MJC_H1_ECONS_CSQ1_Q_A

Question 1: Healthy Eating Extract 1: The shifting economics of organic food Anyone who's set foot in a supermarket or farmers’ market in the past decade has noticed that organic food is c onsiderably pricier than c onventional food. But this "organic premium" — the difference between the two — can vary widely from product to product. And in some cases, the gap is actually shrinking quite dramatically. So what's going on here? Start with the fact that any food certified as "organic" has to meet certain standards laid out by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Organic farms are prohibited from using synthetic pesticides, petroleum- based fertilizers, bio solids fertilizer (made from sewage sludge), irradiation, preservatives and genetic engi neering. Processed food has to go through certified organic plants though organic canned process ed food are not required to omit preservatives. In addition, any animal pr oducts labelled organic have to come from animals that were fed organic feed and never given antibiotics or growth hormones. In practice, these rules can encompass a wide variety of farmers and methods. But by and large, the restrictions tend to increase costs and delay production. The difference in price tends to be lowest for things like spinach or apples. Figure 1: Percent above non-organic price of selected organic food Source: USDA, Economic Research Service 2016 Nielsen Homescan data 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Percent above non-organic price

The difference in price is higher for proc essed food like organic canned spinach, and highest for animal products. What's really inte resting, though, is how this premium is changing over time. Some organic products are getting cheaper. Others, not so much. For crops like spinach or coffee, the or ganic option typically costs more because farmers have to spend more on weed and pest control. But as a 2012 paper from the National Sustainable Agriculture Informati on Service explains, this situation has changed over time. Early on, organic produc e farmers simply paid more for non- synthetic herbicides and insecticides. More recently, many organic farmers have been switching practices — harnessing techni ques like integrat ed pest management and making better use of insect predators. For milk or eggs to be certified as organic, farmers have to use feed for their animals (like corn and soy) that's grown organicall y. Organic feed has often been in short supply (particularly in recent years, as it's been far more lucrative for farmers to grow conventional feed). Source: Vox, June 2016 Extract 2: Is organic food healthier? Singapore Nutrition and Dietetics Associat ion (SNDA) accredited dietitian Jaclyn Reutens said: "Organic food has become so popular because they claim that no pesticides, hormones and fertilisers are used. It sounds great because nobody would want to c