If You Drink Coffee Make Sure it is Organic

Mesoamerican farmers here are starting to give up on organic coffee. The premium price that it used to fetch is disappearing.

From Mexico to Costa Rica, at least 10 percent of growers have returned to chemical fertilizers and pesticides in the past three years, at a significant cost to the environment.

Although organic still pays a premium of as much as 25 percent over conventional coffee, it’s not enough to cover the added cost of production and make up for the smaller yields.

Under specialty “green” labels at places like Wal-Mart and McDonald’s, organic beans and brews have become cheaper and more widely available recently.

Americans drink 400 million cups of coffee every day, which adds up to over $4-billion worth of imported coffee each year.

Now I am not a fan of coffee -- personally I never acquired a taste for it, and it is far from a health food.

But it is a sad state of affairs that Latin American farmers are abandoning their organic coffee crops faster than rats leaving a sinking ship.

These farmers were promised they would benefit financially from ditching their toxic pesticides in favor of organic crops, but in order to profit they need to be certified. And farmers cannot become certified organic until their soil is free of pesticides and chemical fertilizers for three years.

This means the farmers have to absorb the extra costs of organic farming for three years before they’ll start to see the returns, and many just could not do it.

Meanwhile, while there is some demand for organic coffee, the market is still very small. Starbucks, for example, reported that only 3 percent of its coffee purchases in 2009 were organic.

Now, as more organic coffee growers abandon their crops, it’s not only limiting the quantities available but also driving up prices. This, in turn, is keeping the organic coffee market from really merging into the mainstream …

And this is a very bad trend not only for the environment, but also for your health.

Most Coffee is Heavily Sprayed With Pesticides

Most people are not aware that regular coffee consumption can be a significant source of pesticides. According to the CS Monitor, conventional farmers apply up to 250 pounds of chemical fertilizers per acre!

Pesticides contribute to a wide range of health problems, including prostate and other types of cancers, Parkinson’s disease, and miscarriages in pregnant women.

So when you sip on your non-organic morning brew, you are also sipping on pesticide residues. Further, the U.S. has limited input and control over the type and quantity of pesticides used in the countries from which we import.

Since the vast majority of coffee, both organic and non-organic, consumed in the U.S. is grown outside this country, a return to non-organic farming of coffee beans in Latin America means a return to heavy use of pesticides.
Now is a Good Time to Kick Your Habit

If you’re going to drink coffee, going organic is the “healthiest” way to do it. Of course, coffee is really not healthy at all.

Caffeine is a drug.

It’s a legal and widely available drug, but a drug nonetheless, and very powerful. My position is that coffee is not nearly as bad for your health as soda or high fructose corn syrup, but nevertheless it is something you or your family would best be served by avoiding -- or strictly limiting your consumption.

Caffeine actually alters the way your brain works, and can cause temporary changes in your behavior and mood. If you are especially sensitive to the drug, as is the case with many protein nutritional types, the effects are even more pronounced.