Практика Shadowing: Should Organic Food Be So Expensive? - Изучайте разговорный английский с YouTube
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We gave these two shoppers the same exact grocery list.
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We gave these two shoppers the same exact grocery list.
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But there's just one difference.
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This shopper is only buying food that has this label.
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Organic iceberg lettuce costs $5.99, more than double the price of regular iceberg lettuce.
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A pound of organic ground beef costs $14.99,
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about 80% more than a pound of regular ground beef.
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And this pint of organic blueberries cost $12.99,
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44.5% more than the regular pint.
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In total, the all-organic shopper spent 72.4% more.
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The organic label was designed to give Americans a trustworthy standard for healthier food.
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But decades later, it's become a system that rewards large companies and leaves many small farmers behind.
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We can't use the O word,
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the organic word, on any packaging, any promotions, any advertising.
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So what makes organic food so expensive?
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And if some food grown organically can't be labeled as such,
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is organic really worth the extra cost?
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Before the 1940s, most food grown in the U.S would have been considered organic by today's standards.
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But that changed in the aftermath of World War II.
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Chemicals originally developed for combat were repurposed as synthetic pesticides and fertilizers.
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Farmers began using them on farms across the U.S.
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And it worked.
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Crop yields increased and food production surged.
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But this practice sparked a backlash,
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centered on one chemical in particular.
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It's a mouthful to say,
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so people call it DDT for short.
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DDT was originally used to protect soldiers from malaria,
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but it is also really good at controlling crop-damaging pests.
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Less dependence upon nature and more control in managing his crop."
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It soon became one of the most widely used pesticides in the world.
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Then in 1962, marine biologist Rachel Carson took direct aim at DDT in her book Silent Spring.
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She warned that the chemical was contaminating ecosystems,
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disrupting food chains, and endangering human health.
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The book laid the groundwork for the organic movement and demand for organic food increased throughout the 70s,
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80s and 90s.
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But there was no consensus about what what organic was.
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What was the definition of organic?
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Some states had their own organic standards and there were private organic standards.
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That all changed in 1990.
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That year, Congress passed the Organic Foods Production Act.
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It led to the creation of the National Organic Program and a unified definition of organic.
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Food made without synthetic pesticides,
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synthetic fertilizers, and later genetically modified organisms.
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It started this movement towards the national standard,
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which really was helpful to the industry because people knew what they were buying when they bought organic.
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In 2002, the U.S.
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Department of Agriculture took it a step further by establishing uniform national standards for the production,
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handling and labeling of organic food,
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creating the USDA Organic Seal.
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Today, organic food in the U.S is a $70.1 billion industry,
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so there's a lot of money to be made if you can get the organic label.
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We traveled to Sonora, Mexico to see what it takes and how much it costs to get the official seal.
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Wholesome Family Farms runs 86 acres of farmland in both the U.S and Mexico.
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What we do here is all organic.
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Tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers.
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These are what we call tomatoes on the vine,
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four or five per cluster.
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These are cherries on the vine.
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We grow our long English cucumbers or Euro cucumbers.
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The produce grown here is sold year round at retail grocery stores like Whole Foods and Sprouts.
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Even though Wholesome has been around for nearly a century,
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it received its first organic certification in 1992 before turning the whole company organic in 2010.
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My dad went to school in California in the 60s and read the book Silent Spring.
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We began experimenting in the 80s and then my brothers and I came to the business in the late 90s, early 2000s.
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And in 2010, we decided to convert the whole company to organic.
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Making the switch to organic wasn't cheap.
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Even before certification costs, there are tons of other expenses that go into organic farming,
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Like these $5.5 million, six-acre greenhouses,
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where Wholesome grows 65,000 tomato plants.
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Greenhouse growing is a popular method for organic farming because it can prevent pests from reaching the plants.
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It also helps farmers control temperature and humidity for crops,
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which can help prevent fungal diseases.
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But greenhouses like these are a big investment.
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Just one of these structures can cost $55,000 a year to maintain.
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And greenhouses are just the first step in Wholesome's fight against pests.
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All this hands-on work comes with a price.
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says it pays 10% more in labor costs just from pest control and prevention.
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Once the infestation is in the greenhouse,
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it's very hard to correct it.
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They're natural systems, so that means that you can't really control it all.
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Natural pest control methods like these are typically less effective than pesticides,
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which can eliminate infestations more quickly.
