The U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance is urging parents to keep nutrition in mind as their kids start the school-year. Chris Chinn is a farm mom in the north-central Missouri town of Clarence. She says “organic” foods don’t contain any more nutrients or vitamins than their counterparts. She understands that some parents shy away from foods grown with pesticides or herbicides, but says as long as you thoroughly wash fruits and vegetables, they’re safe, healthy and nutritious.
And she says parents don’t need to approach the produce aisle in fear of “Frankenstein Foods” … genetically modified foods. Chinn reminds consumers that only eight items are allowed to be grown by GMO methods: corn, soybeans, cotton, canola, alfalfa, sugar beets, papaya and squash. Genetically modified crops are able to better utilize water, she says, such as during last summer’s drought, when GMO crops did much better than others.
She says 95 percent of the farms in the U.S. are family owned and operated, and consumers at the grocery store can rest assured they’re buying food produced by a family farm that feeds their family the same products, and cares about healthy, quality food.