First, in this context, I think you want to say "non-organically grown" or "not organically grown". "inorganic" means not containing carbon.

In fact, both organically grown and conventionally grown produce can be and usually is nutrient-poor. This is because growers use as few and as little fertilizers as they can and still get large yields. This results in many trace nutrients being "cropped" out of the fields over years. Since the market only cares about appearance and that can be managed by breeding, the result is a constant drop in nutrition over time, as shown by USDA tests of many common crops over the past many years.

The difference is that organically-grown produce tends to be a bit less impoverished - often significantly less -because the growers keep their SOM levels higher due to the fact that organic fertilizers come with OM while chemical fertilizer has none. That means a more diverse and higher level of soil life in the organically-managed fields, on average.

None of this is very relevant on a garden scale unless the garden has been heavily cropped for many years and very little OM or minerals returned.

Pnbrown, you are right about "inorganic" sorry for my poor English and thank you for your correction.

I have seen a video about organic and non-organic food taste test. Many of the participants failed to tell the correct one. My folks told me non-organic vegetable smell (cooked) not so good and it withered so fast when stored normally (without any device to store). I have heard about hydroponics vegetables are also not so delicious like soil based vegetables.

Personally I do not like using heavy chemical fertilizer for my vegetables however still I use it to see my plants looks healthy.

Caelian

A lot of non-organic foods are GMO crop, which means they have changed the food genetically (meaning the taste changes). Typically, the old heirloom varieties developed with the earth for the people and animals; hence our taste buds prefer them. They are also more healthful in terms of their genetics.

In addition, conventional farms often grow in water or non-composted soil that is fed a very limited amount of food/nutrients/compost. This causes for food that grows but that also lacks complete nutrition and therefore taste. It might also be pertinent to note that organic farmers don't gas non-ripe foods to make them look ripe the way many conventional farms do. They actually wait to pick foods when they are ripe and ready, since gassing them is not organic or legal in organic food production.

A good example of a food that is noticeably gross in large scale production is conventional tomato-yuck. Over 90% of them are spliced with fish DNA (GMO) and then grown in a water solution rather than healthy, fully composted soil. They are usually not picked at maturity either but much earlier to hurry up and sell (make $$).

Yes, there are many reasons as to why organic food is so much tastier and healthier than conventional!

Your grandfather sounds like he was a wise man;-)

There are no GMO tomatoes on the market.

100% of tomatoes you'll buy are 100% not GMO spiced with anything...especially fish DNA.

The whole "fish in tomatoes" thing came from a product using flounder DNA that never even made it to market and hasn't been tested since the early 1990s.

GMOs you're going to run into...grain corn, soy, canola oil, sugar beet sugars, some papaya, some sweet corn (growing segment), and some yellow summer squash. There's also alfalfa if you happen to care, but almost all of that is for animal consumption.

GMOs in the pipeline that are actually likely to make it to the consumer market...citrus resistant to Huanglongbing...bananas resistant to fungal and virus disease..."red" pineapple (using citrus genes for color)..."golden" rice (probably will not be popular in the US)... NONE of these are being produced for herbicide or pesticide tolerance.

There are a lot of GMO crops that will never make it past the research stage because farmers don't want/need them.

There's 6 GMO tomatoes currently approved for growing in the US...none are grown, no seed is available except in supply banks, and none are being made available. There is no farmer or consumer interest in them.

Also...here's a few places you're most likely to find GMO outside of crops (and there's more than this)...pretty much any multivitamin on the market (especially Vitamin C and Vitamin B2), some cheese making enzymes, some yeasts for bread/alcohol, and almost every insulin product on the market for diabetics.

This post was edited by nc-crn on Sat, Jul 27, 13 at 19:24

Yes, rgbh, both in the cows and the variant used as rennet, is why I stopped eating Cabot cheese.

I was sorry to hear about GMO bananas on the horizon. They are one of the few conventional items I still feel comfortable buying, as the skin protects them quite well from pesticide spraying.
That was interesting about Cabot cheese. I bought a package last year at Costco and I liked it a lot, but was concerned about the hormone possibly being present. I called the Cabot cheese company last year with this exact question, and was told that they do not use milk from cows treated with rBGH in their cheese. When I asked why they do not advertise this on their label as it would be a selling point for consumers, especially consumers like me here in California, he really didn't have an answer except something about using up the labels they already have. Possibly he either didn't know about the hormone being present or they really have stopped using milk from cows treated with it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Non-GMO Shopping Guide and great info!

Thank you all for sharing your opinions. I have learned something valuable from your opinions.

I am not a professional gardener but I love to grow vegetables in containers. I am almost successful growing super hot chilies and stem cabbage. I am thinking about to grow my chili and other vegetables organically. The next season I would like to try.

Caelian

Kassie, I wouldn't believe it. They are not certified organic, and that is the only way to be sure. Grafton Village cheese makes the non-rgbh claim in print, and I believed it for a while but I don't any more. The rennet question is more verifiable, as the makers have no particular reason to lie about that since most people don't care what rennet is used.

BTW, now I'm eating organic valley's grass-fed raw milk cheddar.

You can take the following with a grain of salt also: I quit buying Cabot cheese after eating it for many years when someone I was corresponding with in northern VT told me that he knew from direct experience that most of the dairies in the cooperative use growth hormone, as do most non-organic dairies everywhere. As well he said that the wife of the majority owner serves on the state legislature and was known to be pro-GMO. Again, I have no way to verify any of this, it's hearsay. To me it seems quite plausible.