As someone who used to work for a food manufacturer who made USDA certified "organic" food, I can definitely confirm that when the USDA reps came, they literally just accept self-reported data without even inspecting the facilities. Easiest payday ever for those guys.

"Organic poison is still poison". Exactly. When a snake bites your leg, you don't say "No worries, it's organic!".

LOL "Organic poison is still poison" Best line ever

Can confirm, I worked in a heath food grocery store for two years and got to really see behind the curtain on the food and everything Roger says is spot on . It used to crack me up to see people buying nothing but junk food while thinking they’re being healthy and ethical cuz of a label and price. Those places are basically pretentious grocery stores for upper middle class people to feel superior.

I also despise how people equate "all natural" with good and "artificial" with bad. Cyanide is all natural

It's hard to tell which is more deceptive: the cosmetics industry or the food industry.

Bonus points if the organic packaging has brand names like "Ol' Trusty Luke's Family Farm", in lowercase handwritten font, with earthy color pallets, and the "story" of the company on the back, signed "Your Friend, Trusty Luke"

I actually have a friend that worked at an organic farm. He goes to large commercial farms and buys vegetables then takes them to farmers markets and sells them. He tells everyone that they are organic and that they are grown on the farm he works on. People would actually tell him how much better his vegetables were than the vegetables at the grocery store and they were the exact same as the ones at the grocery store. He finally got caught and lost his job over it but he did it for years

I spent years helping with my uncle's dairy farm. It wasn't "organic" but it was small, the cows were vaccinated and treated very well. It was on the top end in grading, meaning it was kept pretty spotless and the big names bought milk from him. We didn't need fancy terminology or buzzwords, just honest cleanliness.

Why is Roger the coolest Edgelord of every generation? 🥰

"And yuppies love that. For some reason." He doesn't buy into it himself, but he knows what sells! This old farmer is also a good businessman.

You guys should do a commercial about farmer's markets. They're supposed to be local farmers selling their own crops but a lot of people buy wholesale produce and sell it there.

The funniest one I ever saw was organic maple syrup. Literally the only difference was the paperwork and the absence of the dairy derived anti-foaming agent used in exceedingly small quantities to control bubbles during the boiling process. It cost twice as much as the normal stuff.

I was a certified organic corn and soybean producer for a few years. The paperwork/certifiers are insane/ineffective. When you sell a load of corn for example, you need to have an "audit trail", which consists of the field record stating how many bushels were harvested, the bin register showing when the crop was put in the bin and how much on that day, a lot number for the load to be sold, an off farm transportation cleaning affadavit to show the semi was cleaned before organic use, and a bill of lading. But none of that matters, as the certifiers don't come out at harvest time to estimate yields, so you literally could mix in chemically raised corn in your bin, and alter the paperwork. I didn't do that, but someone in my state did, I think they did over a million dollars worth of it. A certifier writing down on the paperwork that I used herbicides by my house, when it is a MILE AWAY from the organic fields. An arbitrary "crop buffer" of 25ft. when organic crops are raised by chemically treated crops, when volatility can send herbicide a much greater distance than that. The ability to plant "non-gmo non-organic" seed, but only if you fill out a form showing you attempted to get those varieties in organic (which might not even exist), then they just put pressure on you to use organic seed, but as far as I remember there wasn't any repercussions. I could get into the environmental aspects of burning insane amounts of diesel fuel for organic weed control, and soil loss due to wind blowing soil away during tillage, but that would make this post even longer. Glad I did it for a life experience, but I'm glad I don't do it any longer.

Some great lines in this video: Our cheese balls were hand poofed by artisan elves up in the Keebler tree. So you'll feel like Popeye. And my favorite: You'll feel like Captain God damn planet!

I've always said that if you want true "organic" food, grow it yourself.

