Is Organic Really Better?

What started as a countercultural farming movement has now become big business: organic food sales topped $24 billion last year.

So food grown without conventional chemical pesticides, fertilizers and lacking additives is popular despite the fact that it costs as much as 50 percent more.

But is it really better for you and the planet?

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations: yes, at least as far as pesticide residues and energy use goes. Quote: "Organic agriculture already uses less fossil fuel based on inputs and has a better carbon footprint than standard agricultural practices," the said in a 2007 report.

That's why the Obama administration is offering some $50 million in funding for farmers to go organic.

But it doesn't seem that organic food is any more nutritious. And scientific studies have split on whether organic practices, if applied globally, could produce enough food to feed 6.7 billion people and counting.

Remember, the organic label applies to how the food was grown. Organic certification doesn't mean your food is any safer from, say, salmonella contamination when it's packaged. Nor does it mean the food hasn't traveled halfway around the world to reach your dinner plate—another environmental no-no.

有机食品真的就好些？

去年有机食品的销售额已经达到了240亿美元，而有机食品在开始阶段被认为是只不过是一项反主流文化的运动而已，现在它已经变成一项巨大的商业了。

尽管有机食品比传统食品要贵一半，但是因为有机食品的种植过程中没有使用传统的化学杀虫剂，肥料以及添加剂，所以它也越来越流行。

但是，有机食品真地对你和地球更有益吗？

根据联合国粮农组织（Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations， 简写为FAO）的报告，至少就杀虫剂残留和能源使用而言，有机食品更加有益。2007年FAO的报告称：“根据能量的输入来看，有机农业使用更少的化石燃料，而且与常规的农业做法相比，有机农业留下的“碳足迹”更少（“碳足迹“实际上至二氧化碳的排放---译者注）

这就是为什么奥巴马政府向美国的农场主们投资500亿美元以实施有机农业的原因。

不过有机食品似乎并不比传统食品更有营养。而且科学研究在有一点上存在分歧：那就是如果全球都实施有机农业的做法，那么这样的农业方法是否能给全球67亿人口（而且还在增加）提供足够多的食物。

请记住，食物上的有机标签只是说明了食物是如何种植的。有机认证并不意味这你的食物在包装过程中就免于沙门氏菌的污染。这同样也不意味着有机食品在达到你的餐桌之前没有绕行半个地球---而这又是一个对环境不好的举措。

Vocabulary:

Countercultural：反主流文化的
Billion：十亿
Conventional：传统的
Pesticide：杀虫剂
Fertilizer：肥料
Additive：添加剂
Planet：星球；地球
Residue：残留
Fossil：化石
Carbon footprint：碳足迹
Nutritious: 有营养的
Split: 分裂
Salmonella: 沙门氏菌
Contamination: 污染
No-no: （口语）不可接受的行为