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Organic or Conventional Food?
Which is better?
Organic food and organic farming have a really strong association with being “better.” But not everyone means the same thing when they say/infer/imply “better.”
Organic food is something economists call a credence good. There is no immediate or obvious way for a consumer to know if what they are buying is actually organic, completely conventionally grown, or something in the middle. The price premium for organic food that consumers pay is based on their belief that the item has been produced according to some standard labeled as “organic,” and is therefore worth more. There is no practical way for a consumer to test the characteristic of a banana or an apple to see if it was in fact produced organically or not. The value of these goods is based on their credibility, or the credence of the consumer in their value.
What does it mean that food is organic anyway? In Canada, organic standards are managed by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). Organic standards include management practices and permitted substances. Contrary to popular belief, organic foods are not pesticide free, but rather can be grown using a set of substances based on pyrethrum, which is a pesticide derived from chrysanthemum plants and is highly toxic to bees.
