Organics and the Senior Citizen

Organics and the Senior Citizen


Returning to the subject of Organics here is an intro
article I found that may end up in the new Senior Citizens
Ebook.

If you find any on your travels feel free to submit them.

In the past decade and a half, organic products have
achieved almost mainstream status. Senior Citizens will
remember when organic produce was a specialty item in a
few upmarket grocery shops in the early 1990s.

Many of today's supermarkets commonly offer organically
produced items.

Organics have become more available and more
affordable. The result is that a larger proportion of the
Senior Citizens population buys organics. This leads to
an increased general awareness of the benefits for
people and the environment of organic production.

Greater awareness of the benefits contributes to a
greater demand. Greater demand encourages growers to
produce more. Greater production results in organics
being increasingly available at a lower cost, and the
upward the trend seems unstoppable.

During the 1990s, organic product sales dramatically
increased at the rate of more than 25 percent every year.
By the beginning of the 21st century, sales of organic
products passed the £4 billion mark. Today in 2005, the
majority of US Senior Citizens (72%) buy organic food at
least some of the time.

These statistics show that organic production is here to
stay. This is good news for the health of Senior Citizens
and the environment.

What Organic means to the Senior Citizen

Fifteen years ago, organic growers might have had to
explain to Senior Citizens at a market what the label
"organic" means. Today, most people understand that for
a product to be labeled organic, it had to be grown
without using synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, or hormone
supplements.

But organic growing is a system, and is not just a matter
of substituting natural materials for synthetics. Whether
on the large scale of the farmer or the small scale of the
backyard Senior Citizen gardener, the underlying
principles of an organic system are to work within the
boundaries of nature to grow food.

The system starts with a focus on healthy soil, which
supports healthy plants. When plants are strong, they
are naturally disease and pest resistant.

Is Organic better for the Senior Citizen

Rather than apply chemicals to cure disease and control
pests as conventional growers must do, organic growers
work toward prevention through continuous soil
improvements. It's a big difference in attitude: the
chemical quick-fix vs. long-term soil building. Of course
its something for the Senior Citizen to leave to his
children.

Also, there is the difference in the effect on local water
sources. Organic gardeners don't contaminate ponds and
groundwater with synthetics.

In short, Senior Citizens who live where they grow food
have a particular motivation and advantage in using an
organic system: personal health and safety. But every
Senior Citizen benefits when organic methods are used
because they are sustainable: good food is produced in a
system that respects the natural environment.



Philip Jubb

http://www.oldagepensioners.com/dware/
http://www.philipjubb.com/ip/