Do you eat organic?

[aggravatedfarmer]

If a mod would like to move this, you may. However I felt that this topic is more of a general topic that a recipe or favorite brand of drink.
Being a dairy farmer, we produce products for the consumption of others. So I'm always curious to know what people like to eat, what they look for when they go to buy, does negative news (such as poor treatment of animals) affect your purchase? Do you prefer to be thrifty and buy grade B instead of A (you wouldn't even believe what I know about that). In general, I want to hear the opinion of the consumers, which is ya'll.
Please no one get political and say nothing negative of beliefs of others. However you can say you do not believe the hype on organic for example.

 

[jackswilling]

As much as I can, around 80% to 90% and try and avoid GMOs 100%

 

[drwatson]

Well I am not totally one for the hype. I have an apple tree in my yard, just try and get a good apple off that thing without using some sort of bug control NOT GOING TO HAPPEN! And the size and color of the apples at my local store make me wonder when they are labelled organic. I don't think that all the chemicals they give to animals are the best and maybe not needed. But I also realize that if you are feeding millions of people that things have to be done, like putting alot of chickens in one barn. But I also think some of the videos of the employees beating a animal just for fun are sick. But does that stop me from eating chicken? NO...I hope that those few employees do not represent the majority. I guess I'm a middle of the road kinda guy. Try to eat as good as I can, but understand that unless I go out and farm,fish,hunt all my food there are going to be downsides to whatever I eat. But then again I smoke a pipe, so I'm not getting out of this game alive!

 

[captainprophesy]

I try to grow as much veggies as I can, Im about to plant a bunch more fruit trees as well. I also have chickens for eggs and meat and used to hunt before I moved so its been about 5 -6 years... although I do plan to go next season come hell or high water.
For the times I do go to the store, well I can't really afford to go all out organic or grass fed beef... so I suck it up and get what I can.

 

[agnosticpipe]

No. Too expensive for me.

 

[mcitinner1]

My wife does about 50%,(mostly on eggs and chicken), I don't, food is already expensive. (I know we have it better than a lot of the world)

 

[warren]

I only eat organic food. Maybe I'd better say it this way, all that I eat is in fact organic, not usually organically raised or grown. I care not what kind of fertilizer is used to grow the food I eat.
I enjoy older, range beef but, will eat the mushy, flavorless beef served at most restaurants, retailed in stores and butcher shops as that really is all that is available in my part of the world. A couple times a year I get a care package from a friend in Montana. An older beeve, raised on the range, butchered, dry aged and Fed Exed to my door. No sauces needed or wanted on that critter, just a little longer time on the grill, under the broiler or frying in butter.
Vegetables are generally not food for me. Vegetables are what food eats! I will eat the glorious potato or a bit of rice when properly served with sheep, pork or beef. Mostly I get my daily recommended amount of veggies as processed by the pig, chicken or cow. The purpose of lettuce is to keep the condiments from soaking through the bun. Jalapenos and some other peppers are ingested but, only for medicinal purposes of course.
I steer clear of food from lakes, streams, and the ocean. We all know what fish do in water. Not too appetizing in my opinion. If my arm is gently twisted I will eat swordfish. I do love swordfish steaks. I'm tired of salmon but, I can eat way too many oysters at one sitting.
My fowl are usually consumed within hours of being shot out of the air. So, only consumed in September. I find commercialy raised fowl to be lacking the flavor of wild. Chicken is the exception I supposed. But, I do not eat a lot of chicken.
A two or three year old moose is tasty. Caribou/reindeer make great sausage. Fish bear? Not that great. A bear steak from a bruin killed in the blueberry patch is great.
That's pretty much my diet. Except for dairy. I forget dairy. Vanilla ice cream with Hershey's syrup, 2 scoops a couple times a week. Other than that, cheese on the burger and pizza.

 

[aldecaker]

Warren, you keep up a diet like that, you'll never live to see your 40's.

