All-natural” “locally-grown” and “pesticide free” are all terms that you may see applied to produce at your local supermarket or farmers market. And while all of these terms may imply a certain level of care for the product or the environment, none of them, singularly make a product “organic.” Only those foods that are grown and processed according to USDA organic standards can carry the official “organic” label. And while the strictness of these guidelines may make organic produce harder to find, it also makes the extra effort well worth it.

The National Organic Program (NOP) is a certification program administered by the United Stated Department of Agriculture (USDA) that requires all organic foods to meet strict government standards. These standards regulate how foods are grown, handled and processed. Any single-ingredient food that meets the criteria can carry the USDA label of 100% organic.

“Organic produce is grown without any antibiotics, hormones, pesticides or other harmful chemicals,” said Richard Hendry, operations manager of Nature’s Market on Apollo Boulevard in Melbourne. “They use all natural fertilizers, which actually put more nutrients into the soil, and those nutrients make their way into the produce.”

“And these changes just make the produce taste better than commercial produce,” Hendry said, “More nutrients mean that the produce has a deeper color, a firmer feel, and when you bite into it, it tastes the way it is supposed to taste. An organic orange really tastes like an orange. And a tomato tastes like a tomato.

Some commercial growers do the least amount of work that they possibly can and grow things as quickly as they can to produce the maximum yield. And if their crop isn’t growing well, they add pesticides and other things that impact the plant. And you can end up with a product that looks similar but it doesn’t have the same natural taste.”

Anyone who has tackled the challenge of going organic in their own home gardens knows that the process does require work. At home, the temptation to use just a little bit of pesticide or fast-acting fertilizer is sometimes too hard to resist. Organic farmers are strictly forbidden from utilizing any of those quick, but harmful, methods.

“The certification process is carried out by third party certifiers,” said Aaron Kruger, an employee of Sunseed Food Co-op in Cape Canaveral. “And it’s pretty strict. It doesn’t just say that the growers can’t use certain substances, but they have to go for at least three years without using those substances before they even begin to plant.”

“And it isn’t just the growing of the produce that must be monitored,” Kruger said. “To earn the organic label, the entire handling and processing of the product must be monitored, too. Our suppliers are organic certified as well.”

In Brevard County, some organic produce is supplied by small, local area growers. But the stringent guidelines for growing organic and the short growing seasons make locally grown organic produce difficult to come by. Retailers use several major organic product distributers to supply their products.

“We would love to be able to get all of our produce locally,” Kruger said “But that just isn’t feasible with produce. During the Florida growing season, we are going to have a lot of Florida grown stuff. But in order to stock things that aren’t in season, our suppliers provide products from other organic farms, both domestic and internationally.”

“When people look at the whole process, it is easier for them to understand why organic produce costs a little more,” said Ronni Blumenthal, Vice President of Administration for Global Organic Specialty Source, Inc., one of the major organic produce suppliers in the state of Florida.

“The farmers grow the products under strict government standards, which are monitored by one of the third party certifiers. As a supplier, our facility and processes are monitored, as well. And we must have the certifications of ALL of our farms and the ability to trace each item back pretty much to the farm, row, and even the tree or plant that a product came from. But the benefits of this whole process are well worth the effort.”

“As people are becoming more concerned with their health, more and more of them are trying organic produce and once they taste it, they really like it,” said Kurt Nall, who owns Appleseed Health Food Store in Rockledge with wife Rene Maas-Nall. “Organic products are not sprayed with chemicals and pesticides which is a big thing, because more and more people are getting concerned about ingesting things like that. But it is also much better for the environment.

Harmful chemicals from typical crop production build up in the soil and get into our waterways. Organic farmers care about the environment and take the time to do things in a healthier way. And it’s important to me to support the farmers that are doing that.”

“The National Organic Program (NOP) requires that farmers respect the natural eco-systems and wildlife which is why they are so careful about how they use the land, irrigate their crops, and diversify the fields after each planting,” Blumenthal explained.

“They also monitor the water runoff, how they preserve wetlands and other adjacent eco-systems, and even go so far as to hand pick bugs rather than using big pesticide spraying machines. They have smaller yields but they make that trade off for the health benefits and the sustainability of the earth.”

“One of the great things about the green movement is that it has brought awareness to what organic means,” said Dustin Barnes, who owns The Jungle Organic Restaurant and Market in Indialantic, with fiancé Lea DiGiovanni. “People are realizing that organic doesn’t necessarily mean vegetarian and that it doesn’t mean just nuts and grains and tofu. It is more about how something is produced and how it is handled.”

“Many people think that if they see the word organic, that it is going to be so healthy that they aren’t going to like the taste of it,” Barnes said. “Our goal is to bridge the gap to help people realize that eating organic does taste just as good, or better than, a more conventional diet, but it is a lot better for them, and for the environment. We have just about anything you can get in a more conventional restaurant, including fish and steak and other meats. But we only use wild caught seafood instead of farm raised and all of our meats are organic. We also make four different homemade soups from scratch every day, made with whatever organic produce is in season.”

“We opened our restaurant in 2003 because this is the way we live and the way we like to eat,” Barnes said.

“But we also like the idea that we are supporting the small organic farmers that are doing their part to help protect the environment.”