixing cover crops are utilized at least once during a full crop rotation (3-7+ crops sequentially grown in one area)

• Soil disturbance is kept to a minimum

• Rotational grazing is utilized, and ecologically sensitive areas are not grazed when it could have a negative impact on the ecosystem

• Invasive species are monitored and managed

• Endangered plants and animals are protected

• Other regenerative practices are implemented such as the creation of pollinator habitats, agroforestry, mulching, ecosystem restoration, the planting of perennials, water conservation, and more.

Regenerative Organic Certification

Regenerative Organic Certified (ROC) is a food and product certification that provides a framework for farmers and producers to improve soil health and nutrient load, promote animal welfare, and follow fair trade principles.

Notably, if you’ve ever read the label on a bottle of Dr. Bronner’s castile soap, then you might have seen that their products are regenerative organic certified. Dr. Bronner’s helped to establish the Regenerative Organic Certification, and they are one of the first large companies to pledge to follow regenerative organic principles, meaning their network of farmers and producers are all being paid fairly and transparently while utilizing permaculture methods that sequester carbon and enrich the soil with nutrients.

What is the Difference between Organic and Regenerative Organic?

Many organic certifications, most notably the USDA’s organic certification, have been around for decades. Food and products that are organic certified are superior to those equivalent products that aren’t organic certified because they use less fertilizers and pesticides, treat the environment better, and pay farmers/producers more fairly*.

The issue with organic certifications is that many loopholes exist within the certification and there is documented forgery of products being labeled organic and not actually being from farmers and producers who follow the organic guidelines. Organic products are better than conventional products with zero certification, but there is still a wide range of adherence and quality within the standard. Some organic certified farmers and producers who truly believe in permaculture principles produce outstanding food and products free from chemical use, in the process of production regenerating the land and sequestering carbon. Other organic certified participants do the bare minimum to stay certified, impacting the environment to a greater degree while resulting in lower quality food and products and charging similar prices as the higher quality organic producers.

Since nearly the inception of the organic certification experts have been calling for a better standard to follow, and some do exist such as the Demeter Biodynamic Certification, but foods and products with these better certifications are rare to find in the marketplace. Established in 2017, the regenerative organic certification currently finds itself in a similar situation, but it’s inherent advantage is that built into its name is a consumer understanding of the benefits of going organic. Because of this, the regenerative organic certification has the very real possibility of dethroning the more well known organic certification, with consumers preferring to purchase regenerative organic foods and products over simply organic ones once educated as to the many additional benefits that exist by going ROC.

The regenerative organic certification solves the many problems of the organic certification with its intelligently designed framework. By agreeing to follow regenerative organic principles, farmers and producers can cut out the guess work in designing a similar system themselves, and simultaneously receive resources, support, and expert guidance from the Regenerative Organic Alliance.

*Note - Every dollar spent is a vote for the future, so with every purchase make sure to support the future you want. Personally I only share my money with individuals and companies that believe in and work towards making the world a happier healthier place that’s fair for everyone, great or small.

The Three Pillars Of Regenerative Organic Certified

There are three main pillars to the principles of regenerative organic farming and production. As stated on regenorganic.org:

Soil Health

• Builds Soil Organic Matter

• Conservation Tillage

• Cover Crops

• Crop Rotations

• No GMOs or Gene Editing

• No Soilless Systems

• No Synthetic Inputs

• Promotes Biodiversity

• Rotational Grazing

Animal Welfare

• Five Freedoms

  • Freedom from discomfort

  • Freedom from fear & distress

  • Freedom from hunger

  • Freedom from pain, injury or disease

  • Freedom to express normal behavior

• Grass-Fed / Pasture-Raised

• Limited Transport

• No CAFOs

• Suitable Shelter

Social Fairness

• Capacity Building

• Democratic Organizations

• Fair Payments for Farmers

• Freedom of Association

• Good Working Conditions

• Living Wages

• Long Term Commitments

• No Forced Labor

• Transparency and Accountability

Pledging to these principles makes the regenerative organic certification extremely powerful. In effect, when purchasing regenerative organic foods and products, you can be assured that you’re helping to improve soil health and sequester carbon, won’t be exposed to GMOs or any synthetic chemicals, all animals involved in the production will be treated humanely and are pasture-raised, all while supporting a more transparent and democratic marketplace that is fair trade and pays living wages.

Instead of shopping for products that contain the organic, non-GMO project verified, humane certified, and fair trade labels, simply be on the lookout for the ROC label to ensure that every dollar spent is supporting a fair and humane system that regenerates the Earth along the way.