So happy this channel exists

“Ohh, here’s a yuppie now…” I wish Roger had a ringtone 😂😂

Guy who hauled the treated sewage for wheat farmers said he would always tell the idots from Seattle " You shit we spread , send it back in your bread " Love it 😅

shortly after the "organic" label came out, I refused to buy anything called "organic" if it was at all possible. Even before they came out with the studies saying "nope, you get no measurable benefits from organic but a lighter wallet" I was just not having it. My objection was "oh, you call THIS lettuce organic...does that make everything else made of rocks and plastic? bite me. I'm not paying for your designer label."

Roger Horton needs to do If Financial Advisors and Wall Street were honest

I'm so happy that Roger got his own channel, it's the only channel that keeps my sanity

When he said "you'll feel like Captain Gdddamn Planet at the checkout isle" I lost it! I love this guy 💯

I worked for an "organic," and famous free range chicken ranch. I had to sign a non disclosure to be accepted as an employee. There was no free range and the feed wasn't organic. It was just another ordinary factory farm. The owners made a pile of money. There were never any inspections.

I grew up on a farm where 90% of everything we ate we grew and raised ourselves. We used both commercial and natural fertilizer (compost), we saved all our chicken pig and cow poop and use it. I can tell you this for certain: All the food I grew up eating was far higher quality and tasted far better than anything you can get in a grocery store today.

If you want truly organic fruits and vegetables, you have to grow them yourself. Big corporations ruin everything.

I've never been worried about fruits and veggies, so much as sodium nitrite, high fructose corn syrup, cellulose, propylene glycol, etc.

I have been eating organic from my parents garden. Basically we just don’t use pesticides and the animals manure is also organic since we don’t give them (goats, sheep, chickens and turkeys) grains. Grass and worms is what they love. Scraps are used for composting that is also used as a fertilizer. I love it!!!

Love how the ad directly after this video was for an organic grocery store. Top notch advertising placement!

This video makes some very good and valid points (organic food isn't somehow "more nutritious," and the point about "natural" pesticides is well taken) but also glosses over the environmental harms of excess fertilizer use (e.g. the Gulf of Mexico deadzone), the public health implications of overuse of antibiotics in livestock leading to more drug resistant bacteria, and the ways hormonal manipulation of livestock impacts our bodies (e.g. certain dairy products contributing to precocious puberty). I think the bigger key is distinguishing between snake oil/scare tactic sales claims and those with some evidence

It such a relief that companies always tell nothing but the complete truth about the product’s they sell.

I think the argument should be made between a “Family Farm” and a “Factory Farm”. As the number of family farms has taken a huge hit from Corporate run Factory Farms.

The only best way to go organic is if you have your own garden, and I would absolutely recommend it if its possible where you are. Hell, it doesn't even have to be organic really, it's more a matter of knowing exactly what's going into your produce. Not to mention it tastes leagues better fresh off the plant! As an added bonus, if you become experienced enough after the startup cost of resources, continuous runs often come out cheaper than what you'd be paying since you can reuse the seeds from the last batch and just get another bag or two of fertilizer every now and then to maintain soil quality. PS, if you opt in for composting, which I would totally recommend, see about the Black Soldier Fly and if it's natural to your area. They are some of the best decomposers in their larvae state, and as a fly they are 100% harmless since they drink nectar and pollen, which also makes them an excellent pollinator in addition to being incapable of biting! They also have a TON of additional benefits such as bait and animal feed.

Please never stop doing this. It's some of the best education I can offer to my kids.

I’ve binge watched most of your videos and now I can’t walk down the street without second guessing the authenticity of any an advertisement I see…. Because it’s all to make money

I used to work in a soil science laboratory, and I can confirm that soil samples from organic farms have way more organic matter, and are thus more "alive'' than conventional farm soil samples. So the rate of soil degradation is lower on organic farms.

