We grow both conventional and organic verified
blueberries and, to some extent, the operations
are very similar.
We use fungicides, fertilizers and insecticides
in both operations.
The big difference is the source of the chemical
and when it's certified as organic it has
to be a naturally occurring organic compound.
And in our conventional operation it's interesting
because a lot of the different chemicals that
we will use in conventional are really just
synthetic versions of the organic compounds
we use in our organic operations.
Well, we grow organic vegetables as well as
conventional vegetables.
I think what people need to understand is
that we do use pesticides on organic vegetables
as well.
They're just - we're allowed to use certain
pesticides on them that are derived naturally.
Also, the rate at which we then use those
on the organic crops is at an actually much
higher volume and often times more applications
than we actually do on the conventional side.
We just wouldn't be able to produce enough
crops to feed everybody if we were organically
growing and not using any pesticides.
Oh, I don't know - that's an interesting question.
Is conventional better than organic or is
organic better than conventional?
You know I guess my response to that is, they're
different.
And to some extent I think it's the consumer
that ultimately just makes the choice.
"Do I want to buy only organic or am I OK
with conventional?"
I think it just comes down to a personal choice.
"Do I want to drive a Chevy, do I want to
drive a Ford?"
"Do I want to eat meat, do I want to be a
vegetarian?"
Life is full of choices and organic or conventional
is just one more choice.
I personally don't think that there's any
health reason to choose organic over conventional,
but I think that there may be personal reasons
that people make that decision.