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Disclosure: Affiliate links for Amazon in the article generate a commission for Wild Free Organic without raising the purchase price. These commissions are used to grow Wild Free Organic. Thank you

Hugelkultur for a drought resistant garden

Article by Stefan Burns - Updated November 2021. Join the Wild Free Organic email newsletter!

Hügelkultur is a regenerative organic permaculture technique where a pile of wood debris and compostable plant materials is buried into and capped with soil. As the wood and plant matter decomposes, these materials hold water and slowly amend into the soil. Deeply burying logs, wood, leaves, grasses, native mushrooms, and food scraps in this way creates fungal, soil microbiome, and insect communities, improving soul fertility. Once everything is decomposed enough, vigorous plant growth can then occur. Depending on the layer of soil used to cap a hügelkultur mound, and how deeply it was initially buried, it can be planted upon immediately. The plants, soil microbiome, mycelium networks, and critters like worms are provided a large source of nutrients and energy stored in the plant materials, and over time a hügelkultur mound becomes a rich thriving community.

The 4 layers of a Hugelkultur mound.

How to create a hügelkultur mound

1. First dig a hole 0.5 - 2 meters deep

2. Add the logs or natural wood scraps to the hole, placing the largest materials at the bottom and the lightest and smallest pieces to the top.

3. Add leaves, weeds, and grasses to the pile. Mushrooms found in the local ecosystem can also be added at this point, and/or a fungal mychorrizal inoculant can be used.

4. Cap and mound with dirt. The pile will settle with time so mounding is recommended.

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Timing - when to install

Hügelkultur mounds act as water sponges, and during the rainy months decomposition accelerates as the wood fibers and other organics hold onto water in their cellular structures. For this reason, the best time to install a hügelkultur mound would be at the end of the dry season, typically at the end of summer harvest. When created during the end of the dry season, all the rainfall received over the coming months loads the hügelkultur with water and accelerates the decomposition and soil amendment process. Any old and dead plants, as well as weeds and leaves, can be added to the pile on top of the logs/wood. By doing this plant productivity and nutrients originally extracted and refined from the soil can be reincorporated into the soil in more complex forms. Any plants that went to seed, for example kale plants, which are then added to the pile add nutrition and any seeds that naturally sprout and grow in the pile at the end of the wet season aerate the soil and potentially require little to zero input or work until they are themselves ready to harvest. The decomposition and soil building process can be improved with the addition of a mycorrhizal inoculant. Depending on the size of the hügelkultur being created, adding one or more 2 lb bags of the inoculant can make a huge difference in how quickly everything breaks down.

Done properly, Hügelkultur creates living soil and creates a self-sustaining and propagating ecosystem, requiring less work in the long run while creating more output.

With the mounds and surrounding soils loaded with water during wet season, any plants which can grow roots deep enough into the mound will the rewarded with ample water and easily accessible organic matter. Watering requirements can go down, and with development year-round drought-resistant gardens can be established using hügelkultur.

New Hugelkultur mound freshly capped. Installed at the end of the wet season, by the start of the next dry season 12 months later, this area will be the ideal place to plant vigorously growing crops like squash, potatoes, or a fruit bearing tree.

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Think of Water

Without water, no garden or food forest can survive. The soil of the land, whether it is sandy, silty, or clay, makes a big difference in how well water will be absorbed rather than drain away. The soils with the best ability to hold water are those made soft and loamy from a high percentage of organic components. Hügelkultur can terraform an area and create a thriving ecosystem in an area typically barren. It’s a method popular in desert areas, where water might come down quickly as rain or snow, and then most is captured into the hügelkultur mounds. As mounds develop and grow in age, new mounds can be placed on top of them, and the cycle continues, further enriching the soil.

If a hügelkultur mound is installed at the end of the wet season, then during the dry season it will pull moisture to it. This can stress the plants in the nearby area, which eventually will grow roots to the hügelkultur pile to access this water. So if installing a hügelkultur mound in the spring for example, make sure to thoroughly soak the wood and compostable before capping with soil in order to minimize this moisture wicking effect. Installing these mounds at the end of the dry season is ideal, but if made at the end of the wet season when the soil is more workable, preloading the mound with water can improve the drought resilience of your garden or permaculture effort. In effect there is never a bad time to install a hügelkultur mound.