"Don't they regulate this stuff??" "They'll certainly pretend to!" 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

One of your best expose's yet. As a geologist I find it humorous that people believe 'synthetic' N-P-K fertilizer (good ol' 10-10-10 or 13-13-13) is "bad" and "organic" phosphate rock fertilizer is "good." The geologic fact is, mined phosphate rock is made of calcium phosphate. Phosphate rock deposits are ancient ocean deposits that precipitated out of sea water. It's what most of Florida sits on. Since sea water contains minerals and 1% of that is uranium, and since the atomic radius of uranium is very close to that of calcium, uranium will substitute for calcium in the atomic structure of the mineral. In other words, natural phosphate rock is naturally radioactive to some degree. In fact, the heavy use of phosphate rock to fertilize tobacco and the decay of the uranium to polonium which attaches to the leaves is the reason tobacco smoke is radioactive and therefore carcinogenic. However, during the production of synthetic fertilizers, the process removes nearly all of the radiation from the phosphate rock ore. This explains the large mounds of radioactive byproduct tailings from fertilizer plants that are between Orlando and Tampa. They are called Gypsum Stacks. They can't be used for anything (at least not yet) because the EPA considers them too radioactive.

"If its easier to fake, its fake." Everything in the grocery store, especially the expensive stuff.

As a medical professional with an in-law surrounded by hippies.... she recommends "colloidal silver" instead of antibiotics, and I met one of her influencing friends at a social gathering and she (not knowing who I am or what I do) happened to tell me "I eat organic. Nothing growing out of the ground can kill you." Without even blinking, I stated, "Except for the poisonous plants and mushrooms." She didn't speak for the rest of the evening. At all. Of course, I didn't even get to comment on E-coli contamination from any fertilizers or animal that poops nearby. (-_-)

"Organic poison is still poison." Love that line

I've ben a organic gardener for years and didn't even know! LOL. Didn't understand exactly what organic farming was. Figured it was pesticides free. Lot's of chicken poop mixed in the soil, will give you a great garden. Canned 20 jars of tomatoes this year.

Having grown organic fruits and veggies, I can tell you that my crops do not look anything like the store variety, its very hard to keep pests away using natural home made plant sprays, not all bugs leave my plants alone, but at least there are no chemicals, i make my own fertilizers from tree leaves, and food scraps that I compost, its way more work for sure.

I can tell you indeed it IS true that *truly* organic food is better in many ways, but emphasis in truly organic (from seed selection, to dirt/compost materials, water quality, agrocultural practices. The colors are mich brighter, the products are bigger, the flavor is ridiculously better, the texture & even the nutrients tend to be higher. Part of it is also picking it at ripening not prior. But I've bought truly organic products from lifelong friends that practice all of the above & then some & i most certainly can vouch there's a HUGE difference. But again... it is not store bought, nor USDA Organic labeled... it is a close friend that I've known my entire life & have deep access/insight/knowledge of all the practices they put to use for their small farm products

Rodgers taking a dump in his corn field. There's a mental image i didn't need. lol and hes charging extra for the corn

Reminder that organic just means carbon based

I've been trying to get a definition of organic and nobody could give a satisfactory answer. I knew instinctively it was bullshit. That makes me morally superior.

I wonder how a "GMO farmer and producer Honest Ads" would look? I doubt that would ever happen 😂

well, this is staggering; who knew there was so much corruption in the organic farming industry?

The lady at Costco was appalled that we were gonna go for Taco Time Tuesday, she proclaimed that she “only eats clean.” It’s pointless to even try to talk to these people…

This video reminds of a time when i was working in a grocery store's meat department, and a young couple were buying meat from the organic section. The woman asked a very fair question to the guy, "why is the organic ground beef brown and not red?". The young man without a second of hesitation claimed "it's because they use artificial food coloring on the regular ground beef to make it look more red!" I couldn't help but blurt out laughing at his response and got a dirty look. For anyone curious why the beef is actually brown, its because of how its packaged. Beef turns red when exposed to oxygen, and the organic beef uses higher quality vacuum sealed packaging with no air, so the beef never turns red until package seal is broken. In contrasts, you have plastic wrapped meat that's sold fresh and only lasts 3-5 days because even with the loose plastic wrapping it's still exposed to the air. If you're curious why they don't package everything in the vacuum packed sealed containers, there's 2 reason. One it costs more money, and two, it allows the meat to be properly aged for consumption and tastes better. A steak that's been sitting in the meat case all day and looks "older" as it's color turns a deeper shade of red will actually taste significantly better than a steak freshly cut assuming the steak is cooked within 48 hours.

