I-Search Paper (Draft #2)
Why Organic?
Section 1: Proposal
As an international student in United States by alone without my family, It is really difficult to eat well. Every time I go to the market, even though there are various kind of foods, I prefer more convenience food like frozen products. Also, when I buy some stuff like chicken or beef, I choose cheaper one. In a way, I think that cheap materials often mean poor quality goods. But I don’t really care much about the quality of food in here because I don’t want to spend many time and money at the market. So, I didn’t think deeply about the term “ORGANIC.” Image of “organic” for me was just “Eco-Friendly,” but expensive. After I saw the Food Inc, and through this research paper, I am going to think deeply about “Organic.” So first, what is organic? By the USDA National Organic Program, “organic” define as follows: ‘Organic is a labeling term that indicates that the food or other agricultural product has been produced through approved methods. These methods integrate cultural, biological, and mechanical practices that foster cycling of resources, promote ecological balance, and conserve biodiversity. Synthetic fertilizers, sewage sludge, irradiation, and genetic engineering may not be used.’
Producing without pesticides and synthetic fertilizers, organic also contribute to cleaner environment. Even if organic products are expensive than conventional products, people who prefer organic products are those who think organic is good for their health. As we generally think, the reason that organic product is expensive is because those are better for us, but the organic product we can find easily in market is not always good for our health.
Section 2: Process
First thing I did to start my research was find a definition of Organic. I usually find definition on the Wikipedia, but Wikipedia was not credible site for research paper. I could find credibility definition at the ‘USDA: United States Department of Agriculture’ website. There were many information of organic agriculture. I learned some basic concepts of organic and also could know about organic certification by USDA website.
Second, I made a research plan on my blog. Thinking of why I got interested on this topic, I made some research questions first. Here are possible research questions of organic which I made. Is Organic products necessarily better for us? Can we trust the claims made by organic farmers that their food has fewer chemicals than conventional food? What are the reasons that organic products are more expensive than conventional ones? Then next, I made a thesis statement and then think about my purpose of this paper and audience of this research.
Third, I searched where to find credible research paper sources for my research paper. The best credible sources could find in library. But the convenient way to find sources is by online. It says ‘Encyclopedia Britannica’ and ‘InfoPlease.com’ are good sources to gather material but avoid Wikipedia. Also I found that online scholarly databases, newspapers and magazines are rich sources of information.
Next, I gather some article and newspaper for the answer of my research question. After I felt I had enough of information, I finally started my I-Search Paper based on my main thesis.
Section 3: Paper
As mentioned above, Organic product is the one that produce without synthetic fertilizers, sewage sludge or pesticides. Lately, as growing of health consciousness, there has been an increasing preference for organic foods. According to Nutrition Business Journal, Organic food sales in the United States have increased gradually, from $11billion in 2004 to approximately $27billion in 2012. Finally sales of organic products in United States jumped to $35.1 billion in 2013. This Journal adds the survey of organic industry from the Organic Trade Association (OTA). Laura Batcha, executive director and CEO of OTA, said "The U.S. organic market is experiencing strong expansion, with organic food and farming continuing to gain in popularity. Consumers are making the correlation between what we eat and our health, and that knowledge is spurring heightened consumer interest in organic products."
It is true that more and more people have become interested in organic product, but also it is still expensive to buy an organic product for some people. Based on data collected by Colby college students, the average cost of organic items are higher than non-organic. They report“The mean cost for organic items surveyed was 68 percent higher than for non-organic, although organic brown rice was cheaper on average; and organic oatmeal cost an average of 16 cents per ounce, versus 17 cents for non-organic, a 6 percent difference.”
Then, why is average of organic food more expensive than conventional food? According to Organic Farming Research Foundation, “the organic price tag more closely reflects the true cost of growing the food: substituting labor and intensive management for chemicals, the health and environmental costs of which are borne by society.” Without using of synthetic pesticides and chemicals, producing food can’t be faster and efficiently. More workers need to hire for producing organic product than conventional one. So, one of the reason is labor. More labor makes the high price of organic. Second main reason is related with supply and demand. For now, technological innovation for organic produce is not as big as conventional one. People who want to buy organic food have grown year on year until now. But the organic farms cannot produce much product faster. It means that the demand for organic is greater than the supply so the cost cannot be low. Even if it is expensive for buying organic for now, Food and Agriculture Organization suggested, “As demand for organic food and products is increasing, technological innovations and economies of scale should reduce costs of production, processing, distribution and marketing for organic produce.”
