Don't Panic, It's Organic 

Chemical fertilizers were first used commercially on a large scale in the 1920s, and doubts about the nutritional quality and healthfulness of foods grown by this means have been voiced since that time. The organic farming movement began in the 1940s, partly in the belief that natural farming produces nutritionally superior crops, and leads to better health in those that eat them. 

But, is organic food really healthier? It's a question that's not easy to answer, because many factors can influence nutritional content, such as rainfall, temperature, sunlight, etc. Nutritional differences between two carrots may be due more to weather conditions during growth, or the particular strains of the carrots being compared, than to whether the carrots were grown by natural or chemical means. Despite these difficulties, enough research has been done to draw some tentative conclusions. 

There have been more than 30 studies comparing nutrient content of organic versus chemical crops, with over 300 comparisons of individual nutrients. Organic crops showed a higher nutrient content about 40% of the time, while conventional crops were higher only about 15% of the time. Overall, organically grown plants were either nutritionally equal or superior to commercial ones 85% of the time. 

While the nutrient differences between organic and commercial crops is important, the ultimate question is whether these differences affect human health. Apparently, no human studies have been carried out in this regard, but there have been 14 animal studies comparing the health of animals fed organic and commercial feeds. Of these studies, ten found that animals fed organically grown crops were healthier than those consuming commercial feed. In three of the studies no differences were observed, and, in one study, organic feed came in second among several commercial feeds. In the ten studies suggesting organic's superiority, organic feed resulted in greater fertility and indicators of reproductive health for male and female animals, lower deathrates for young animals, and healthy weight levels and growth rates. 

Based on information in: Acres USA June 1998