"Organic poision is still poison." Cane toads and mushrooms: you're goddamn right it is!

1:13 "Despite making up only 1% of the food population..."

As someone with a PhD and BS in Horticulture he is 100% accurate. Organic is a buzz word used to get people to pay more for groceries and requires more inputs and resources than traditional agriculture.

LOL @ all of this - I had a landlady who would only eat "Organic" and wouldn't drink tap water (oh noes fluoride!) and lugged home big jugs of "Alkaline Water" and was afraid of WiFi and the signals that smart meters and cellphones put out. She also worked at Whole Foods ("Whole Paycheck")

“Oh but I’ll be less likely to get cancer” that one always gets me 😆

While this is mostly true, what my gf and I have found is that food listed as "organic" more often than not does not contain the things she is allergic to. So like it or not, "organic" processed foods is how we shop, or she'd practically not be able to eat anything. (corn allergy)

I worked for an organic farm/charity and learned a lot about the science and reasons for things so I have a lot to say about how terrible standard commercial farming is, but yes the term "organic" has gotten all sorts of mixed up and is just a poor word to apply to things given its many contextual meanings. We can do better than mind numbing products like organic salt, a straight up inorganic mineral you literally extract.

This is very wild to think about now because I was preaching these things to my folks and telling them they should try to eat more this way spending about $500-$600 on groceries at the famous Whole Foods store. Idk maybe because I had a balance in how I ate I was feeling like the food was better. I was just getting ready to make my famous food wish list for this weekend and I see this video pop up well this is going to save me a boatload of money by not going out and purchasing any of the food from here any longer! Damn it’s truly amazing how just putting fancy labels and wording things differently can make your mind start to believe you’re doing something better than the next unaware people around you! Divide and conquer is the ultimate goal for these people and they will use anything they can think of to keep that going on forever! I’m becoming a complete ass by trusting the very same people that got us in this condition in the first place! I’m glad I had this come to me because now I can see how important it is to remain grounded and humble about everything.

So much truth to be heard in this one. It is all about the marketing and packaging. Non-GMO wheat products and Gluten free Corn chips, I love the labeling.

working on a yogurt industry and testing the bio milk that taste worse, is way more fragile to pasteurisation and of course more expansive, i was waiting for that topic!

At 3:07 he might be referring to a famous organic fraud case that happened near me. Long story short: A nearby farmer was busted about 5 years ago running an organics scam. He was hauling in $300 million each year by labeling everything "organic," even though it wasn't. He hung himself rather than face federal prison and bankruptcy.

I just found this channel and it's amazing. Honesty, truth, and humor rolled up into one.

Most of this is true however. I have noticed that with my own organic and chemically fertilized crops. I have noticed that the organic ones always last longer in the fridge. The don't 'melt' as quickly as the ones I use chemical fertilizers on. Also most of the synthetic pesticides don't work after we use them for about 3 years even on the same insects. But with the sunflower method we're able to keep them off the good crops and pick bugs off to feed them to chickens which is alot better and almost 100% free compared to the pesticides which cost alot in my country.

Also, many "farmers" at the farmers markets don't actually own any farms, they just buy misshapen fruits and vegetables in bulk and resell them at the farmers markets. They don't know if the produce is actually organic or not.

I work in produce at a grocery chain, lets not forget the massive amount of waster from organic produce. Because either no one buys it or because it just seems to rot faster then the rest.

The crazy thing is any farm can say/label they are organic. I can spray with conventional sprays and label it organic, I can only get in trouble if I call/label the product "certified organic."

