00:00:00
today you can find organic stickers
00:00:02
everywhere from apples to box mac and
00:00:05
cheese the organic label is a symbol for
00:00:08
consumers to know that the product that
00:00:10
they are buying is created with certain
00:00:12
higher standards but most people have no
00:00:14
idea what those are and they might not
00:00:16
be as substantial as you might have
00:00:18
hoped
00:00:20
[Music]
00:00:27
hey there it's Levi from my Grandma's
00:00:30
sitting room as you can probably tell
00:00:32
here to let you know that we have
00:00:33
launched a patreon now if that is not at
00:00:36
all your interest please do not feel bad
00:00:38
there's no hard feelings here just head
00:00:40
right on down to this time stamp and
00:00:42
you'll be back into our regularly
00:00:44
scheduled content however if you're
00:00:46
feeling it you maybe you're just even a
00:00:48
little curious I I encourage you to
00:00:50
listen because we got some stuff cooking
00:00:53
up so we are launching a patreon page
00:00:55
because as it turns out when you create
00:00:57
content criticizing and critiquing
00:01:00
brands on their ethical and
00:01:02
sustainability standards a lot of Brands
00:01:04
and companies don't want to sponsor your
00:01:06
content now that actually in some ways
00:01:09
is sort of like a good sign because that
00:01:11
means that what we're doing is true and
00:01:14
you know often pretty challenging to the
00:01:16
status quo and that's great because
00:01:18
that's kind of what we wanted to do but
00:01:19
it does mean that it makes running a
00:01:22
business harder so because we aren't as
00:01:25
ad friendly on this Channel we are
00:01:28
forced in some ways to reach out to you
00:01:30
our audience who are really the people
00:01:32
who have supported this channel from the
00:01:34
beginning indirectly through YouTube
00:01:36
AdSense now Beyond just like a financial
00:01:38
thing I I think that these kinds of
00:01:40
communities really do help make the
00:01:43
content better especially for a channel
00:01:45
like this where we are exploring subject
00:01:48
matter that is beneficial to our
00:01:50
audience we aren't just here for
00:01:52
entertainment we're here to provide
00:01:53
knowledge for you to help you make
00:01:55
purchasing decisions and what makes our
00:01:58
content better is if we know what you
00:02:00
want to have information on so this
00:02:03
patreon page is not just going to be a
00:02:05
place where there's cool Nifty perks but
00:02:07
also a place where you get to
00:02:09
communicate more directly with us but on
00:02:12
the perk side of things we do have a
00:02:14
couple of nifty little things going on
00:02:15
right now if you go over there we have
00:02:17
our first iteration of a newsletter
00:02:19
which we are going to be trialing out
00:02:21
just a place where we can give you some
00:02:23
behind the scenes sort of updates as
00:02:25
well as some other headline worthy
00:02:28
stories that we weren't able to fit into
00:02:30
videos on the main Channel we are also
00:02:32
going to be giving you early access to
00:02:34
all of our videos and two videos over on
00:02:37
our second Channel future proof Health
00:02:38
now the rest of it I don't want to get
00:02:40
too kind of specific on because the
00:02:43
reality is this should be a space for
00:02:45
you we want you to sort of guide and
00:02:47
dictate what this space offers up so
00:02:50
maybe that's like q and A's maybe that's
00:02:53
uh you know early access to scripts or
00:02:56
maybe you want to learn how we create
00:02:58
our videos I don't know but that's sort
00:03:00
of the point is that this is a space for
00:03:01
everybody and if you made it this far
00:03:03
through the ad thank you so much for
00:03:05
listening if you are interested the link
00:03:07
will be down in the description let's
00:03:08
get back to the video
00:03:10
hi everybody I'm Levi you're back here
00:03:12
at Future proof yes in a weird location
00:03:15
we're shooting in a restored Airstream
00:03:17
today we made this video as a follow-up
00:03:20
to our video about Whole Foods that we
00:03:22
made way back in the day when I didn't
00:03:23
have facial hair and still had youth in
00:03:26
my eyes but we also made it because a
00:03:28
