Is Organic Really Better? Healthy Food or Trendy Scam?

Head over to our shop to get exclusive kurzgesagt merch and sciency products designed with love.
Getting something from the kurzgesagt shop is the best way to support us and to keep our videos free for everyone.
►► http://kgs.link/shopkgs
(Worldwide Shipping Available)

i ear organic to stop spraying fields and killing bees. and less pestisides in it

The delivery was great.

Today we know that for example tomatoes out of large farms in the Netherlands have fewer mineral and vitamin contents than tomatoes grown outside in an organic way

0:07 is that lemongrab ?

Very good presentation. You mentioned Fat activists dying. That is correct. It’s a strange extreme view never seen before and it can be dangerous

This video told me that I should definitely continue eating organic lol. Not sure why everyone is drawing a different conclusion this video. Seems like a reach in an effort to be contrarian. There is definitely something wrong with America’s food system including the FDA and I’d rather take my chances eating organic if it’s the lesser of two evils

To tell you the truth, this channel is the reason why I switch from other applications to YouTube ❤

What about the effects of pesticides on the ecosystem and and the agricultural workers?

Well this view is a bit black and white. There are many many bad details about conventional farming not even mentioned. The ecological Impact on microorganisms, animals and water pollution is massive, for example

Honestly, I never knew until researching how bad organic cultivation is on sustainability because as the need for food rises, we are practically devastating ecosystems by expanding crop fields. I guess this has been something I've been blind to as a child and never questioned the discourse around it until I actually got curious on why things are labeled good or bad.

Tysm

—

I really appreciate the effort this video makes to look at organic vs. conventional food from a scientific perspective. It’s well presented and raises some important points. At the same time, I feel some crucial aspects were missing from the comparison.

The focus was mostly on yields, land use, and CO₂ per kilogram of food – but there are broader factors that play a huge role in sustainability:

Mass animal production comes with major environmental and ethical costs (methane, antibiotics, waste management) that go beyond simple efficiency metrics.

Soil health: intensive conventional farming can degrade soil over time, while organic approaches often improve fertility and long-term resilience.

Fertilizer and pesticide production is itself a large, energy-intensive industry, contributing significantly to emissions and pollution.

If we take these systemic effects into account, organic production arguably shows clear advantages in the bigger picture. So while the video makes valid points on efficiency, I think the conclusion is incomplete without considering these additional layers.

Fun fact everything you eat today is GMO humans have messed with food so much that none of it is natural

The way the eco toxicity part is skated over in this video is outrageous. There's a 2017 study that says there!s been a 75% drop in insect populations over less than 30 years.

Without pollinators, there won't be food for anyone.

No mention here of the catastrophic decline in insects worldwide and the role of pesticides like Neonicotinoids.

Shameful shit.

I buy what I can afford out of what's available in my small town. PERIOD. Screw organic vs conventional.

Organic meat is super expensive, but it is one of the products where shopping organic matters the most. Meat with zero label is raised in windowless installations, fed with imported soy which contributes to deforestation, and the animals are never stimulated nor cared for. It is torture (see kurzgesagt video about meat). Greatly reduce our meat consumption and only buy organic meat (or meat from local farms with good ethics) is one of the best things we can do, both for the environment and for the cattle

Your point is untrue there is lots and lots of studies made to prove the importance of organic food in your diet regarding pesticides.
A récent study proved that eating non organic fruits and veggies has little health benefits versus eating processed food in terms of cancer risks
I have farmers in my family and some of them are suffering from neurological disease frome the exposure from synthetic pesticide

You can also point out that organic farming using more land is not an issue, on the contrary its regenerative for the soils and traps carbone dioxide

It seems that in the US it might be different than in Europe but we have a more structured way of producing that guarantee quality
Quality in every aspect which means social quality also
But the US never been able to push past the lobbying
Sad

As someone who works in the food industry I would love to have this video printed on my desk 😂

This video is not working since it doesn't say anything about insects. The ground and the biodiversity of the organic food. I feel like they pulled studies from all over the world to push a narrative. Didn't even pulled in the chicken experiment. Very shameful

In conclusion? Seasonal is better, maybe also make your own stock, i've been eating mashed taters made from homegrown sweet potatoes for a year and i've been fine.

Pesticides are not forbidden in organic ? God bless Europe in which it is since bio's creation.

Organic farming is the base level of sustainable agriculture, it’s like the kindergarten of sustainable agriculture.
Regenerative natural farming is more advanced and sustainable method of farming.
But to make it a profitable farming venture you need lot of money and then as your land fills up with tons and tons of good microbes and carbon matter,cost of production goes down significantly.
I know all this because of our hard work and failures in our farming venture at Rockface farms Sri Lanka

From Ceylon with love

Come visit Rockface farms Sri Lanka

Organic apples cured my apple allergy.

What about meat?

Thank for not being a political sell out like ted ed

organic or conventional, i dont really care

Does this include animals or only fruit and vegetables

1:41 it’s raining 🍎

An organic product is one that has been manufactured with quality, precision, and the blessing of God, but humans, because of their greed, do not like this matter, so they add pesticides, hormones, and water to it to increase profits, without caring about human health.

I Wish everyone knew this. It's not like we have science to destroy the planet😂.

However, if you look at organic meat. it gets really criminal. organic meat needs 2-3 times more area, we have worldwide 12.7M miles² only for meat that's 3x the size of USA if you want it organic you have to destroy fertile land 2x that size more

Fascinating and counter intuitive !

all food is organic. look up the definition of the word.

😆

I dont like how organic is globalised in this video because there is good and bad organic. And trust me good organic is far better

It is very obvious that conventional farming has a lot of damage on environment. Chemical soils kill earth and habitat

Sorry but I am disappointed by your lack of objectivity there. I think you missed important points to add to the benefits of organic food. The use of pesticides has been proven to be harmful for :
– soils and groundwater, which we use as our main drink source (at least in Switzerland) ; that’s my field of work so I have some idea of it
– biodiversity, as it kills insects and enters the food chain (birds,…)
– last but not least, for the farmers exposed to the pesticides which health is statistically deteriorated compared to organic farmers.
– leaving the heavy agro-chemistry for farmers can at least free them partially from a closed system made to keep them captive and not well paid.

I have been in here for about 3 to 4 years now, Always loving your videos and always watching your new videos you upload.

BUT one thing I want to emphasize here is ,developing countries like India, although there are rules but the farmers use excess of pesticides. Too much that, sometimes I remember my mom throwing off certaint fruits because they just don't smell right, smell like a little "chemical". And it is an established fact that in some areas like Mumbai, people even use sewage to grow their crops. So in this respect, I would prefer "organic " over "conventional". YOU SHOULD HAVE INCLUDED COUNTRIES LIKE INDIA TOO, AS NOT ALL COUNTRIES HAVE STRICT REGULATIONS LIKE THE US OR UAE, infact Many countries are like India.

And what about the groundwater pollution with use of the pesticides and and their influence in the coral reef ?? As far as I remember, there is coral reefs in our oceans are hugely destroyed due to pesticides. So in this respect, is organic better or conventional ??

Otherwise your videos are amazing . ( I don't even know why I am writing this reply , I do not think even kurzgesagt will see this 🤣 )