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Public opinion that organic foods and free range animal products are healthier than conventional food is quite strong. Hippocrates advised that our food should be our medicine and our medicine should be our food. Our foods are over processed and deficient in vitamins and m minerals. Instead, they are filled with sugar, pesticides, antibiotics, growth hormones and altered DNA.

We support natural farming and ranching practices, complete nutritional labeling and the elimination of many commonly used food additives, colorings and sweeteners.

Health Benefits of Organic Food
In general, organic food consumers, manufacturers, and farmers strongly believe that organic food has the following benefits compared to conventional food.

Pesticide Reduction
One of the major complaints that organic food consumers cite when choosing organic over non-organic is the presence of pesticides. In order to keep crops from being attacked by the natural world, including bugs, pesticides are required. Although they do a good job at keeping certain pests away from the crops, they also are composed of powerful chemicals like organophosphorus. This is an unnatural mineral compound that is not required by humans, but more than 80% of this material in our bodies comes from eating pesticide-coated foods. Organophosphorus has been connected to a number of developmental problems, including autism and ADHD, so organic food lovers do have a pretty strong argument in this case. Many people do choose to go organic to make sure that their children grow up healthy and unaffected by the toxins of the world during their developmental years.

Environmental Safety
As harmful chemicals are not used in organic farming, there is minimal soil, air, and water pollution; thus ensuring a safer and healthier world for future generations to live in.
An average of more than 2 pounds of herbicides are applied to every planted acre in America.

​Antioxidant Capacity
A number of studies have been completed regarding the effects of antioxidants from organic foods on overall health, and the predominant results have shown that antioxidants tend to have more of an impact when they come from organic foods. This may be due to the fact that foreign chemicals are not negatively interacting with the different vitamins, minerals, and organic compounds that are so essential for the positive impact of fruits and vegetables in the prevention of premature aging, vision problems, and cognitive malfunction. Recent research [7] suggests that choosing organic food can lead to increased intake of nutritionally desirable antioxidants and reduced exposure to toxic heavy metals.

Organic Tomatoes
According to a 10-year study conducted by the University of California, Davis, organic tomatoes are produced in an environment that leads to an increase in the formation of antioxidants, such as quercetin (79% higher) and kaempferol (97% higher) in organic tomatoes. 

Organic Milk
Recent research conducted on organic milk has shown that it has more antioxidants, omega-3 fatty acids, CLA, and vitamins than non-organic milk. According to the researchers at the Danish Institute of Agricultural Research at the University of Aberdeen and the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research, organic milk is healthier than non-organic milk, since organic cows are pasture grazed which results in the better quality of milk.


Heart Health
An increased amount of time grazing on grass also increases the amounts of CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) that can be found in animal products. CLA is a heart-healthy fatty acid that can boost cardiovascular protection, and it is found in higher quantities in breast milk and in the meat of animals that have been raised free-range or cage-free.

Immune System Boost
In recent decades, one of the biggest projects for farmers and food growers has been a genetic modification. Making tomatoes six times larger might sound like a possible option for solving some world hunger issues, but there is another side to it. Genetic modification is still in its early stages, so the long-term effects of it on human health aren’t understood very well. In animal testing, genetically modified food showed a major reduction in immune system strength, an increase in birth mortality, as well as in certain sexual dysfunctions and sensitivity to allergens. Although there are some good things about genetically modified food, organic food advocates point to the lack of concrete details about its long-term effects.

Antibiotic Resistance
People are very sensitive to issues of their health, and they often take precautions to make sure they remain healthy, like getting various vaccines and taking antibiotics as soon as a new strain of bacteria makes them ill. However, non-organic food sources, particularly livestock and feed houses, also use antibiotics to feed their animals. This extra dose of antibiotics may actually be weakening our immune system by basically overdosing on antibiotics, thereby reshaping it so many times that it will eventually be unable to defend itself. Organic food growers and dairy farmers do not use antibiotics in their processes.

Overall Health
Since organic food is not prepared using chemical fertilizers, it does not contain any traces of these strong chemicals and does not affect the human body in negative ways. Natural fertilizers, like manure, work perfectly fine, and organic farmers are happy to use this smellier, yet safer form of fertilizer.

Better Taste
Some people strongly believe that organic food tastes better than conventional food. The prominent reason for this belief is that it is produced using organic means of production. Furthermore, organic food is often sold locally, resulting in the availability of fresh produce in the market, which usually does taste better than produce that has been frozen, shipped, and transported across long distances.

Animal Welfare
Animal welfare is an important aspect of producing organic milk, organic meat, organic poultry, and organic fish. People feel happy that the animals are not confined to a miserable caged life when they eat organic animal products.
SOURCE:
https://www.organicfacts.net/organic-products/organic-food/health-benefits-of-organic-food.html

We agree with the 2014 Vermont Progressive Party Platform:
"A diverse variety of small scale agricultural operations, such as family farms, orchards and woodlots, are essential to ... food security, economy and cultural heritage, while large scale agriculture tends to threaten our environment, has dubious effects on our health, and promotes a debt based economy.

We will work to:
• Support fair trade pricing for ... family farms, and develop farm and community based food hubs, processing centers, and other infrastructure needed to broaden the market for ... agricultural products, and to make locally produced food more readily available statewide.
• Promote and enforce agricultural regulations that will protect food safety and the environment from the risks associated with factory farms, without becoming onerous burdens to small producers.
• Promote agricultural regulations, which allow small producers to offer products that are unavailable otherwise, such as raw milk and farm slaughtered meat.
• Support efforts to transition to sustainable, organic farming practices such as changing the laws so compost can be considered a tax exempt agricultural product and ensuring that those planting GMOs are held accountable for any damages caused by those crops or the methods needed to grow them." 