lot of you have asked for a video about
00:03:30
different certifications that we talk
00:03:32
about on this channel but here's the
00:03:33
thing with certifications we have made a
00:03:36
incredibly complicated world of
00:03:39
consumerism just walk into any grocery
00:03:41
store Island I'm sure that you will be
00:03:43
overwhelmed by the choice available and
00:03:45
these certifications and labels are kind
00:03:47
of our only guides to sort through all
00:03:50
of this mess in order to make a choice
00:03:51
and predictably the responsibility Falls
00:03:54
onto the consumer to decode what all
00:03:56
these labels mean and of course there's
00:03:58
not a clear-cut simple answer some
00:04:01
labels might actually mean something
00:04:02
While others are just a total load of
00:04:05
and there are a lot of food
00:04:07
producers out there relying on the fact
00:04:09
that you don't know how to make the
00:04:11
difference and this can make a very
00:04:13
simple trip to the grocery store
00:04:14
incredibly stressful sometimes I know I
00:04:17
also buy food and eat food so here is
00:04:19
our charitable effort to try and clear
00:04:21
up some of this mess around organic
00:04:23
labels
00:04:26
[Applause]
00:04:28
okay so this is going to be a doozy
00:04:29
let's start from the beginning first you
00:04:31
have to understand that these labels
00:04:32
were not like passed down from older
00:04:34
Generations or from some kind of ancient
00:04:37
civilization they're just rules that we
00:04:39
made up like 30 years ago in the 1990s
00:04:42
farmers in the United States came
00:04:44
together to push back against the
00:04:46
industrial farming complex that used
00:04:48
pesticides on all their crops and
00:04:51
stuffed their livestock full of
00:04:52
antibiotics now the industrial food
00:04:54
system today is a massive frightfully
00:04:57
convoluted world that prioritizes the
00:04:59
production of certain foods over others
00:05:01
which we're gonna get into in a minute
00:05:03
but surprisingly things actually used to
00:05:06
be a lot worse now I know y'all hated
00:05:08
history class so we're gonna Tick Tock
00:05:10
style slam some history in your face
00:05:12
hole back in the late 1940s pesticides
00:05:15
like DDT were sprayed all over crops to
00:05:17
kill off annoying bugs this diabolical
00:05:20
weapon of modern science saved millions
00:05:21
of humans but killed billions of insects
00:05:24
but they basically killed everything
00:05:25
else in the process and caused cancer
00:05:27
answering humans which really sucks
00:05:29
Rachel Carson wrote A Very Super Famous
00:05:31
book about it called Silent Spring you
00:05:33
might have heard of it nobody wanted to
00:05:35
listen to her not surprisingly but
00:05:36
eventually turns out she was right and
00:05:38
she sparked basically the modern
00:05:40
environmentalist movement all hail rail
00:05:42
cart all hail rail all hail all
00:05:46
all hail rail oh
00:05:48
[Music]
00:05:52
all hail Rachel Carson
00:05:54
thanks to this outcry the Environmental
00:05:57
Protection Agency banned the use of DVT
00:05:59
in the USA in 1972. however by then
00:06:03
industrial farming wasn't going anywhere
00:06:05
thanks to a colorful guy named Earl
00:06:07
butts with one t not two which is sad
00:06:10
but was the USDA secretary of
00:06:13
agriculture under President Nixon in the
00:06:15
70s and he dreamed of an agricultural
00:06:17
system that could feed the world on the
00:06:20
cheap his idea was to modify corn wheat
00:06:22
and soy production and as much of the
00:06:24
other vegetables to make them cheap as
00:06:27
possible for the middle class the dude
00:06:29
is credited as being the patron saint of
00:06:31
the fast food nation and he told Farmers
00:06:34
you gotta get big or you gotta get out
00:06:36
during this decade a lot of changed
00:06:38
Farmers went into debt and had to take
00:06:41
out huge loans to sustain the massive
00:06:43
expansion that butts was trying to
00:06:46
pressure them all into and it all
00:06:47
collapsed in the 80s when Farms were
00:06:49
producing way more than they could sell
00:06:51
and based basically they were out
00:06:53
of luck this is like the farm version of
00:06:55
when Mom and Pop shops get bought out by
00:06:57
Walmart and McDonald's all these little
