A very interesting article from VinePair that breaks down how “Organic” pesticides can cause just as many problems as regular commercial pesticides.
“Falling for marketers’ ploys is practically a full-time occupation in America (I’m not the only one who’s bought multiple cartons of fat-free ice cream hoping, this time, to finally find “creamy fat-free vanilla bliss” right?). Consumers’ perception of what organic agriculture is vs. the reality, and the halo of virtue with which it is bequeathed (and conventional agriculture’s implicit pair of devil’s horns) is, arguably, one of the biggest boondoggles in our culture today. More than half of Americans (55%) go organic because they believe it’s healthier. Meanwhile, there is really no evidence to back that assumption up. And even organic farmers use pesticides (sorry random lady at the bar). They just happen to be “natural.”
The biggest issue is that “…more is known about the effects of synthetic pesticides than natural ones. Natural pesticides have been linked to cancer in animals in the studies that have been conducted – but only a small percentage of natural pesticides have been examined in a systematic way.”
The largest issue is that even though there are varietals that are being bred to adapt naturally against common diseases such as black rot, consumers wouldn’t recognize the grape on a bottle label and would be hesitant to try it. Smaller vineyards do not have the marketing power to go against the larger labels, but they are hopeful that social media will level the playing field as more people try smaller labels and share their reviews with friends.
The full article can be found at VinePair:
https://vinepair.com/wine-blog/heres-why-your-organic-wine-is-actually-really-bad-for-the-environment/