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In a conventional field, what you could do is use a pesticide that is strong enough.
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You might not be able to harvest for a week or two,
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but at least you've salvaged the crop.
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For us, an event like that would mean clean it out and start all over again.
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So we are scouting for whiteflies,
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angiutatas, aphids, much more carefully than a conventional grower would.
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is what really kind of drives the economics in agriculture.
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Our ability to produce is hindered by all the circumstances that we have to deal with.
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And it reduces our yield for sure.
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To retain its certification, Wholesome Farms has to pass an inspection every year.
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They all check all our records of what we did through the year,
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what inputs we used, how many and how much products we actually harvest, we sold.
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There's also a lot of tracking of providing traceability to make sure there is compliance with the standards.
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They will look for evidence that we're actually doing a prevention program.
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They will look to make sure that the crop is there.
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Wilsom says all of these additional steps in organic operations cost
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it 20 to 25 percent more than they would on a conventional farm.
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And that's all before the price of the certification itself.
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According to the USDA, the average annual organic certification cost rose from approximately $1,500 in 2014 to around $2,800 by 2019.
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On top of that, new farms seeking certification have to pay an application fee.
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And for farmers renewing certification,
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there's an annual renewal fee.
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We typically spend about $35,000 in certifying the company,
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and we have to abide by a regulatory framework established by the USDA.
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For large farms like Wholesome,
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these costs are a drop in the bucket.
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In 2025, Wholesome Family Farms made approximately $105 million in revenue.
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I think the USDA organic seal,
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which you can see here in our boxes,
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is what people know, that that's something that they can trust.
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According to the 2022 USDA Census of Agriculture, 75% of all U.S agricultural sales come from large farming operations,
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a consolidation trend that extends across the organic sector as well.
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Some small farms like this one used to be certified organic,
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but no longer are because they say they can't afford the certification fees,
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even though they still follow organic requirements.
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Harry Jones has run his family-owned blueberry farm since 2018.
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Unlike Wholesome, Bridge Avenue Berries primarily focuses on a single crop.
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We have almost seven acres of blueberries out there, about 3,800 plants.
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We filmed with them weeks before the start of blueberry season.
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We are in central Pennsylvania,
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right along the west branch of the Susquehanna River,
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which gives us wonderful soil,
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which is perfect for growing blueberries.
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When he and his wife Susan first bought the farm,
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they saw the benefits of investing in USDA organic certification.
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If you're USDA certified organic,
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that's an accomplishment, that's an achievement,
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and people are going to notice that
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and hopefully build more value in the marketplace than what we would have if we were not organic.
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They transitioned to a certified organic farm in 2021.
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Being USDA certified organic certainly opened up opportunities and the public perception was,
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woo, clean blueberries to eat.
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This is good stuff, you know.
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We had people stop here who said,
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man, I've looked for an organic blueberry farm for a long time.
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You're here.
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We had three local newspapers put it out when we became certified organic and we did see sales increase.
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We saw people coming to the farm who had never been here.
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And so that was good.
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At the time, Harry and Susan sold their blueberries for $3.50 a pint.
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We knew we had more costs and we knew we had to charge more for our berries and so we did.
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Still, the cost of staying certified organic started to add up.
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The biggest thing was the $1,400 a year going out the door.
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We're a small blueberry farm.
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So that took a large chunk out of our net profit, really.
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Harry and Susan decided not to maintain their USDA certification three years later in 2024.
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But they've continued to farm using organic methods.
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Just like the farmers at Wholesome,
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they use natural solutions and techniques to prevent pests and fungal disease.
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We put out sticky traps and we look for a fruit fly that likes to lay its eggs in the blueberries.
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But as soon as we see them hit the sticky traps,
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we will apply a spray.
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It's called Grandivo.
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It's derived from soil funguses that some scientists someplace found,
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which I am grateful for.
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And that controls our blueberry fruit fly population.
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We spray a lime sulfur mix early in the spring to control Phomopsis tip blight,
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which is a fungal disease.
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Harry says he uses organic fertilizers to keep the farm soil healthy.
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You take care of that soil,
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you produce a plant that's healthy and vibrant,
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and then it produces berries that smell like blueberries,
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that taste like blueberries, and this is proof
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that growing organically really makes a difference in the quality of food that we eat.
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Despite their all-natural growing methods,
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Harry says, We can't use the O word,
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the organic word, on any packaging, any promotions, any advertising.
