The Farming Behind Your Baby's Products: Why Quality Matters

Life’s full of compromises. What you feed your baby shouldn’t be one of them. It’s common sense to give your child a diet filled with fruits and vegetables. But sometimes, that’s not going far enough. Here’s a closer look at why farming practices have a direct impact on your child’s health—even when you choose organic.

Processing, Pesticides: The Hidden Side of Food Production

You are what you eat, the mantra goes, and this is never truer than during babyhood.

Unfortunately, these early meals are increasingly processed.The global market for premade baby food has grown from US $9.6 billion in 2010 to US $17.9 billion in 2022, representing some fundamental shifts in family eating habits. In short, we’re eating more ultra-processed food than ever, and at increasingly younger ages. This leads to a range of troubling health outcomes, including increased risk for obesity and preferences for junk food that last through adulthood.

The news gets worse. Many premade baby foods contain trace levels of pesticides and other agricultural contaminants. The Environmental Working Group reported that sixteen different pesticides were found in baby foods as far back as 1995.

You might wonder, what’s the real risk? After all, we’re talking trace amounts of toxins. Unfortunately, babies are more vulnerable to these compounds than adults. Synthetic compounds can be stored in chubby baby fat indefinitely, meaning that pesticide exposure can compromise developing nervous systems and reproductive organs. Small, repetitive doses add up because the body doesn’t have a way to expel them, potentially leading to a host of unexpected health problems later in life.

Here’s a spot of good news. EWG’s updated research from 2023 found that pesticide levels in baby food are going down since its landmark 1995 study. Better yet, organic products have the least contamination of all.

What about heavy metals?

In recent years, several baby products have been recalled due to heavy metal contamination: lead-laced cinnamon in applesauce pouches and arsenic in rice cereals.

While it’s often assumed that heavy metal contamination occurs during processing and manufacturing, the root cause is the, well, roots. These compounds can concentrate in farm soil and irrigation water due to proximity to manufacturing sites, mining, and even the use of pesticides and fertilizers.

Root vegetables like carrots and sweet potatoes draw them from the soil, putting the children who eat them pureed at risk. Likewise, rice tends to draw more arsenic from groundwater than other crops.

Heavy metal exposure can harm the developing brain and is linked to problems with behavior and cognition. Arsenic, for example, is associated with reduced gross motor development in children.

Nourish Your Child Naturally for Better Health

Does ditching contaminated produce make much of a difference for your child’s health? The science says it does.

Research shows that children who eat an organic diet metabolize significantly lower levels of high-risk insecticides within their bodies. A metadata analysis of organic and conventional food found that switching to foods grown without pesticides led to a 94 percent lower chance of health risks of pesticide exposure.

Further research reveals that the levels of organophosphate pesticides in children’s bodies plummet after just five days of eating naturally grown food.

Need more proof? A 2024 study compared the nutrition of organic and nonorganic dairy production and found that natural products contained significantly higher concentrations of heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids.

More research on natural milk from the British Journal of Nutrition showed that two-year-olds who ate organic and biodynamic dairy had less eczema and wheezing than their peers.

The facts speak for themselves. Sticking to sustainably grown food will make a difference for your baby from the very first bite.

Regenerative Foods: Benefits from the Very Beginning

So what’s the solution? The problems remain complex, but growing food in healthy soil is a start. That’s why we’re big advocates of regenerative agriculture at White Leaf Provisions.

The term encompasses a mindset that goes beyond sustainability to reverse damage to land and soil. It’s both a philosophy and an approach to land management that considers all aspects of agriculture as connected within a web.

The main goal of regenerative agriculture is to follow ecological principles to reverse soil degradation. These farming practices may include adaptive grazing, no-till planting, limited use of pesticides and synthetic fertilizer, and more. Regenerative farmers aren’t focused on chasing the highest yields. Instead, they focus on their margins and aim to decrease costs. Profitability is still a priority, but the real measure of success is soil that grows healthier every passing year.

While organic baby foods have less exposure to pesticides than conventional, regeneratively-grown crops take the benefits even farther by minimizing exposure to heavy metals and other contaminants.

What Foods Should You Buy For Baby?

Make a change for your child’s health today. Say no to pesticides that pollute the environment and our bodies, and embrace the ever-increasing world of better-grown food.

At White Leaf Provisions, we believe feeding your child healthy food shouldn’t be difficult. We offer only the best for your baby with our line of applesauce and baby foods.

Choose to fuel your child with naturally sweet, Clean Label certified apple sauces, or our new range of individually sized purees, made with regeneratively farmed ingredients. We want to help you on your family’s journey towards healthier living for your bodies and the planet.

Get in touch if you have any questions about our product line. We can’t wait to continue this conversation.