3:29 will be known as the best comedic delivery of the CENTURY!😂😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

I used to subscribe to NatGeo magazine. Back in the 90's, they did a story about how family farms often saved themselves from bankruptcy by going organic. They could charge more because suckers are willing to pay more.

I do grow a lot of my own veggies and... I do use commercial pesticides and fungicides, but I use them exactly as prescribed, and I do add a few extra days of quarantine on top of what is stated on the label. Not using them means you have quite a low chance of harvesting anything on that particular year. I also tried using a lot of compost and manure, and I could never accquire enough (unless I buy it) to feed my plants throughout the season. It is never enough! Basic mineral fertilizers cost less than the transportation cost of a truck load of manure (not counting in the price of the manure itself), you can pick them up by hand and throw them on the back seat of your car. When applied properly in early winter, they create an absolutely perfectly natural mineral content in the soil, without killing any microflora and micelium! Being slow dissolvers, a boost feed mid-season takes you all the way to late autumn with perfectly fed and healthy produce. Early autumn is also the time you could usually cut back on the pesticides and fungicides, as the threats have now diminished a lot. Compost is still good though... Mostly for enhancing soil structure, any nutrients it has are pure bonus for a short while. And compost and mineral fertilizers get along quite nicely :)

As a Farmer that is both Conventual and Organic... It feels like printing money when we sell Organic crops as people will pay whatever you ask, its honestly highway robbery. 😂

My sister in law talked high and mighty how she didn't eat "processed" foods. Literally as she ate a plastic packaged block of tofu. I laughed and pointed out her idiocy. She didn't say anything and kept eating.

Next up (I hope): if buying gold was honest and if staffing agencies were honest. As to organics: helluva racket!

1985 I was the first and only private organic farmer to have his own shelf at lawblas . When they saw how popular my crops were,

Plants that are stressed tend to be less nutritious, as has been shown in study after study. "Organic" crops tend to be attacked by more pests, because of the lack of pesticides, and to be less fertilized, because of the limited fertilizer options. This makes them more stressed. Which makes them less nutritious.

I love it when Roger says the word SUPERIORITY, it sounds great when he says it for some reason.

Remember: this is from a USA perspective. Asia & Europe legislations and surveillance are different & not simply "controlled by free market".

Monsanto has nearly cornered the marked on seeds: "Their "terminator seeds" are modified to only last one generation to ensure that farmers have to annually purchase new seeds from the organization." Be careful out there.

Last season I grew plants out of the disgusting sludge of rotting plant matter I threw in a barel. The food that grew from that was the most delicious thing I ever had. One time I burried old meat next to my tangerine tree. The fruits that came from that were very sweet and juicy. All it takes is a bunch of rotting stuff, time, and care and you will have what "organic" feels like.

Organic food = Hipster food

We need Roger to create The Church of Horton so we can finally have peace and love on this earth.

Some years ago I read an article on organic food that interviewed a guy at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He said that "natural pesticides" were pyrethrins from chrysanthemums, which kill all insects, harmless, beneficial or bad and COPPER, a known poison. But heck it's natural. I don't buy organic food, and I don't eat it at a friend's house unless it's well cooked. I don't eat greens in restaurants.

As a personal organic farmer and a former HazMat technician, I would much rather have BT (a harmless bacteria) sprayed on my vegetables than a repeated application of organophosphates to control caterpillars. I’d rather use harmless DE to control bugs than benzene ring organophosphates. My preferred fertilizer is bat guano and not the slightly radioactive phosphates.

Yeah, I've long known this about the food industry. The only thing that has come close to changing my mind has been the organic milk at my local grocer. I don't know if they just use a better pasteurization process or have a better distribution chain, but they have longer expiration dates and just taste creamier. Literally the only thing organic I'm willing to spend more money on.

I love these videos. As someone that is in college for Biology and environment studies, this video is great! All the Honest Ads are. It's about looking objectively at these things and learning real facts and figuring out how we can change the system to force these places to stop lying and manipulating consumers. Love you Roger!