But here is something we have to address. Is buying organic worth the cost? Is organic always healthier? A new study by Stanford researchers found that there are no big differences between organic and conventionally grown foods. They concluded that “fruits and vegetables labeled organic were, on average, no more nutritious than their conventional counterparts, which tend to be far less expensive. Nor were they any less likely to be contaminated by dangerous bacteria like E. coli.” They also reported there are no obvious health advantages to organic food. “Conventional fruits and vegetables did have more pesticide residue, but the levels were almost always under the allowed safety limits,” the scientist of Stanford said.
However, the argument which Stanford researcher insists is still up for debate. By scientist at Washington State University did find that Organic fruits contained more vitamin C than conventional ones. Research by scientist at Washington State University shows that “the organic strawberry farms produced higher quality fruit and that their higher quality soils may have greater microbial functional capability and resilience to stress. These findings justify additional investigations aimed at detecting and quantifying such effects and their interactions.”
Section 4: Ponder
This I-Search Paper assignment was tough for me at first because it was my first research paper. By doing this I search paper, I actually learned a lot about it. I learned what is research paper and what is I search paper, how to write a thesis statement and where to put it, where to find citation resources and how to organize my paper. Actually, my topic ‘Organic’ was intrigued by the movie, Food Inc., which we’ve saw in the class. That movie treated our nation’s food industry, and I was mainly focus on organic food. After I research this topic, I thought I have to be smart about the food I eat. Our food what we always eat may be ruin our health even if it is organic. We should learn and know detailed about our food so that we could consume healthy product.
Furthermore, I am also interested in other topic related with food. ‘Government and Food.’ I want to know why the government protects the power of industrialized food companies instead of American people. Also, I wonder whether government subsidizing the wrong crops or not.
Section 1: Proposal
As an international student in United States by alone without my family, It is really difficult to eat well. Every time I go to the market, even though there are various kind of foods, I prefer more convenience food like frozen products. Also, when I buy some stuff like chicken or beef, I choose cheaper one. In a way, I think that cheap materials often mean poor quality goods. But I don’t really care much about the quality of food in here because I don’t want to spend many time and money at the market. So, I didn’t think deeply about the term “ORGANIC.” Image of “organic” for me was just “Eco-Friendly,” but expensive. After I saw the Food Inc, and through this research paper, I am going to think deeply about “Organic.” So first, what is organic? By the USDA National Organic Program, “organic” define as follows: ‘Organic is a labeling term that indicates that the food or other agricultural product has been produced through approved methods. These methods integrate cultural, biological, and mechanical practices that foster cycling of resources, promote ecological balance, and conserve biodiversity. Synthetic fertilizers, sewage sludge, irradiation, and genetic engineering may not be used.’
Producing without pesticides and synthetic fertilizers, organic also contribute to cleaner environment. Even if organic products are expensive than conventional products, people who prefer organic products are those who think organic is good for their health. As we generally think, the reason that organic product is expensive is because those are better for us, but the organic product we can find easily in market is not always good for our health.
Section 2: Process
First thing I did to start my research was find a definition of Organic. I usually find definition on the Wikipedia, but Wikipedia was not credible site for research paper. I could find credibility definition at the ‘USDA: United States Department of Agriculture’ website. There were many information of organic agriculture. I learned some basic concepts of organic and also could know about organic certification by USDA website.
Second, I made a research plan on my blog. Thinking of why I got interested on this topic, I made some research questions first. Here are possible research questions of organic which I made. Is Organic products necessarily better for us? Can we trust the claims made by organic farmers that their food has fewer chemicals than conventional food? What are the reasons that organic products are more expensive than conventional ones? Then next, I made a thesis statement and then think about my purpose of this paper and audience of this research.