00:07:00
guys just couldn't handle the pressure
00:07:02
to expand exponentially and the
00:07:05
Investments required to fit the new mold
00:07:07
were just way out of their league so
00:07:09
they went out and all of the big
00:07:11
companies just kind of took over and
00:07:13
that's basically where we are today and
00:07:15
the systems have just gotten more and
00:07:16
more efficient advancements like
00:07:18
synthetic fertilizers became way more
00:07:21
affordable Machinery started to replace
00:07:23
manual labor and then eventually
00:07:25
everything just started revolving around
00:07:27
these new cheap food sources the meat
00:07:30
and dairy industries were the main
00:07:31
beneficiaries of this as they realized
00:07:33
that they could just use cheap grains to
00:07:35
bulk up their livestock and produce more
00:07:37
meat for a lower price and a whole bunch
00:07:40
of other stuff that we don't have time
00:07:41
to get into obviously and we're just
00:07:43
barely scratching the surface here but
00:07:44
essentially by the late 20th century
00:07:46
most of the food production that was
00:07:49
happening in the US was Consolidated
00:07:51
into just a few companies who cared a
00:07:54
lot more about profit and efficiency
00:07:55
than the health and well-being of the
00:07:57
planet and this drama is why the organic
00:08:01
food industry arose as a clap back to
00:08:04
this fast and furious approach everybody
00:08:06
sort of saw the writing on the wall and
00:08:08
it became obvious that we needed to come
00:08:09
up with a solution so the organic food
00:08:12
movement just had to try their best
00:08:13
thanks to the passenger the organic food
00:08:15
protection act of 1990 certifying
00:08:18
agencies were created to identify the
00:08:20
Farms that use organic practices the
00:08:22
problem was there were no standards for
00:08:24
organic practices on a national level so
00:08:27
Texas could have a completely different
00:08:28
thing than Wyoming et cetera et cetera
00:08:30
to solve this problem Farmers asked the
00:08:33
U.S department of Agriculture to develop
00:08:35
a standard so that things could work
00:08:37
properly in the USDA organic label was
00:08:40
born in 2002 which is exactly 10 years
00:08:44
after I was born fun fact you didn't
00:08:46
need to know unless you want to send me
00:08:48
a birthday card on my birthday October
00:08:50
29th 1992. okay okay okay so you get the
00:08:54
scene you understand it's stage is set
00:08:55
what not and you're wondering
00:08:57
impatiently what does this label
00:09:00
actually mean Levi here's the
00:09:02
thing you may have noticed um that we've
00:09:05
been exclusively focusing on the US in
00:09:06
this video it's not because we think the
00:09:08
United States is the best country in the
00:09:09
world it's just that that's where
00:09:11
everybody who watches our video is from
00:09:13
but also because every other country on
00:09:16
Earth has their own certification
00:09:17
process with their own set of standards
00:09:19
and guidelines and we just don't have
00:09:21
the time for it as you're starting to
00:09:23
see defining something can actually be a
00:09:24
lot harder than it looks so for the sake
00:09:26
of this video we're focusing on food
00:09:28
production organic labels so you know
00:09:31
with all that in mind here is our first
00:09:33
actual definition of organic far too
00:09:35
many minutes into this video the label
00:09:37
organic generally means that the product
00:09:40
in question is made using at least a
00:09:42
certain percentage of natural
00:09:44
ingredients and production practices
00:09:46
today the USDA organic certification has
00:09:49
four different labeling classes 100
00:09:51
organic organic made with Organic
00:09:53
ingredients and specific organic
00:09:55
ingredients according to the U.S
00:09:57
department of Agriculture website they
00:09:59
conduct on-site inspections audits
00:10:01
residue testing and investigations all
00:10:04
to ensure that the products meet their
00:10:06
standards before they get that label in
00:10:08
order to get that label on a single
00:10:10
ingredient food like raw chicken breasts
00:10:12
or bell peppers for example you need to
00:10:14
have at least 95 percent organic and of
00:10:17
