By Carie Moore
Many of us had two things in common over the Easter weekend: Family and food. Food is social. It brings family and friends together.
Like a family has roots, so does food. It has an origin (where it came from) and family (what it came from). Like us, plants change over generations. They can be transplanted to new locations, they can produce a variety of offspring by breeding with others in the same genus, and they need food to sustain their growth.
When you think of your body and a plant, the better food and nutrients it gets, the better and stronger it grows. A plant will grow and benefit from organic or synthetic nutrients. If you’re like me, even though you try to eat the best you can, you still lack vitamins and minerals, so you take the daily vitamin or hand your kids their gummy vitamin with breakfast. You are no less of a mom because you did that instead of doing it “naturally” with the foods.
If your family gets the protein they need from chicken – whether it’s organic, cage free, or traditionally raised – the result is the same. You are feeding your family what they need nutritionally and that’s what matters. Not the cost, and not the label. Look at the nutrition facts.
The amazing things we have done with our food to help society globally is much more important to me as a mother. GMOs have made for a better, higher yielding crop, with less chemicals. That means sustainability not only for me, but for the mother in Africa struggling to feed her family. Golden rice, through genetic engineering, has given families in Africa and Asia a fight against Vitamin A deficiency.
It’s not just about us here in the United State. Other countries don’t have the options we have, the availability of medical care, or the opportunity and money to walk into a store and buy supplemental vitamins. In Canada and the U.S., we use milk with supplemental vitamin A & D added for health benefits. So, if you want a product that is labeled “All Natural,” it’s a Catch 22. If vitamins or minerals added, it’s not all natural. If you go by the “All Natural” label, you are paying more for a product that has less nutrition.
As a mom, farmer, and biology/chemistry major I do notice all the flaws in labeling and it’s frustrating. Many of my friends, whether family farms or commercial, are working every day to provide the best quality product for their family and yours. As farmers, we are not in the business of killing our customers. We are benefitting from technology like the rest of world. Better nutrient and pesticide management for our crops and land and better food products for the population for years to come.
You don’t know who’s writing the articles you read on the internet just like you don’t know who’s producing all the food you eat. As farmers and ranchers, we hope you give as much weight to us as to the article posted online.
I encourage you to Ask a Farmer by emailing onyourtable@ndfb.org and you will get direct, honest answers from moms like you right here in North Dakota who work every day to grow their food and their families.
