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The Kid's Re-generation Detective
Conventional farming sometimes grows GM crops and often uses fertilizers, pesticides, and other chemicals that pollute the soil, water ways, and air. Regenerative agriculture–which produces organic food–does not use ANY chemicals of any kind and will not produce crops that contain genetically modified organisms (GMOs). When you eat an organically grown fruit or vegetable, what you see is what you get. For your own health, and the health of our planet, you can adopt a regenerative lifestyle–choosing organic foods is one way to start.

Here are 4 ways you can shop to avoid buying GMO's and chemically treated foods:

1. Buy Whole Foods. Buy fresh fruits and vegetables; and use whole grains, beans, seeds and nuts.

2. Support local, family farms. Shop at your farmer's market; and ask your grocer to stock local produce

3. Buy Organic. Organic produce excludes GMO's and synthetic chemicals.

4. Support companies that avoid GMO's; get a list of responsible companies; also check out their list of irresponsible companies and send them a letter telling them why they won't get your business.

Now that you know why organic is the safer and healthier alternative for you and your family, how are you going to put this knowledge into practice? It’s hard to change your entire lifestyle overnight; but every long journey begins with a single step:
Investigate Organic Foods

Step 1: Now that you are armed with a shopping strategy, try to prepare and eat an entire organic meal once a week for your family. Go ahead and eat your favorite dishes–just use organic ingredients. Choose the menu and give everybody different assignments–buying, cooking, and cleaning. Definitely ask to go along on the shopping trip, though! You get to read the labels that way. Best bet: Look for food labeled "certified organic" and choose those items over other similar items.

Step 2: To find out where GMO's are in your supermarket, go to The True Food Network. Use this list to avoid processed foods that contain GMO foods. You'll be surprised at how many of your favorite foods are on the list!

Step 3: Go to the store again and, this time, write down some foods that say "organic" but are new to you. If you’ve never eaten them before, figure out what they are, if you can. You may need to use a cookbook–check the index to look them up. Then, plan a meal using some new foods.

This is a great way to be creative and spend time with your family while doing something good for your body and the environment. Plus, your taste buds will thank you!

1. Ask your teacher to get your class involved in learning about organic foods from around the world. Divide your classroom into groups, each representing a country. Each group researches how much organic food is grown in the chosen countries, how available it is, how well it is labeled. You could also find out if the country allows GMO’s to be used. You may be surprised by what you discover. And, you may get some good ideas about what needs to be done to promote healthier ways to grow food in your own country.

2. Or try this school project: Make believe you are an organic farmer. What do you need to get started? How will you organize your farm? Some of your classmates could be the farmers group, while others are the consumers. Report on the health and environmental benefits. Create a presentation and share with the rest of the school.

3. Test Your Knowledge! Which is the earth-friendly solution: conventional or organic farming.

One of the best ways to stop GMOs and chemically grown foods from invading your life is to support organic/regenerative agriculture locally. By buying food from local, organic farms, you are supporting the ideas that you believe in and helping the organic business to thrive. Big companies notice when people buy less of their products and more of someone else’s. If more and more people start to request organic food, these big companies will realize that they better start supporting organic farming to attract consumers in their stores. There are different ways you can become involved:

• Buy food from local farmer’s markets.
• Seek out health food stores in your community.
• Go to your local grocery store and ask to speak with the manager. Ask him or her if the store carries any produce from local farms. If it doesn't , tell the manager that you, your family, and friends would shop more often in the store if healthier products were offered to the customers.
• Join a CSA project (Community Supported Agriculture) with your family. This is a great way to experience organic farming first-hand, support local business, and receive fresh food.