 

[aggravatedfarmer]

It is my personal belief that truly organic meat and vegetables have no human contact. That deer that some guy fed at a feeder? Not organic. Sorry if that offends. I've never had beef from a grocery store, ever. I've had had restaurant beef, the higher class places buy the better beef at auctions. Once in a while we will have a pig slaughtered. I buy pork and chicken from the butcher. The fiancé likes free range eggs. I'm a beekeeper and am a staunch supporter of local honey (even if it ain't mine). Same with maple syrup. Vegetables (except for the potato) don't get on my plate often, except when introduced in a beef stew, or omelette. I make my own bread.
Concerning GMO's. There is no stopping them. They have been introduced into your food source and you are ingesting them to some degree, except if you raise all your own and never eat out. However GMO's will eventually feed the world.
And I will outright refuse to eat fast food. It is the least digestible food available.

 

[rcstan]

I try and look at the labels not just for organic, but provenance. Especially since my daughter came around. Growing up, one of the measures of prosperity was the quality of the food. I strive to live by that. Better spend the extra money on what you put in, rather than spend the money on the doctors later to deal with the side effects.

 

[mcitinner1]

Warren, you keep up a diet like that, you'll never live to see your 40's.

This is just an educated guess...I think Warren may have already seen his 40's? I'm probably being influenced by his avatar.

 

[aldecaker]

Slightly tongue-in-cheek, my friend. My father has a very similar diet, and he's well into his second set of 40's.

 

[jpmcwjr]

I prefer seafood that's not farm raised, but beef that is, where the cattle eat some grass, but not only range grazing.
I grow a lot of my own veggies, and am organic except for some fertilizers. We have a healthy mix of beneficial critters that keep the bad ones mostly at bay.
The coffee beans I buy are a mixture of organic and non. But I am not political about it. Commercial crops I grow get all the inorganic treatments my farmers choose to use.
I am now curious to know how organically grown the better tobaccos are....

 

[jmill208]

Nope. I'm skeptical of anything and everything even labeled as organic in a grocery store.
Unlike AggravatedFarmer, I, like most people buy some of my food from pretty unreliable sources. Do I really believe Wally Worlds produce is so much better for me because the Mexican farm put a little 'organic' sticker on my fruit? Naahhh.
I do purchase most of my meat from a great local butcher and most of my vegetables locally, mainly because it tastes better and supports local business, not because it is "guaranteed organic".

 

[northernneil]

I try to look for local produce as opposed to organic. I mean, organic bananas have probably seen more countries of the world than I have.
One of my favorite stories is when an organic wheat farmer was telling a vegetarian about how mice will get sucked into the combine during harvest because they cannot use pesticides. Sure gave the vegetarian a different view on the term "organic".

 

[mso489]

To get "organic" on the label is bureaucratic, but when we don't, my wife, who is a pretty serious food professional in various ways, looks for sustainable food -- plants, animals, milk ... pork, beef, chicken, pork lard. We belong to two food co-ops for different products, and I do the other shopping selectively with much consultation with my wife. She feeds me far better than I ate before she arrived. We're not as finicky as this makes it sound, but you sure can get fed some crap if you don't look at what you are buying.

 

[drwatson]

One of my favorite stories is when an organic wheat farmer was telling a vegetarian about how mice will get sucked into the combine during harvest because they cannot use pesticides. Sure gave the vegetarian a different view on the term "organic".

But was the mouse organic??
Come to think of it I do get honey,apples,cherry local. So I may be alittle more organic that I thought I was.

 

[rhoadsie]

"Organic" (grown or raised) food, as well as non-GMO for that matter, will not meet food demands for a human population expected to be around 10 billion by 2050. Organic is a luxury for developed countries where disposable income can be thrown at food. I don't care if someone chooses organic but people should really worry about the extent of processed food on the grocery shelves.
Our family raises cattle, rabbits and chickens and hunt game to provide protein for the table. I would classify the animals we raise as "all natural" because we use feed supplements that aren't classified as organic.

 

[aldecaker]

Organic and GMO are not the issue. 10 billion by 2050 is the issue.

 

[rcstan]

Actually, high rates of consumption are one of the issues. Or one side of a very complex issue. To use meat as an example, the demand of what a few generations ago was considered a luxury in most parts of the world ( meat every day ) is unsustainable with a growing populace and a supply fairly limited in terms of its normal evolution. Chicken, for example, don't go from egg to ready-for-the-table in 3 weeks in their natural state.