I came across this article trying to debunk the presumed benefits of organic farming and eating organic food. My interpretation of the gist of the article is that the benefits haven't been measurable and organic farming is not sustainable as a primary food source. In some cases the natural pesticides produced by the crop may even be unhealthful. Please check out the article. You may interpret it differently.

Note that the writer is a Libertarian and was accused of shilling for Big Agriculture. In any case, I think his point is worth discussing. Do people believe organic food superior? If so, why? Can anybody provide a better scientific basis for arguing for or against organic farming and nutrition?

For myself, I'm a skeptic. I don't see non-organic or genetically-modified crops as automatically evil. I focus more on buying from local smaller producers whenever possible. Often they happen to be organic, I would guess mainly because of higher profit margins.

I think 'organic' has become a buzz-word that is very popular today. I'm not sure about the benefits of what passes as 'organic.' I will say that the huge industrialized food producers make me a bit nervous, but I don't know enough about the research to make a strong opinion either way.

It's gotta be better - its more expensive! It costs a lot of money not spraying all those toxic chemicals the rest of us eat.

It's not necessarily better for the environment ...

16 Organic Apples and a Gallon of Gas | LiveScience

Although I like the idea of organic farming overall. To me it's crazy that people would rather eat invisible poison than a worm or two ...

Though we are not fanatics on the subject by any means, we do try to source organic foods whenever we can.

Here's an interesting brochure from the USDA answering several questions regarding organic foods...

Consumer Brochure

Seems suspicious to me that there is such an abundance of organic products out there. I remember a 60 Minutes interview with the (former?) entrepreneur behind Cascadian Farms who sold out to General Mills. He's largely responsible for loosening up regulations about calling products "organic". This article talks about the loss of meaning of the word, e.g. how 5% of "other" ingredients is ok for "certified organic" and 30% for the "Made with Organic" label. It becomes kind of meaningless to make a distinction. 5% of other ingredients, like cyanide, would be potentially significant. I'm sure I exaggerate. But it seems to have become more about marketing than about health and nutrition.