course as you know the label has
00:10:19
expanded to include multi-ingredient
00:10:20
products too like box of macaroni and
00:10:23
cheese which has to have at least 70
00:10:25
percent organic contents to be able to
00:10:27
use the made with organic products
00:10:29
labeled this last part is how we have
00:10:31
ended up with Organic labels on a bunch
00:10:34
of crazy packaged stuff like Pop-Tarts
00:10:37
and this is a theme that you're going to
00:10:38
see across the board The Organic
00:10:40
certification is just a rule book for a
00:10:43
certain kind of industrialized food in
00:10:45
their efforts to regulate anything the
00:10:47
organic label essentially has had to
00:10:49
bend to the whims of these massive all
00:10:51
oligopoly style corporations that
00:10:54
control the food production industry in
00:10:56
the United States they have to limit the
00:10:58
scope of What organic actually means so
00:11:01
that the big boys would play ball with
00:11:03
them so let's try and answer a simple
00:11:04
question is organic better for you than
00:11:07
conventional food first of all it
00:11:09
completely depends on what type of food
00:11:10
you're even talking about right of
00:11:12
course the nutritional difference
00:11:13
between a organic or conventional TV
00:11:15
dinner is going to be very different
00:11:17
than the difference between an organic
00:11:18
or conventional cucumber for young
00:11:20
people watching a TV dinner was like
00:11:23
this microwaved meal that you would eat
00:11:25
by yourself in front of the TV or even
00:11:28
as a family unlike today where just
00:11:30
every meal is eaten in front of a screen
00:11:32
boom roasted when it comes to the
00:11:35
nutrients in a single food item you're
00:11:37
basically getting the same thing whether
00:11:39
you're going from an organic apple
00:11:41
versus a conventional Apple the only
00:11:43
real difference is that eating
00:11:45
conventional Foods puts you at a higher
00:11:46
risk of pesticides and insecticide
00:11:49
exposure because organic crops are
00:11:51
limited on the kinds of things that they
00:11:53
can use to grow their crops did you get
00:11:54
all that because here's another twist
00:11:56
that not a lot of people understand just
00:11:58
because a food product has the USDA
00:12:01
organic label on it does not mean that
00:12:03
there are absolutely no pesticide
00:12:05
residues on that product several
00:12:07
pesticides are approved by the USDA
00:12:09
they're just different ones that have
00:12:11
been decided to be less bad there is of
00:12:14
course debate on whether or not this
00:12:16
small amount of residue that you might
00:12:17
ingest is actually going to be dangerous
00:12:19
but organic foods just means that you're
00:12:22
buying something with a lower potential
00:12:24
for exposure but what about the workers
00:12:26
see the organic label also doesn't say
00:12:29
anything about ethics recent Studies
00:12:31
have shown that organic farming is not
00:12:33
synonymous with better working
00:12:34
conditions while they aren't necessarily
00:12:37
inhaling the non-organic pesticides
00:12:39
workers on Organic Farms usually have to
00:12:41
do more back-breaking work because the
00:12:44
farming is more intensive as a result
00:12:46
this is because organic farming uses
00:12:49
more Hands-On processes and less machine
00:12:51
scenery and organic produce usually
00:12:54
requires more physical working hours
00:12:56
than conventional produce does not
00:12:58
enough research has been done to
00:13:00
thoroughly compare the different working
00:13:01
conditions of each but we do know for
00:13:04
sure that workers do not have enough
00:13:05
Protections in place but this just goes
00:13:09
to say that if you're buying the label
00:13:10
because you think people are being
00:13:12
treated better that's not necessarily
00:13:14
the case and then we get to the
00:13:15
environment oh my God now most experts
00:13:18
do agree that fewer pesticides and less
00:13:20
intense pesticides are better for
00:13:22
biodiversity soil quality and pollution
00:13:24
levels but here's the thing conventional
00:13:27
industrial agriculture has manipulated
00:13:30
nature to create the perfect Emoji
00:13:32
tomato and to make corn crops that
00:13:34
