Why is Organic Food Better For The Environment?

Animals are harmed by drinking chemicals in their water, or eating them in their food.  Birds die when spray is applied, either from direct exposure to the spray or from eating sprayed foods.  Plant populations obviously are affected by spray and spray drift.  So, growing organically avoids these impacts.

Organic methods require that the fertility of the soil be built up by farming practices that incorporate some form of green manure into a crop rotation.  Whether they use alfalfa, clover, buckwheat or weeds, some form of plant tissue has to be added tot he sol to provide the food for the soil microorganisms to consume.  This builds a fertile soil.  Chemical farming is a mining process that leads to a depleted soil. .

Chemical fertilizers and pesticides all are derived from fossil fuels and require the use of more fossil fuel energy to create them.  Since organic methods do not use these products, the energy savings are obvious.

I am going to suggest now that we should look not only at organic foods, but at LOCAL organic foods when deciding which foods are better for the environment. A local food system is phenomenally better for the environment than a continental one.  A fraction of the transport distance means a fraction of the fossil fuels burned to deliver the product to you.  It means a fraction of the wear and tear on roads and trucks (meaning they don't have to be replaced as often).  In addition, local product is often (usually even) delivered in reusable containers, instead of cardboard boxes.  Even if the cardboard is recycled, the recycling process has environmental costs (transport the cardboard to factory, shred, hot water,  slurry, dispose of waste sludge, machine make more boxes, ship them back to producers) which the simple act of reusing completely avoids.  To see the benefits of local organic verses continental chemical farming, read the Tomato Lifecycle Analysis.

In addition, the local product is days fresher, and has a beneficial effect on the local economy.