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Hugelkultur for Carbon Sequestration

Performing hugelkultur is an excellent way to sequester carbon into the soil. With mass amounts of carbon already having been emitted anthropogenically, and with ever more being released, we need to increase our carbon sequestration efforts individually, as a community, and collectively as a society. Rising temperatures will make widespread hugelkultur a must as water scarcity increases.

Watch the video below to learn more about anthropogenic carbon emissions and methods for how we can sequester carbon.

Five Resources we all Depend On

Article by Stefan Burns - Updated November 2021. Join the Wild Free Organic email newsletter!

All of humanity lives on one planet spinning through the universe, our home we call Earth. 7.8 billion of us (2020 numbers) live here, and while we have so many unique differences between us, which is what makes humanity special, all of us share common ground that unites us in our life journeys. These spared aspects of our existence are of supreme importance, because without them, life as we know it dies. All of humanity shares in this truth, whether embraced, ignored, or ignorant of. We share and use the following:

• Soil

• Water

• Air

• Energy

• Space

Since 7.8 billion people and growing depend on these shared resources that belong to everyone, their management is of supreme importance. Mismanagement or hoarding of any of these resources that deviates from the natural ecological system could cause humanity to go extinct. According to the geologic record, 95% or more of all species who have lived on Earth at one point have gone extinct. In order to not join their ranks, the proper management of these resources in the context of working symbiotically with all other life forms that also call Earth home is and will always be the priority issue that should be at the forefront of collective human consciousness.

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Soil

What is Earth without soil? Earth is a blue planet, but underneath the 333,000,000 cubic miles of water that blanket Earth is a volume far larger composed of minerals. Over eons the hard mineralogy of the planet has developed in complexity, and now rich ecosystems like the amazon rainforest condense water, create oxygen, and provide shelter for much of life on Earth (1). Without good soil, the incredible plant and animal life of the Amazon, and the world, would not be possible.

In a system of extraction, resources are pulled from the Earth and the soil, and no nutrients are added back in. Monocrop agriculture, animal feedlots, the oil and gas industrial complex, and urbanization all extract nutrients from the soil with no regard to replenishing the system through natural means. What is added to the soil are synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, plastics, environmental pollution, petroleum products, and many dangerous chemicals.

The soil of our planet is simultaneously being depleted of nutrients and contaminated with synthetic chemicals in the process by a handful of powerful multinational corporations with greedy interests. Many of these chemicals take decades (2) to thousands of years (3) to break down.

The soil of planet Earth belongs to every inhabitant of this planet, from the invisible microorganisms to the mighty redwoods. Our actions affect everything and everyone, and the health of our soil is a direct result of the actions humanity has taken. It’s time to evolve from systematic extraction to thoughtful enrichment.

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Air

Take three deep breaths and then hold your breath. If you can hold your breath for more than a minute, good job. More than three minutes, excellent!

Without fail though, after some period of time, you’ll need to take a breath before passing out. Avoid breathing for long enough and you die. Of all the shared resources that we depend on, a lack of oxygen will kill you faster than anything. No human can survive without oxygen, and we should all treat our photosynthetic friends with more respect. Without the trees and plants around you, as well as the main oxygen producers of the globe which are the Taiga, rainforests and photosynthetic plankton, oxygen in our atmosphere would not exist. Next time you take a breath in, be grateful to your nearest tree.

Worryingly, oxygen levels have decreased over the past 800 thousand years (4), and this trend has accelerated over the past 150 years as anthropogenic green house emissions have displaced oxygen (5) and natural sinks have continued to sequester oxygen. While oxygen levels are slipping slowly downwards, the effects of this to humanity which are still unknown but unlikely to be good, green house gas emissions and pollution have skyrocketed up over the past 170 years.

Air pollution isn’t any better, with most of the world being exposed to particulates in the air greater than the limit recommended by the WHO.

Air pollution is one of the leading causes of death (x), and green house gases are accelerating global warming at a rate an order of magnitude (10x) faster than ever recorded in the geologic record. Urban air pollution has been strongly linked to increases in common mental disorders such as depression and anxiety (6).

When we dirty the air of our planet, we only harm ourselves and the planet further. Our destructive practices need to end, for our health and for the health of everything that calls this planet home.

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Water

Water is everywhere on Earth. It coats most of the planet’s surface, falls as rain, runs as creeks, streams, and rivers, pools up into lakes and underground water reservoirs, and most of the mineralogy of our planet incorporates water into its crystalline structure. Water is foundational to life. Without water life as we know it on Earth wouldn’t exist. Good luck staying alive longer than 3 days without water. The very things we all share and depend on the most for our survival we take the most for granted.

