Giving Compass' Take:

• Food Tank highlights a new study published in Environmental Research that shows the positive impact that eating organic food can have on the body. 

• What are the first steps in creating an organic food system for all?

•  For an alternative viewpoint: Is organic agriculture really better for the environment?

Many people choose organic food in order to protect themselves and their families from exposure to pesticides. But choosing organic also means helping to create a healthier food system for everyone, from farm to table. Far too often, discussions about pesticides in the food system exclude the men, women, and children who plant, tend, and harvest our food.

The millions of farmworkers who are the backbone of our food system are routinely exposed to high levels of toxic pesticides in the fields where they work and in the communities where they live. They can be exposed at levels hundreds of times greater than consumers’ exposures to pesticides.

And because farmworkers and their families typically can’t afford to buy organic food, they suffer the added burden of being exposed to pesticides at work, in their environment, and from their diets. Removing pesticides from our food system will significantly improve the health of farmworkers and rural communities.

Read the full article on why we need organic foods for everyone by Virginia Ruiz and Eugenia Economos at Food Tank.