We agree with the Peace and Freedom Party Platform of 2014:
"We want an agricultural system that ensures enough food and other farm products to meet human needs, guarantees a high standard of living to farmers and farm workers, protects humans and the ecosystem from environmental degradation and encourages organic farming. To that end, we call for:"
  • "An end to subsidies and tax breaks for corporations.
  • Food distribution by farm and consumer cooperatives.
  • Extension of all labor rights to farm workers, including wage and hour regulations.
  • An end to cruel methods of animal husbandry.
  • No use of recombinant bovine growth hormone (RBGH) in meat or dairy cattle.
  • No genetically engineered organisms in food production.
  • A ban on "terminator" seeds.
  • No export of chemicals banned in the U.S. or import of agricultural products treated with them."
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​We agree with the 2016 Green Party Platform:
"Re-localize the food system: Our national industrial food system is overwhelmingly dependent upon oil and natural gas for farm-equipment fuel, fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides, and the transport. New farming methods, new farmers, and a re-localization of production and distribution are needed. These will require land reform, an investment in revitalizing rural areas and the creation of local food processing plants and storage centers. Laws and incentives affecting the food system (including food safety laws and farm subsidies) will need to be rewritten to provide preferential support for small-scale, local, low-input producers."

"We encourage legislation that assists new farmers and ranchers, that promotes widespread ownership to small and medium-sized farms and ranches, and that revitalizes and repopulates rural communities and promotes sustainable development and stewardship."

"We support new farming and growing opportunities and urge the inclusion of non-traditional crops and foods in farm programs."

"We support the highest organic standards (California Organic Certification Standards, for example)."
​
"We oppose monopolistic production of high-tech hybrid seeds. This is the basis of monoculture where agribusiness relies on non-sustainable methods such as single crop varieties bred with industrial traits and grown with high input of energy, chemicals, and pesticides. This has led to a massive loss of biodiversity, displacing traditional varieties and seed stocks."

"We encourage the use of diverse natural seed varieties passed down over many generations. Crops can be grown with the best plants’ seeds being saved season to season."

"We encourage, and support public access to, seed banks and seed collections that emphasize traditional and heirloom seeds." 
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​We agree with the For a People's Party Platform:
  • "We now know that farm animals feel a wide range of emotions: pleasure and sadness, excitement and resentment, depression, fear and pain. They are far more aware and intelligent than we imagined. Yet factory farms condemn animals to a life of agonizing pain in order to squeeze more profit out of them. Animals spend their whole lives in cages so small they cannot turn around and often are not able or allowed to sleep. The animals try so hard to escape that they give themselves physical deformities. End the barbaric practice of factory farming and switch to free range animal farming."
  • "Encourage local food production and sustainable farming practices.
  • Eliminate food deserts and ensure the universal availability of nutritious food to everyone.
  • Ban the use of carcinogenic food colorings, additives and hormones.
  • Eliminate agricultural subsidies that amount to corporate welfare for big agribusiness.
  • Promote vertical farming, which eliminates the need for fertilizers, pesticides and the expensive and polluting transportation of food to cities. 
  • Promote new farmers and farming opportunities.
  • Encourage equitable access to healthy, preferably organic food.
  • Protect the bee population by cutting down on pesticides
  • Encourage crop rotation and other practices that avoid the desertification of arable lands.
  • Ensure that genetic plant varieties remain in the public domain following the expiration of plant breeders’ rights.
  • Work with the USDA, growers, processors, colleges and universities to develop a food innovation center to make changes in the processing, packaging and marketing of U.S. food products." 

​The video clips below
are from the documentary
​"Food Inc."
CLICK HERE
to watch the entire movie.
   
 
   
   


​Please watch the videos below...
  
   
  
   
   
   
Regenerative Agriculture

​We agree with the 2016 Green Party Platform:
​"Regenerative Agriculture
End industrialized agriculture methods, including mono-cropping, reliance on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, and the use of confined animal operations, all of which are high-order contributors to atmospheric greenhouse gases.

Convert our food producing systems to small-scale organic, regenerative agriculture (agroecology) systems to restore soil health, sequester carbon, foster biodiversity, discourage the currently unsustainable level of meat consumption, and secure robust ecosystem services for a sustainable future.

Replace subsidization of industrially produced agricultural products with support for small producers employing organic, regenerative agricultural methods.

Localize food distribution systems to minimize waste, build rural communities, and eliminate reliance on fossil fuels."

We agree with the 2018 New Mexico Democratic Party Platform:
  • Support funding and prioritization of “local farming” over “regional farming;” 
  • Encourage community-supported agriculture (CSAs) to foster local farming; 
  • Support stronger agricultural worker protections including, but not limited to, regulation of work hours, unfair wages, elimination of child labor, ensuring adequate housing for migrant workers, and sanitary facilities in the field; 
  • Support legislation that legalizes and promotes an industrial hemp industry; 
  • Support incentives for sustainable agricultural practices, agricultural water conservation, and retention of lands of agricultural production and ranching; 
  • Ban the use of neonicotinoid pesticides which is critical to the survival of bees and pollinators on which we depend for our food supply; 
  • Support efforts to preserve and protect New Mexico’s traditional heritage livestock and varieties of heirloom seeds; 
  • Support individual property owners’ ability to control their farm lands and local water rights;
  • Support protecting farmers from lawsuits by companies who produce patented genetically modified seeds, when the local farmers’ crops are corrupted or cross-pollinated from nearby company fields; 
  • Support individuals and communities in developing yard and community gardens through supportive land-use policies and zoning;
  • Remove the minimum wage exemption for farm workers; 
  • Support growing legal cannabis.
   
  
  
   
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Animal Welfare