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Without organic certification, Harry and Susan have to charge less than certified competitors.
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That's pushed them to sell locally or directly to consumers,
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which gives them control over pricing,
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but a smaller customer base.
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We sell by the pound.
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And I think this past year we were at $2.70 a pound, $2.70 a pound.
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It would be nice to be able to charge more,
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but do you charge more and not sell your product?
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Or do you charge what you can,
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the traffic will bear and sell your product?
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We're not going broke, but are we recovering everything that we've put into this?
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No, we're probably not.
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So how do all these costs show up for consumers?
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Turns out plenty of Americans are still willing to pay extra for that little green label.
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According to Fortune, nearly 90 percent of U.S shoppers recognize the USDA organic seal and more than 70 percent trust it.
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Consumers believe in it and they they believe that if it says it's organic that it actually is organic.
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I think that there still is trust in the government to regulate food.
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Demand is especially high among younger shoppers.
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A 2025 Organic Treat Association survey found millennials and Gen Z buy the most organic food,
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driven by a desire to avoid pesticides,
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GMOs, synthetic hormones, and antibiotics.
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But is organic always the healthier option?
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The short answer?
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It depends.
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Organic foods tend to have lower levels of pesticide residue, residue.
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And some studies show higher levels of certain antioxidants, especially in produce.
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But when it comes to overall vitamins,
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minerals and macronutrients, the differences are often minimal.
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Some researchers have found that there's a halo effect,
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so people think organic is more healthy.
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Even though that really hasn't been proven,
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there's the safety side that it wouldn't have pesticide residue,
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but there's no there's no scientific consensus that it's healthier.
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And not all foods benefit equally when it comes to organic.
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Take a look at the groceries our shoppers bought earlier.
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According to the Environmental Working Group's 2026 Shoppers Guide,
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organic avocados and bananas may offer limited benefits in reducing pesticide exposure because they have thick skins that typically don't get eaten.
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Meanwhile, foods eaten whole, like blueberries,
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are more likely to retain residues if not grown organically.
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Meat and dairy products can also have higher pesticide exposure through animal feed,
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making organic options often the better choice.
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I buy both conventional and organic,
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so I'm not just set on only having organic.
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I actually am more into the quality of the produce.
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For organic food consumers, there is some good news.
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The price gap between organic and conventional food is shrinking.
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In 2021, prices for organic produce cost about 71% more than conventional ones.
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Today, that gap is closer to 61%.
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That shift is being driven by more organic production and better supply chain efficiency,
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which have brought organic prices down.
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But organic still comes at a premium,
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even as grocery prices have risen across the board.
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If things continue the way that they're going,
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I expect that it will be for the higher income people and not for the lower income people.
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Meanwhile, the USDA gives small farmers financial relief through the Organic Certification Cost Share Program,
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which reimburses organic farmers for up to 75% of certification costs.
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Congress failed to fund the program for 2025,
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and funding for 2026 still hasn't been released.
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Other farmers have instead turned to alternative natural certifications, like Harry and Susan.
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Bridge Avenue Berries has been certified naturally grown since 2024.
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Certified Naturally Grown is a grassroots program that follows similar standards to organic,
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but uses peer inspections rather than government certifiers,
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making it more affordable for small farmers.
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We're not a mega bazillion pound blueberry producer.
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We're a small producer.
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And they also function off of the National Organic Program.
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Harry says it's also been more cost effective.
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So instead of paying $1,450 or $1,450 a year,
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we pay about $350 a year.
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There are often times that I have to explain.
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We are still farming organically.
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We've just changed our certifying agency.
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And as soon as you say that,
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people are like, oh, okay, that's good.
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We just think it's a good fit.
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And we wanted our customers to be comfortable with the fact that we're being audited,
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we're being checked, we're being kept honest.
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And we want them to know that they're going home with good food.
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В данном видео обсуждаются причины высокой стоимости органических продуктов в сравнении с обычными. Два покупателя представляют собой интересный контраст: один из них выбирает исключительно органические продукты, в то время как второй покупает обычные. Видео исследует экономические и исторические аспекты органического земледелия, начиная с послевоенных времен и заканчивая текущими стандартами производства в США. Поясняется, что хотя органические продукты зачастую стоят значительно дороже, это не всегда оправдано с точки зрения качества и доступности.
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