To Buy or Not To Buy (Organic that is).. That is the question!

I like to buy organic whenever I can.... with that said, I should make another statement... when I can AFFORD it!  Afford it?  Well, if the items that I am going to buy are highly contaminated, or absorb more pesticides and herbicides that other foods, then I can't afford to NOT to buy organic ... my kids don't need that in their systems!!  But what about the foods that are okay to eat conventionally?  Do I need to spend the extra money?

And why does organic food cost more than conventionally grown food?  I read an article that pointed out 3 basic reasons.  First, organic prices are higher because of retail mark ups.  (Having the orgainc label automatically bumps up the price). The second is that organic farms are often small, local and seasonal.  Retailers have to source with more suppliers who provide less predictable quantities.   This takes more work.   The third reason, the PRINCIPAL reason that organic food costs more than conventional food is that organic foods cost more to produce.  It is such a highly regulated industry with tight procedues that requires more labor... 
In the United States, labor is more expensive than chemicals!!
So I did some research and found out some items that you should ALWAYS buy organic and some that it's kind of wasting you money to spend it.   After reading many contradictory articles, I finally found one that I believe to be right on...
This article breaks the whole issue down into sub groups...  http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/13737389/ns/today-today_health/

There are conventional growers that are small and family owned.  Not all of them are run by big coorporations..  but , I like to think about this:  Encouraging job creation while decreasing the demand for toxic chemicals seemed like worthy use of  my extra dollars, but only to a point.  So, read that article... spend your money on the produce that really does need to be bought organic and save your pennies on the items that don't need to be!!  You can always google "Dirty Dozen" for the list of the seasonal foods that are the most contaminated.

Thank you TASTE FOR LIFE magazine!