Good reasons for going organic

We would like to point out the misleading nature of both your headline (Organic food not healthier, says FSA, 30 July) and the Food Standards Agency's study. First, as you report, the study has noted that there is an increase in nutritional content, as have other studies; much more importantly, the study did not look at the health implications of the use of fertilisers and pesticides, the major health difference between conventional and organic foods. Furthermore, as your article stated, consumers are not primarily motivated to purchase organic food for personal health reasons but for much wider environmental and social reasons.

Serious questions need to be asked of the FSA as to why it commissioned a study with such a limited scope: it is like looking at the health impacts of smoking and only assessing the degree of tobacco staining on a user's fingers. Organic food is good for the local environment, creates jobs and will be increasingly recognised as essential in the fight against climate change and resource constraints.

Consumers would be advised to look beyond the headlines and continue to support organic producers whose wider societal impacts bring benefits to all.

Julie Brown, Antony Froggatt, Nick Plumeridge and Natasha Soares

Pear Necessities Organic Partnership

 Organic farms have on average 30% more species and 50% more wildlife like birds, butterflies and bees. Compassion in World Farming, the recognised experts, says organic farming has the potential for the highest animal welfare standards. Other environmental benefits are self-evident – there's less dangerous waste on organic farms and almost no pesticide use. Artificial nitrogen fertiliser is banned in organic farming, so there's less runoff of nutrients that cause algae blooms in coastal waters.

There are more women and younger people involved in organic farming, and organic farmers are more optimistic about the future. That future will be dominated by climate change. Here organic farming is leading the way, insisting on using solar-powered fertility through crops like red clover that fix nitrogen into the soil for subsequent crops. For our own health and the health of the planet, organic food and farming will play a big part in our future.

Molly Conisbee

Soil Association

 Aside from the fact that the FSA's study ignores the most up-to-date research on the nutritional benefits of organic food, a more useful study would have been one which acknowledges the growing body of evidence on the impacts of bioaccumulative and endocrine-disrupting chemicals used in intensive farming and the climate change impacts of carbon-intensive farming.

Organic farming is a holistic, integrated approach which conserves soils, encourages biodiversity, eliminates greenhouse gas-intensive nitrogen inputs, conserves genetic diversity, and brings more income to the grower. And is very probably healthier to boot.

In 2008 the Sustainable Development Commission's Green, Healthy and Fair report found that "conflicting policies from different areas of government are also making it impossible to achieve targets" including reducing carbon emissions and promoting the healthy development in children. The FSA's latest report is just such an own goal.

Andrew Lee

Sustainable Development Commission

 While there are many good reasons to eat organic, I think taste is an important influence. Here so-called blind tests are up against a problem as so many non-organic consumers' taste buds have been damaged by eating an excess of strong, spicy flavours, sweeteners, chemicals and so on. To a fully working palate there simply is no argument. Especially with such foods as chicken, tomatoes, strawberries, apples and so on. Add to that smell, and you can see why when food is whole and fresh and free from chemicals, grown in healthy, uncontaminated soil with access to natural sunlight, the phrase "evocative aroma" really means something!

And the truth is we don't need science to tell us this. Could it be that some natural, sensual, instinctive, intuitive awareness might be more accurate than a science limited to provable "facts"?

Mora McIntyre

Hove, East Sussex