[GoodGrief]

For me, it's mostly about flavor and environmental protection. We've done blind taste tests in my household and typically organic milk and fruit comes out on top. But it's also a "better safe than sorry" approach. We (modern Americans) spend so little of our income on food, that paying an extra 25% on high risk items is pretty negligible cost if the EPA/FDA guidelines on pesticide truly aren't rigorous enough. When flavor doesn't matter, focus on buying the "Dirty Dozen" (12 products with most pesticide residue, http://www.organic.org/articles/showarticle/article-214) for  organic purchasing.

Or as a general rule of thumb, if it's got a peel that you're not going to eat, you're probably okay with non-organic stuff. Nonetheless, I go for organic when I can because, as has been said, the stuff TASTES better. They found that conventional store-bought tomatoes suck because genetic breeding to create an even color also turned off the production of sugar. I want my sugar. Cherries are so disappointing when they look so dark and large and luscious and taste like nothing.

[GoodGrief]

For me, it's mostly about flavor and environmental protection. We've done blind taste tests in my household and typically organic milk and fruit comes out on top. But it's also a "better safe than sorry" approach. We (modern Americans) spend so little of our income on food, that paying an extra 25% on high risk items is pretty negligible cost if the EPA/FDA guidelines on pesticide truly aren't rigorous enough. When flavor doesn't matter, focus on buying the "Dirty Dozen" (12 products with most pesticide residue, http://www.organic.org/articles/showarticle/article-214) for  organic purchasing.

Or as a general rule of thumb, if it's got a peel that you're not going to eat, you're probably okay with non-organic stuff. Nonetheless, I go for organic when I can because, as has been said, the stuff TASTES better. They found that conventional store-bought tomatoes suck because genetic breeding to create an even color also turned off the production of sugar. I want my sugar. Cherries are so disappointing when they look so dark and large and luscious and taste like nothing.