produce 10x what their natural ancestors
00:13:37
did this is what nature looks like
00:13:38
normally and this is a conventional farm
00:13:40
this is what bananas look like normally
00:13:43
and this is what bananas look like today
00:13:44
without all the cheat codes of the
00:13:47
modern industrial food complex organic
00:13:50
processes just can't produce the same
00:13:51
amount of food with the same amount of
00:13:53
land as a result organic farming at this
00:13:56
scale just isn't as efficient and as we
00:13:58
see global population continuing to rise
00:14:01
it's hard to see a world in which this
00:14:03
kind of organic farming is able to meet
00:14:05
the demand which leads us to the price
00:14:08
why does organic food cost more sadly
00:14:11
the organic label is expensive and there
00:14:14
are two main reasons for this demand and
00:14:17
production costs in 2021 the global
00:14:19
organic food and beverage Market was
00:14:21
valued at 188 billion dollars and it's
00:14:25
expected to grow at a compound annual
00:14:27
growth rate of 13 until 2030. this
00:14:30
growth is happening across all food
00:14:32
categories which tells us the consumers
00:14:35
today are willing to pay higher prices
00:14:37
to feel better about their food choices
00:14:39
that's actually a good thing but you
00:14:41
also have to keep in mind that organic
00:14:43
food was already more expensive than
00:14:45
conventional food before people cared
00:14:47
about it because it just costs more to
00:14:50
make it conventional Farms are a lot
00:14:52
bigger than most Organic Farms so they
00:14:54
can charge less money per unit that they
00:14:56
produce it's the economy of scale here
00:14:59
the cost of scaling an organic farm is a
00:15:02
lot more than it is worth typically and
00:15:04
that is why there is just less to go
00:15:06
around which drives the price up even
00:15:08
more and then on top of it it's like
00:15:10
just the final little nail in the coffin
00:15:12
it's that getting the certification
00:15:14
itself also costs money we talk about
00:15:16
this more in our Whole Foods video which
00:15:18
you should definitely check out it gives
00:15:20
you more of the farmer's POV and if
00:15:22
you've made it this far holy all right
00:15:24
just put it up put it up here dude we
00:15:27
freaking did it that was uh that was a
00:15:29
haul that was a long boy and if you're
00:15:32
here with me I'm gonna freaking like
00:15:34
your video because I'm impressed but
00:15:37
since you made it we get to get into
00:15:38
some of the exciting stuff this these
00:15:40
are the things that are actually gonna
00:15:41
make you feel good about yourself
00:15:42
instead of just leaving this video
00:15:43
depressed and sad today we are seeing a
00:15:46
Renaissance of pre-colonial indigenous
00:15:48
and nature centered food production all
00:15:51
over the world from a ton of different
00:15:53
communities and on top of this we're
00:15:55
also seeing huge booms in Tech driven
00:15:58
farming Solutions like vertical farming
00:16:00
as well these are system disrupting
00:16:02
Technologies and truly Local Foods and
00:16:05
they are going to be your best way to
00:16:07
ensure that the food that is on your
00:16:09
plate is the healthiest and most
00:16:11
nutritious that it can be I bet you any
00:16:13
money if you do any Googling around
00:16:15
where you live you'll be able to find a
00:16:17
farm market or a stand or some sort of
00:16:19
CSA that you can get your food from
00:16:22
there is a ton of marketing dollars that
00:16:25
have gone into making you feel better
00:16:27
about buying certain things over other
00:16:29
things and to keep you confused and in
00:16:31
the dark about how your food is actually
00:16:33
produced and it would be amazing if
00:16:35
there was just a single table that just
00:16:36
said this is good this is bad but that
00:16:38
is not the world that we live in now
00:16:40
while this video might not have given me
00:16:42
any hope for the organic label itself I
00:16:45
hope that it has given you some hope for
00:16:47
local small scale food producers near
00:16:49
you please go and support people in your
00:16:51
community thanks for watching this video
00:16:53
and we'll see you in the next one
00:17:00
[Music]
00:17:03
thank you
