Organic farming is loads better for the farmers and their families
It's pretty obvious to most people that organic farming is a better choice for the environment, but we think it's so important that people understand the social impact of it as well: At least 20,000 people in developing countries die every year from pesticide poisoning and 3 million suffer acute or reproductive after effects.*
It's not just farmers who are too poor or ill-educated to wear protective clothing who suffer pesticide poisoning. When the fields are sprayed other food and crops planted in border areas also get sprayed as it's impossible to spray one without the other. This is the food that village communities use to feed their families, and so the pesticides affect the farmers' wives and children too. There are so many heart-breaking stories about the damage caused, and if people knew more about it they would quickly be persuaded to shop for organic clothes rather than popping down to the local supermarket for a cheap t-shirt!