This guy is going to destroy my client base for my grass-fed carrots

Years ago, I saw a truck labeled "Tom's Organics" (OK, maybe Fred or some other name). With my limited chemistry background, I thought of asking "Got benzene?" Because to a chemist, benzene is ORGANIC.

The day when I saw "organic baking powder" in the store I lost my religion.

As a conventional farmer who sympathizes with organic, this video butchers a very nuanced topic.

Exactly why my family eats almost all our produce and meat off from my own land. My farm has been in my family since 1887 and will continue to feed our family for the foreseeable future

over here in the netherlands when there's a bio/organic stamp/sticker on the package it just means you will be paying 3 times the normal value even tho the products the same as the non bio/organic stuff, that's why only juppie's and rich people with more money then they know what to do with buy this stuff, everyone else just buys regular stuff because at the end of the day it realy dont matter if its bio/organic or not since there's no difference anyway except for the price.

I hope Roger out lives us all.

I love the videos you do. So funny, yet so alarming. Keep on shining a light & telling the truth! THANKS!

I am a small time fruit farmer. I run a 10 acre farm in central PA. I use a mix of organic vs conventual spray but I would never go all organic. Organic sprays are more harmful to the environment, and possibly to humans. Probably the most dangerous spray I use is an organic spray. Non organic pesticides/fungicides are pest specific, they target certain troublesome bugs, but are not harmful to good bugs such as honey and bumbled bees. Organic sprays are non selective, this means they kill everything, including bees and other good insects. Many organic fungicides such as copper and vinegar are harmful to the soil if sprayed often. It doesn't take long to build up copper toxicity in the soil or to acidify your soil with vinegar. I also wouldn't go organic because I would have to spray my produce at least twice as much as I have to spray with conventional spray. Instead of once a week conventional, with organics I would be killing everything in my fields two or three times a week, this can't be good for my local eco-system. When I choose sprays for my produce I look at the PHI or post harvest interval, other wise known at the amount of days you must wait before you harvest after applying the spray. I have steered away from some organic sprays because you have to wait 7 days before you can harvest. Post harvest requirement is theoretically in place to give the chemical spray enough time to break down to the point where it is no longer harmful to humans or animals. Most of the conventional spray I select have a one-three day post harvest interval, some have a zero post harvest interval. Depending on the spray both organic and conventional sprays can have a short or long post harvest interval. Also with many organic sprays, you have to use much more of the chemical per acer. Depending on the conventional spray, it can be as little as 1/4 a cup of chemical per acer and 90% or more of that chemical lands everywhere in the field but on the berry you will be eating. Like the video says, there is no data that shows organic produce is any healthier than conventional produce. It may even be more harmful because it is sprayed more often resulting in more chemicals built up on your produce. If you are worried about what is on your produce, don't buy from out of USA, we have pretty strict regulations but many countries I wouldn't trust. Who knows what they put on the produce they ship out, and who knows what that country considers as "organic." The organic title is subjective to interpretation, just like the word "sustainable", "organic" carries little to no meaning.

Organic and bio are just labels that can be bought for agricultural products if you have the money and participate in the bureaucracy. When the papers are filled out, they can use the labels on their products. For example, normal banana, bio banana and organic banana all come from the same farmer but are just labeled differently.

Only Roger can tell the truth in a way we like - funny!

Penn and Teller did a show on organics years ago on thier show "Bullshit" and it was talking about the same things. My favorite is when they tricked people into admitting the non-organics did actually taste better.

If honest ads was honest I’d be able to see a day in the life of Roger where some how he exists in a perfect form… floating in free space devoid of all mortal ailments and sustaining from a mixture of pure sunlight rain and wind

We got "organic" apples from the local farmer's market one summer. My partner loved how they tasted, but they consistently gave him food poisoning (he's immune compromised which is why it effected him and not me). We ended up throwing the rest out.

I always believed that it's a marketing strategy to make you spend more..just cause it's "organic". It's my humble opinion that the only way you know if it's organic, is if you grew them yourself.