Third, I searched where to find credible research paper sources for my research paper. The best credible sources could find in library. But the convenient way to find sources is by online. It says ‘Encyclopedia Britannica’ and ‘InfoPlease.com’ are good sources to gather material but avoid Wikipedia. Also I found that online scholarly databases, newspapers and magazines are rich sources of information.
Next, I gather some article and newspaper for the answer of my research question. After I felt I had enough of information, I finally started my I-Search Paper based on my main thesis.
Section 3: Paper
As mentioned above, Organic product is the one that produce without synthetic fertilizers, sewage sludge or pesticides. Lately, as growing of health consciousness, there has been an increasing preference for organic foods. According to Nutrition Business Journal, Organic food sales in the United States have increased gradually, from $11billion in 2004 to approximately $27billion in 2012. Finally sales of organic products in United States jumped to $35.1 billion in 2013. This Journal adds the survey of organic industry from the Organic Trade Association (OTA). Laura Batcha, executive director and CEO of OTA, said "The U.S. organic market is experiencing strong expansion, with organic food and farming continuing to gain in popularity. Consumers are making the correlation between what we eat and our health, and that knowledge is spurring heightened consumer interest in organic products."
It is true that more and more people have become interested in organic product, but also it is still expensive to buy an organic product for some people. Based on data collected by Colby college students, the average cost of organic items are higher than non-organic. They report“The mean cost for organic items surveyed was 68 percent higher than for non-organic, although organic brown rice was cheaper on average; and organic oatmeal cost an average of 16 cents per ounce, versus 17 cents for non-organic, a 6 percent difference.”
Then, why is average of organic food more expensive than conventional food? According to Organic Farming Research Foundation, “the organic price tag more closely reflects the true cost of growing the food: substituting labor and intensive management for chemicals, the health and environmental costs of which are borne by society.” Without using of synthetic pesticides and chemicals, producing food can’t be faster and efficiently. More workers need to hire for producing organic product than conventional one. So, one of the reason is labor. More labor makes the high price of organic. Second main reason is related with supply and demand. For now, technological innovation for organic produce is not as big as conventional one. People who want to buy organic food have grown year on year until now. But the organic farms cannot produce much product faster. It means that the demand for organic is greater than the supply so the cost cannot be low. Even if it is expensive for buying organic for now, Food and Agriculture Organization suggested, “As demand for organic food and products is increasing, technological innovations and economies of scale should reduce costs of production, processing, distribution and marketing for organic produce.”
But here is something we have to address. Is buying organic worth the cost? Is organic always healthier? A new study by Stanford researchers found that there are no big differences between organic and conventionally grown foods. They concluded that “fruits and vegetables labeled organic were, on average, no more nutritious than their conventional counterparts, which tend to be far less expensive. Nor were they any less likely to be contaminated by dangerous bacteria like E. coli.” They also reported there are no obvious health advantages to organic food. “Conventional fruits and vegetables did have more pesticide residue, but the levels were almost always under the allowed safety limits,” the scientist of Stanford said.
However, the argument which Stanford researcher insists is still up for debate. By scientist at Washington State University did find that Organic fruits contained more vitamin C than conventional ones. Research by scientist at Washington State University shows that “the organic strawberry farms produced higher quality fruit and that their higher quality soils may have greater microbial functional capability and resilience to stress. These findings justify additional investigations aimed at detecting and quantifying such effects and their interactions.”
Section 4: Ponder
This I-Search Paper assignment was tough for me at first because it was my first research paper. By doing this I search paper, I actually learned a lot about it. I learned what is research paper and what is I search paper, how to write a thesis statement and where to put it, where to find citation resources and how to organize my paper. Actually, my topic ‘Organic’ was intrigued by the movie, Food Inc., which we’ve saw in the class. That movie treated our nation’s food industry, and I was mainly focus on organic food. After I research this topic, I thought I have to be smart about the food I eat. Our food what we always eat may be ruin our health even if it is organic. We should learn and know detailed about our food so that we could consume healthy product.
Furthermore, I am also interested in other topic related with food. ‘Government and Food.’ I want to know why the government protects the power of industrialized food companies instead of American people. Also, I wonder whether government subsidizing the wrong crops or not.