To make America healthy again, invest in organic foods
If you are an American who reads this, the possibilities say you suffer from a chronic disease – 60 percent of adults with at least one chronic disease, and 40 percent have two or more. Heart, cancer and diabetes are the leading motors in the country’s annual health care costs $ 3.8 trillion.
The worst part? We do this by eating is bad for us. We eat ourselves to death.
And not only how much we eat, or our tasting addiction to foods that are processed ultra -treated. It is the way we develop our food. If we really want to change this chaos and reduce the costs of health care and grocery prices, we must eat more organic foods grown in American agricultural lands. We have to use fewer pesticides – much lower.
The demand for food in the United States is increasing, with dual -number growth since 2000, with a record record of $ 70 billion in 2023. Traditional grocery stores such as Walmart, Costco and Heb are now more than more organic foods more than natural food stores.
The Hepherians in San Francisco do not lead this trend – mothers and parents in Chevrolets. They want the apples to be organic apple pies.
The Pio report proves this: 55 percent of the audience says that organic fruits and vegetables are better for our health than pesticide -loaded products. This number is likely to grow only; More than three out of four of the millennial generation and General Z says it is important to buy and eat organic food.
But production is not accompanied. The organic farmers Association says we have been losing an acre and local membership farms since 2021. Only 1 percent of agricultural lands are planted organically high crops, although 6 percent of the organicly cultivated market.
To bridge the gap, we import approximately $ 3 billion a year of organic foods. Of course, we are never growing coconut in the United States, but it is not logical to import organically cultivated corn, rice, soybeans, tomatoes, berries, strawberries and squash. We can develop that here, and in this process, we can make America healthy again.
In February, President Trump established a committee that made America healthy again. Among its responsibilities are the study of “any possible contribution reasons” for childhood diseases, “including the American diet” and “excessive use of medicines, some food ingredients, some chemicals, and some other exposure.”
We already know that we must switch more acres to the membership. Ask any American farmer whether he or she wants to grow food using a lot of pesticides and you will get a difficult number. But there are really real and expensive barriers – in front of the switch.
On the one hand, the government must keep its word on the contracts they signed and guaranteed during Covid to pay the organic farmers who have invested in the infrastructure of the farmer. No one loves Welcher, especially federal. If we want to make America healthy again, it will be a good start to honor those signed contracts.
Next, try to increase the incentives to switch to organic agriculture. The US Department of Agriculture has the move to the organic partnership program, but even with the previous federal investments amounting to $ 300 million to expand the effort, and this is a pardon for small potatoes. We need more investment, create new tax incentives for companies that buy organic goods locally, and target grant financing to stay away from pesticides for the foods that the public wants.
What will not help? Eliminate the EPA Office for Research and Development. Trump’s government’s efficiency Ministry needs to take Molighan in it, and instead put farmers and families on chemical companies. Invest along with farmers in research that supports organic agriculture elasticity.
Finally, we must go hard after people who lie when they claim that they are producing organic products. High foreign organic imports have brought a higher percentage of foods that are claiming to be organic. The policies of enhancing the organic implementation that entered into force in 2024 are a good start, but we need this administration to fight this fraud more difficult.
“Agriculture is the most healthy, most beneficial and most noble employment for humans,” said George Washington. This doubles for organic agriculture. If our diet in general makes us sick, organic farmers provide the best medicine with healthy food.
We have answers. We just need to decide to have the will.
Ricky Silver is the CEO of organic food providerDaily harvest.
