Economics of Food and Policy: Study 2: Organic vs. Inorganic Food Relative to Production and Health Trade Off

Over the last few years consumer tastes have shifted towards organic foods. While organic foods are an important and growing part of the food market, questions remain as to whether the cost/quality trade off favors organic food production. In addition, there are questions whether organic food could be produced in sufficient quantity and at a low enough cost to serve as a primary food source. Organic foods are produced without the use of pesticides or additives to enrich the land that they are grown in. They are typically produced in lower quantities relative to technologically enhanced foods and are sold for higher prices than non-organic foods. Organic foods have been identified as a new source of food supply that experiences little to no adverse health effects due to their production without chemical additives. This paper compares organic foods to inorganic foods in the categories of total production efficiency and overall health benefits related to organic food consumption and increases in costs with respect to the adverse health effects or inorganic foods. This research compares production returns from technologically advanced acreage as to the acreage devoted to organic food production. Additionally, this project compares the prices of organic and conventionally grown food products to determine whether the higher priced organic foods provide superior health returns per dollar relative to traditionally produced food products