Westcoast Produce Wholesalers is the produce division of Buy-Low Foods. Collectively we are the produce division of Canada's largest independent Grocery Wholesale company.

Why Organic?

About Organics: an introduction

Earthbound Farm's delicious organic salads, fruits and vegetables are grown with a concern for the things you value most your family's health, the air you breathe, the water you drink, and your children's future for generations to come.

As organic farmers, we use a variety of earth-friendly methods to grow healthful crops without relying on chemical pesticides or using synthetic fertilizers. We honor the fragile complexity of our ecosystem, the health of those who work the land, and the long-term well-being of customers who enjoy our harvest.

Some of the principal benefits of organic farming include the following:

Organic produce is grown without relying on toxic chemical pesticides. We use no herbicides, fumigants, or synthetic fertilizers.
Organic produce is never genetically engineered or modified, and is never irradiated.
Organic farming helps protect our air, soil, water and food supply from potentially toxic chemicals and other pollutants.
Organic farming conserves natural resources by recycling natural materials.
Organic farming encourages an abundance of species living in balanced, harmonious ecosystems.

Find out how delicious organics can be!

Thankfully, organic foods are coming down in price because of demand and interest in organic produce and products, and the growing farms who can supply us. It's best to buy seasonally for optimal taste and best price.

Organic foods are produced without the use of chemicals, herbicides, fungicides, petroleum-, sewage- or sludge-based fertilizers or chemical pesticides. Organic food is not bio-engineered, genetically modified, nor is it irradiated. Poultry and Beef are fed only organic feed, are grazed on organically maintained pastures, and are not given antibiotics, hormones or animal by-products. Organic farmers are leaders and innovators at protecting our environment while protecting the crops naturally.

Conventional farmers use millions of pounds of pesticides each year, much of which ends up in our drinking water and oceans. Pesticides and chemicals kill off living things - bugs and animals that may eat the food as well as parasites and microorganisms. Pesticides deplete the soil so more chemicals are needed to fertilize and so the cycle continues. Pesticides are poisons. Most have the potential of causing cancer and are endocrine disrupters that mimic or interfere with our hormones. Pesticides cannot always be washed off the food, even with soap, as they are "ingested" in the plant through the roots and are actually in the body of the food.

Pesticides have a well documented and serious impact on our health. Among the many adverse effects, pesticides:

- Compromise our liver's job of cleaning toxins from our body

- Compromise each cell's ability to produce energy and do their respective jobs in our body

- Compromise our nerves and their job of sending important messages in our body

In short, pesticides cause disease and death. That's their goal, to kill off the bugs and pests. But they are having serious impacts on the lives of humans and especially children. This is particularly important in the amounts and combinations of these pesticides that the children are eating since they are such picky eaters. The long-term effect of these pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and chemicals and the effect of the 'cocktail' of pesticide combinations effect fertility, development, health, and longevity.

Organic farmers work with the natural ecosystem to improve the soil and deter pests. They rotate crops between fields and have diversity in their farms; the conventional farmer limits crops and farming practices which depletes the soil's nutrients and leads to a real risk of crop damage from disease. Organic farmers plant certain flowers and bushes to attract helpful insects who will then eat or deter pests that might otherwise eat the crops; conventional farms kill off insects and pests, helpful and hurtful to the farmer. Organic farmers work with nature to replenish the soil, do not use toxic pesticides or fertilizers and maintain a biologically sustainable investment in our future. At home, our own yards can be maintained the same way.

Chemicals and pesticides kill off microorganisms and pests; this is causing new super resistant bugs and strains of insects and pests to be created; these super pests will need even more powerful chemical pesticides. The cycle is clear and the future is dim.

In addition, many of these microorganisms are helpful and are actually healthful. Discoveries of helpful bacteria that turn into cures for disease are found in dirt regularly around the world. We used to play in the dirt, dirt that was free of harmful chemicals and loaded with helpful microorganisms. As children this set up our immune systems to be strong. Children were healthier then.

The organic farmer works to create healthful soil. Worms and microorganisms work to keep the soil strong. The soil feeds the plant. Therefore healthful soil creates food with more nutrition. True, conventional food is devoid of harmful bacteria and bugs, but it is also lower in nutritional value and has less flavor. (I mean, if you're going to eat Brussels Sprouts because they're good for you, shouldn't you make it count?) Chemicals deplete the top soil and cause soil erosion which in turn offers less nutrition to the plant which in turn creates less nutritious food for us.

Healthy plants are also more disease resistant, are more drought resistant, create a better supply of food, create more nutritious food, and grow strong without chemical assistance. It all works together. Organic farming protects our water supply, our wild life, our families, and our future. Choosing organic foods is like voting to go back to a more natural and safer way of breathing, eating, and living.

Conventional farming overseas destroys rainforest. Forests are plowed to make way for planting, soil is eroded, chemicals and poisons enter our water systems. This affects habitats and wildlife. The impact is immense.

Conventional farming uses more fossil fuels and impacts global warming in many ways. Fossil fuels are used to create pesticides and chemicals. They are used to transport them to the farm. Micro-organisms that would otherwise hold carbon are killed releasing carbons into the atmosphere. Once the soil is depleted of micro-organisms, the soil must be enriched with chemical fertilizers which again take fossil fuels in creation and transportation. Conventional farms are more automated and use more fossil fuels generally. They have an over-abundance of manure since they are not using that so that is another issue which must be removed with fossil fuels. Organic farming uses up to 60% less fossil fuel per unit of food.

Chemicals are abundant and dangerous. The environmental impact is great and they remain in the environment for decades after use. When we look and see that organic foods are sometimes more than conventional foods, we need to remember the toll conventional foods are having on our world and our future. Organic foods are actually less costly when we look at the money it takes to fix the problems created by conventional farming. And yes, EVERY choice, EVERY person, EVERY item counts as a vote in the right direction.

Biodynamic Demeter supervised farming meets all organic standards and takes them even further. This system was created in ancient times to create healthful soil to withstand the test of time. Biodynamic farming takes even more time and money and therefore things cost more, but what it gives us is a true harmony with our land. It works with the plants, animals, and the environment to promote healthy soil and healthy plants.

Choosing organic produce and biodynamic products supports local, generally smaller, organic farms and the families who work those farms. Paying organic farmers in other countries a fair wage allows them to create strong communities, schools and help children and their families. In addition, and as you would guess, conventional farmers and the people that work in and around the fields (including the people that crop dust and spray the chemicals and pesticides) have a much higher risk of cancer than organic farmers. Pesticides can cause birth defects, cancer, nerve damage, impact our immune system, and disrupt our hormonal balance.