In our quest for maximum resource extraction, humans have polluted most of the water on this planet, either through oil and gas spills, chemical spills, mine tailings, pesticide applications, or most likely all of the above. Some creatures like amphibians which are sensitive to water pollution, have been going extinct and dying off at an unprecedented rate (7). Pollution weakens the immune system (8), which then allows the dangerous chytrid fungus to wreck havok on amphibian populations worldwide.

With the health and populations of water dependent creatures such as amphibians and fish on a such dramatic decline, then we know there is a large problem with the global water supply.

Offshore, greenhouse gases are being absorbed by the oceans, causing ocean acidification. The ocean has also been acting as a thermal insulator, absorbing much of the heat human activity has generated. Together heat and ocean acidification has destroyed many unique ecologic ocean communities and have bleached corals worldwide (9). Deep groundwater reservoirs are increasingly being contaminated by chemicals, some of which take hundreds of years to break down. Meanwhile tap water is heavily chlorinated, fluorinated, and is contaminated with hundreds of chemicals like estrogen, drugs like cocaine, cleaning agents, pesticides, and more (10).

One person or corporation can contaminate a water supply which serves thousands of people and countless other organisms. Any group or organization that contaminates water should be defunded.

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Energy

Tied to our air quality and agricultural practices is our energy production. Without energy, life cannot exist. From the food we eat to sustain our bodies to the warmth we need on cold nights, each of us requires energy for our survival.

Currently, the health of our planet and bodies is being compromised by the quest for more and more energy. Most people now have a plethora of cheap junk food available to them whenever and whereever. Monopolistic systems keep gas the predominant fuel of choice for automobiles, homes, industrial usage, and more. We consume calories and watts gluttonously, with no remorse or thoughtfulness as to the downstream effects of our energy habits.

Junk highly-processed foods drive a vicious cycle of energy usage and extraction, which upon ingestion harms human health and provides little nutrition other than calories. At the receiving end of this food cycle is contaminated water, nutrient depleted soil, air pollution, the destruction of natural ecosystems, and countless animal deaths and mistreatment. Be mindful of your food choices and all the systems downwind of your purchase that you are supporting. Are you feeding a faceless multinational corporation or your local farmer?

Energy usage of the home is also very important. Green building methods that require far less energy for warming and cooling have been known for centuries, and modern takes on ancient building practices that are self-sufficient and eco-friendly like Earthship homes have been around since the 1970’s (11). These low energy home structures which use the Earth’s thermal mass for heating and cooling still have yet to go mainstream, even though they would alleviate many of the financial issues American are experiencing and would greatly reduce our global impact.

Earthships are also incredible not only for their innovative design and low energy requirements, but the also typically have a garden in the front of the house which grows food year round due to the stable temperatures!

Be conscious of your energy usage, and look to reduce your consumption of petroleum products however possible. Making inroads into transitioning our energy from black oil to green energy will improve all of the other shared resources we depend on, from our air to our soil.

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Space

Something else that all humans need to thrive is space and shelter. Too little personal space can drive a person mad, and increasingly in urban areas green space like communal parks are being paved over and turned into apartment housing, roads, and industrial buildings. Now (at least in 2020 and depending on the country) you can break the law if you leave your home to enjoy the space that we all have have a right too. On all fronts our collective right to explore, assemble, and move are being assaulted by the powers at be.

Spending time in nature can be profoundly healing.

Space to move and be creative in is a fundamental human right that nobody can take away from you, no matter their level of authority. Likewise everyone has a right to live cage-free. Increasingly homes and apartments are being made smaller and smaller, all with a goal to make a higher profit off sale or rent. Be aware of the real issues that face humanity, and the growing control over the shared resources that all of humanity shares by a powerful few.

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What’s the Solution?

There are two main things that can be done to quickly reverse the dark path humanity is walking along.

First, vote with your dollar. The only way to stop the greedy monstrous corporations which treat our planet with such disregard is to starve them. With every dollar you spend, you feed an economy. If you spend your money on natural products, on locally sourced organic non-gmo foods, and on technologies which help our planet, you feed the green revolution and fund others who likewise seek to enrich the planet, not extract from it.

Second, many of the problems of modern society could be solved if more people lived in sustainable architecture like Earthship homes. Living in an Earthship homes saves on energy and building expenses, recycles water, uses solar power, and grows its own food. If you are contemplating purchasing a home, or thinking about moving, seriously consider building an Earthship home and do your part to make this planet a better place. It’s our responsibility to make the right choices.

