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Organic food doesn't have pesticides, so it's better for the environment and for physical health, but I also heard that it takes up more land.

So... is it better to eat organic fruits and veggies or regular fruits and veggies???

Some critics of organic farming believe that it may not be better for the environment. Using manure as the main source of fertilizer may lead to higher levels of nitrous oxide emissions which may be worse for the ozone then co2. The reason for that is that you need to use more manure because it isn't as potent as synthetic fertilizer and needs to stay on longer. Organic farming may use more land because organic farming doesn't result in the maximum yield per area of land. So if you tried farming two of the same size areas of land, using synthetic fertilizer on one and organic practices on the other you would get more crops from the land farmed with the synthetics.

I literally eat all organic foods. I am a hippie so I garden and eat all organic vegan foods. smile
Peace and Love,
Sazzie heart

I'm about 50/50 when it comes to organic.
Where it counts like meats and milk and certain veggies that are higher in pesticides I totally buy organic.
But I also look at non-organic food to see if they have GEI's or have been fed anti-biotics.
Surprisingly some major food companies are cutting down on GEI's and giving their animals anti-biotics.
I still like buying organic milk and organic chicken, but if I'm at a restaurant it's nice to know what they are feeding me.

I would love to eat all organics, and i totally could. Here's my issue.
Most of the organic food in my area is shipped in from somewhere far away. When buying packaged/canned foods I will usually buy organic, so long as I can afford to. When it comes to produce however, I will buy locally grown fruits and veggies before buying organic produce that has to travel (at times thousands of miles). I think it's interesting how we all have our different hang ups when it comes to the environment. I would argue that although organic farms may yield less than the norm, their impact on the environment is far less in general. When it comes to the manure issue, I'm going to cite the nitrogen cycle and say that all of those greenhouse gasses were in the atmosphere fairly recently, so the "emissions" are actually quite insignificant. But someone could just as easily dissect my hang up on transportation of the product xD

Also, we have pretty harsh winters, so nobody around here is growing anything, which means I buy more organics in winter.

I agree with neufchatel, I would always buy local over organic for many of the same reasons. Organic does take up more land because they have to be so many kms away from conventional lands sprayed with chemicals, so usually they have to clear new land. It also presents a problem for farmers since they can't just switch to organic if their land has had chemicals on it before. The organic label gets thrown around a lot. While true organic would be set up so that it's not fields upon fields of monoculture, many companies claim to be organic because they do not use pesticides and chemical fertilizers, but are still organized like large conventional fields.

I'm lucky enough to live outside the city and know producers. There are many who do not use antibiotics, have free range livestock, and use integrated pest management. However, they do not even attempt to apply for organic labelling because of the overhead cost and the risks associated with it. If their livestock gets sick and the vet needs to give them certain medicines, they'd lose their certification.

So, organic may be a good choice in lieu of other choices. But really, I implore you to go out and research where your food is coming from. Get to know your producers, even by email. Even people in the city can do this, there are many progressive farmers who will sell directly to you or who sell directly to businesses, cutting out that greedy middleman.