You have got to watch this 2 minute video with your children which shows a child’s experiment with 3 very different sweet potatoes.
One sweet potato was conventionally grown.
One sweet potato was organic from the supermarket.
One sweet potato was organic from a local market.
If your child is hearing from friends at school that “organic doesn’t matter” or some foolish talk of this nature, this video will quickly show that organic but also LOCAL is the way to go when it comes to produce!
Our children are getting it! I am so encouraged when I see bright, inquisitive children like this showing the whole world how the simple choice of what you put in your mouth can quite literally determine the course of your entire life.
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
After reading all of these obviously ignorant comments I decided I had to chime in, although I know I won’t change anyone’s mind, just maybe educate some people so the shooting off at the mouth can cease. I raise both conventional and organic sweet potatoes. Someone above commented that not even farmers will eat their own potatoes?… If there is a sweet potato farmer in Eastern NC that doesn’t consume their own product, it is only because by the time they are ready for consumption, they have spent so much time and effort growing them that they are unappealing to them, similar to a chef who cannot eat his own food after smelling it all day. Heres another hint for you folks who think that just because your potato isn’t sprouting that it is treated with this Bud-Nip stuff, (that I have never heard tell of) you probably have a late generation potato which means that the seed has been saved and regrown so many years that it can’t sprout. These are what consumers eat, even with organic potatoes, although many less organic potatoes are grown so less seed needs to be saved. Early generation potatoes are saved for seed, because they will sprout once seeded in a plant bed, and out pops your seedling. I know this is in vain, but before you folks fire up your iPad and research something, next time go to the source: the man whose whole life is spent feeding the population that bashes him for growing a conventional potato. Organic does not mean pesticide free by any means. I have a 2 page list of approved organic inputs from my organic certifying agency (which has it’s regulations set by the USDA and OMRI). On this list are products with active ingredients such as spinosad, fermented bacteria, cuprous oxide, fatty alcohols, etc. The only difference in these products that are approved for organic use and similar products are emulsifiers and other mixing agents that have been synthesized in a lab. The way I look at this situation is this (since I grow both), its your choice whether you buy organic or conventional. Neither will make you live longer I promise, my grandmother is 84 and loves conventional sweet potatoes. The choice you have to make is would you rather spend twice as much for a lower quality potato?
Also anyone can view all crop protection pesticides as well as approved fertilizers on the OMRI website. Open your eyes people, organic crop production is a bigger money racket than Solyndra, however, thanks for your business whichever you choose. For the more dense readers out there, the moral of this story is you to not believe everything you read. NCDA does a good job of educating people about this sort of issue, you people should listen.
Awesome experiment, great job teaching kids the difference between organic and not, i do that with mine. That is quite experiment, i will try with my kids!
I get some organic produce from Costco. Carrots, baby kale, baby spinach. Other good organic things there too if you look around. The kale sells out so fast! A lot of people must be getting the message that it is good. We use the kale and spinach in our vitamix, after a light steam, for green smoothies.
Oh, I love this! I love that this child gets it while so many others still don’t. She has a bright future ahead of her!
While I agree with most everyone here, I feel obligated to point out that this is not true for all “conventional” sweet potatoes. I am a crunchy mom to 7, I CARE about what we all put in our mouths and in our soil, etc. But I am the daughter of one of the biggest sweet potato farmers in NC (although he just retired a couple years ago and my bro is carrying on the business). Anyway, I talked to my dad about this video months ago and they don’t know of anyone in this area who uses this on sweet potatoes. White potatoes, yes, sweet potatoes in our neck of the woods, no.
Sadly, there are “organic” farmers who get away with selling inferior potatoes to the large buyers for stores and the only difference in their “organic” potatoes is that they are wormy and look the part.
My families potatoes are not “organic” but they will readily sprout…
Just some food for thought since this is an area I know. I’ve seen the good, bad and ugly of the organic label…
JoAnna in NC
@ Joanne Parente: It isn’t just about the spraying of things like Bud-Nip though. It’s also about the soil, the compost, the quality of the water used, the seeds you start with even. Organic farming can be very complicated to get started, but once you’re on the road to it, the methodology becomes much easier.
In my area (where we usually have 7-8 months of winter and cool weather, but not this year) we have an organization called Bountiful Baskets. Very helpful to people who want fresh veggies and have no access to a CSA (especially for any time other than the scant 3-4 month growing season here) and you have a choice of conventional produce or organic produce. We have purchased the organic produce baskets a few times and it’s worth the money. Go to the bountiful baskets web site and see if they are available in your area. If not, try to get one going. It’s mostly done on a volunteer basis.
I just wanted to say that I love this video. The little girl is so adorable and so clever! I just want to give her a high five, because until now I did not get the whole organic thing at all. Thankfully all my life my parents always had a vegetable garden. When I was younger I never understood why anyone would go through so much trouble growing their own vegetables, when you could go to the grocery store and buy all these pretty perfect looking ones! But what a difference there is in taste between a perfect looking tomato and one grown in your own backyard!
Wow – what an eye opener! I’ve always known organic and local is best, but never realized quite the dramatic difference local produce makes until seeing this video. We live about 5 minutes from Root’s, which features lots of local produce, but not much organic, though there are slowly more organic stands popping up. This definitely gets me excited for our garden and CSA membership this year!
Thanks for sharing this!
I will make my family watch this.
Precious young lady did a great job! So glad my sweet potatoes come from a local chemical free farm.