So, most people know that buying organic produce is better for the environment and a good way to avoid all those nasty conventional chemicals when buying from a farmer that you dont personally know... but what people don't understand is why it costs more. Cranberries are the perfect example of why organic produce necessarily (not arbitrarily) costs more.
Cranberries grow in bogs. So do lots of other things like insects and weeds. Conventional cranberry growers solve this problem quite simply... they destroy the other living things with whatever chemicals work best. Once that detail is taken care of conventional farmers saturate they're bogs with chemical fertilizers (drugs). This forces the plants to produce unnatural amounts of berries, obviously making the farmers happy because more berries = more money. (Usually)
Now, the Organic Cranberry grower doesnt have it so easy. Disarmed of pesticides, herbicides, and magical chemical fertilizers, these silly environmentalists are forced to wade around pulling weeds by hand, practicing the original forms of cranberry production (very interesting, check this out) and using organic fish emulsions and other less magical/artificial forms of fertilizers. So, they're crops are half as large and they spend wayyy more time producing that crop... just to keep the local ecosystems healthy and pesticides, herbicides, and other chemicals out of your body. How dare they ask for higher prices!
So, next time your shopping for produce and scoff at that $8 per pound pricetag on ORGANIC cranberries ... remember that there is a reason. Its called the true cost of production, and its very important. Thanks for listening to my rant...
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