From soil to plate: how does organic food preserve the environment?

Organic food are those produced without the use of pesticides, chemical fertilizers, synthetic or transgenic substances, antibiotics and hormones, and are grown as naturally as possiblesystem. (UOL)

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) defines the organic agriculture as “a holistic production management system that promotes and improves the health of the agroecosystem, including biodiversity, biological cycles and soil biological activity. This is achieved by using, wherever possible, agronomic, biological and mechanical methods, as opposed to the use of synthetic materials, to fulfill any specific function within the system.”

The production process techniques respect the environment, the health of the agricultural worker and the consumer and aim to maintain the quality of the food. Fruits, vegetables, vegetables, meats, eggs, beans and cereals are some examples that can be produced in this way.

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What are the benefits of organic food for the environment?

O Curto News listed some…

Soil conservation: organic agriculture aims to conserve soil fertility, with the practice of crop rotation and green manure.
Pollution soil and water: Unlike organic farming, conventional farming can pollute the soil with chemicals. Pollution of groundwater bodies with synthetic fertilizers and pesticides is also a major problem. As the use of these is prohibited in organic agriculture, they are replaced by organic fertilizers (e.g. compost, animal manure, green manure) and the use of greater biodiversity (in terms of cultivated species and permanent vegetation), improving soil structure and water infiltration.
Climate changes: organic agriculture contributes to mitigating the greenhouse effect and global warming through its ability to sequester carbon in the soil.
Animal welfare: In organic animal production, they are fed only organic products and kept in more spacious and less stressful places, reducing the use of artificial hormones or synthetic antibiotics.
Promotion of biodiversity: Soil conservation and the absence of pesticides help preserve birds, insects and other animals.

Video by: NestedTV

Brazilian initiative

A Leash is a Brazilian startup that connects high-quality food producers directly to people. The company aims to bring organic products to the consumer's table at a fair price that are not available in large markets.

Trela uses WhatsApp as its main sales channel. Groups, also called shopping communities, are created for neighbors in the same condominium or an entire neighborhood. After creating the group, the startup starts sharing offers daily.

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“Our mission is to make the food distribution chain more efficient and fair, which includes organic products. The significant difference in size – and investment – in organic production compared to traditional production demonstrates that we have even more space and opportunities to work side by side with small and medium-sized producers, helping them reduce losses, apply higher margins and reach more people. This way, everyone benefits, producers and consumers”, said Guilherme Nazareth, CEO of Trela, to Curto News.

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“The response from consumers has been great. Fruit and vegetable sales in São Paulo, for example, increased by 120% after we started sharing organic product offers. Our customers look for high quality products and like to get a good deal. If the product is even healthier, as is the case with organic products, the conversion is excellent. And the most interesting thing is that this applies even to producers who are not so well-known or “renowned”. People trust our curation and selection work”, he added.