You can learn more about Earthship homes, and how to build one yourself, by reading Earthship: How to Build Your Own - Vol 1, written by Michael Reynolds.

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Our Path Forward

Our path forward is a simple one. Together we have to say no to the powers at be and cast our votes for the type of planet we want to live on with every dollar spent. We need to follow up our rhetoric with action, and make noticeable changes to our environment, health, and governmental systems. lastly, with every action you take, ask yourself:

“If everyone did what i’m doing right now, would the world be better or worse?”

Imagine what would happen if everyone littered simultaneously whenever you do, or poured a paint bucket down a storm drain when you do, or flicks a cigarette butt outside when you do. The world would be a mess very quickly. This is what is happening right now, but on a slower time scale.

Together hand in hand and armed with peace we can completely transform and revitalize our planet at a rate previously unimaginable. Be brave, live your life with joy, and be the change.

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References:

1. Rainforest statistics facts. Save The Amazon.

2. Pesticides in the nation’s streams and ground water, 1992–2001—a summary. USGS.

3. EWG. Interactive map: pfas contamination crisis: new data show 2,230 sites in 49 states.

4. Stolper DA, Bender ML, Dreyfus GB, Yan Y, Higgins JA. A Pleistocene ice core record of atmospheric O2 concentrations. Science. 2016;353(6306):1427-1430.

5. Huang J, Huang J, Liu X, Li C, Ding L, Yu H. The global oxygen budget and its future projection. Science Bulletin. 2018;63(18):1180-1186.

6. Bakolis I, Hammoud R, Stewart R, et al. Mental health consequences of urban air pollution: prospective population-based longitudinal survey. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. Published online October 24, 2020.

7. Scheele BC, Pasmans F, Skerratt LF, et al. Amphibian fungal panzootic causes catastrophic and ongoing loss of biodiversity. Science. 2019;363(6434):1459-1463.

8. Pinelli C, Santillo A, Chieffi Baccari G, Falvo S, Di Fiore MM. Effects of chemical pollutants on reproductive and developmental processes in Italian amphibians. Mol Reprod Dev. 2019;86(10):1324-1332.

9. Sully S, Burkepile DE, Donovan MK, Hodgson G, van Woesik R. A global analysis of coral bleaching over the past two decades. Nat Commun. 2019;10(1):1264.

10. Group EW. Ewg’s tap water database: what’s in your drinking water?

11. Earthshipglobal. Earthship Biotecture michael reynolds.

How to Create Living Soil - Increase Garden Produce Yields!

Article by Stefan Burns - Updated November 2021. Join the Wild Free Organic email newsletter!

A rich soil that is home to a diverse amount of bugs and microorganisms is the foundation of a healthy garden. Over the years as gardener, I have developed a six step process to revitalize lifeless soil which utilizes the natural environment around you. The method utilizes biodynamic principles developed by Rudolf Steiner, founder of Waldorf Schools.

This common-sense methodology is easy and low-cost, meaning anyone can do this to establish a new garden, or to transform their existing garden. Healthy soil is one of the most important factors when it comes to having a healthy garden that produces an immense amount of fruits and vegetables. Flowers benefit from living soil too, growing better and producing more vibrant petals!

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The Six Step Method

Depending on the scope of the project in mind, and the equipment available at your disposal, starting a soil revitalization project can take a couple hours to a couple weeks. The steps are as follows:

1. Remove trash, metal, waste

2. Aerate the soil

3. Add organics

4. Mix soil

5. Innoculate and seed

6. Water

One of the keys to this method is to perform all these steps simultaneously as they make sense. For example, if you find more plastic waste during step 4, remove it. If the project extends over multiple days, water each water in order to make the soil more pliable and to begin the revitalization process.

Before and After

I did this project by myself and it took approximately 12 hours of total work over 2 weeks. With some help steps 1-5 could have been done in a day.

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Mycorrhizal Inoculate and Broccoli Seeds

My standard protocol to build the soil up after steps 1 - 4 is to inoculate the soil with mycorrhizal fungi and spread out broccoli seeds en masse. Mycorrhizal inoculant is a symbiotic organism that fortifies roots by acting as an intermediary for plants, helping to decompose organics and feed the resulting carbon building blocks to plants in exchange for energy created through photosynthesis. I like broccoli seeds for starting the productivity of the garden because they are exceptionally easy to sow, can be eaten along every step of the process, and when adding new plants to the garden, are easily mixed back into the soil to increase overall productivity.

These are the products I used in the video above:

• Todd's Seeds - Broccoli and Friends Sprouting Seed Mix, One Pound

• Xtreme Gardening Mykos Pure Mycorrhizal Inoculant Organic Root Enhancer, 2.2 lbs

• Master Nursery Bumper Crop Soil Builder

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Results Guaranteed

If you use this 6-step method to create living soil, your garden will improve right away. Rebuilding soil naturally by using the organics around you is an excellent alternative to spreading out expensive manure or fertilizer produced from diseased feed lot animals. You are what you eat! A great time to embark on this project is during the end of fall/early winter. As trees drop leaves and some plants end their lives, an abundance of plant matter is all around ready to be worked into the soil. It’s so important with gardening to work productivity back into the soil. If you constantly extract nutrients by picking produce but don’t add fresh materials like chopped up weeds, grasses, and leaves into the soil, eventually the soil will be depleted and the plants will die.

This method teaches you how to rework plant materials back into the soil and later gives you the experience that it works much better than the commonly recommended methods.

The Same Product Same Quality Fallacy

Article by Stefan Burns - Updated November 2021. Join the Wild Free Organic email newsletter!

Living a life of abundant wellness, free from disease can be challenging in this modern world. In many ways, you need to leave the modern world behind in order to achieve this goal.

You could be doing everything "right" but still feel lethargic, have autoimmune disease, feel unhealthy, have gut issues, and more.

This presents the question of “what is there to possibly do?”, and the solution isn't always obvious. 

The first step is to be a conscious and discerning customer. Consider the following scenario:

Two Organic Potatoes, Different Outcomes

Two companies sell organic potatoes.

One company is family run for fifty years, and they are devoted to growing the healthiest spuds possible. Their farmland is unspoiled from zero or minimal chemical use and has been that way for generations. These potatoes are awesome, and everyone who eats them feels happy and healthy.

The second company is more concerned with making a profit rather than growing the best potatoes possible. They know organic potatoes sell for more compared to non-organic potatoes, so they recently converted to the minimum required organic farming practices. Beforehand they grew GMO wheat, corn, and soybeans, exposing their farmland to heavy amounts of pesticides, insecticides, and herbicides (like glyphosate) for decades. Heavy metal concentrations in the soil are highly elevated.

In the second scenario, the potatoes are labeled "organic" but sell for less on the marketplace because discerning businesses and customers know of the lands prior history. Once in stores though, their organic potatoes now hit that price point right in-between cheap diseased produce and expensive healthy produce. Potatoes from both farmer #1 and farmer #2 share the same label: organic potatoes.

You can even go a step further. The second farmer could circumnavigate organic growing practices like crop rotation by saying it’s not feasible for their land, therefore granting them use of use chemicals like chlorpropham (a hormone inhibitor) while still keeping the organic label. Farmer #2 might sell his potatoes far from where he grows them, and since transport takes time, chemical preservatives are used to extend shelf lifespan. Farmer #2 could exploit every loophole to their advantage and on the label it’ll still say “organic potatoes”, the same as farmer #1.

Via the labels, both farmers sell the same product, but as we now know, the quality varies dramatically.

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Bureaucracy Does Not Know Best

We see in the above scenario how one ingredient, potatoes, grown by two different farmers can be dramatically different. And there are multiple similar scenarios (such as water pollution, lax governmental testing standards, etc) which can dramatically change how healthy or diseased a food item is even though on a nutrition facts label it is labeled the same.

This is called the Same Product Same Quality Fallacy, because at first thought you'd expect a product or supplement with the same labels to have the same quality and price. The label doesn't take into account all of the different factors which can influence the nutrition of a food item, and those factors have big impacts on the final quality of the food.

“As it concerns your health, the responsibility is yours and yours alone.”

It is your responsibility to thoroughly research the foods you eat and the products you use. The more frequently you consume or use something, the more important it is to perform quality checks. This can be a daunting prospect, which is why following your instincts is so important. Place your trust in people, not corporations.

Farmers markets are great for this reason because you can see the produce grown by dozen of local organic growers in one place. The secrets when it comes to eating food which provides wellness and not disease is to eat foods which are still alive and not dead. Fruits and vegetables are the reproductive organs of plants responsible for growing into the next generation. When purchasing produce, consider these factors:

• The colors of the produce are vibrant, exuding energy.

• The samples have incredible taste and flavor.

• Size matters not!

• Water content is high, nothing is dried out.

• Check for signs of disease, pits, irregular features.

• Is the food from nearby or from far away?

Following your instincts and opting for quality in your foods and health care products now will preserve your happiness and save you time and money in the future.