I have a question and am serious. What is the legal definition of organic food? My tomatoes and squash do not give a damn if I put turkey manure from the local turkey houses or synthetic commercial fertilizer produced from natural gas bought in a bag. All my plants care about is the nitrogen and phosphates and trace minerals in the bag or the turkeys ass. They do well on both.
The legal definition varies from country to country. In some countries, no chemical fertilizers or pesticides can have been used on the land for five years. In the US, I think it’s less. Ah, here we go, three years:
https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2012/03/22/organic-101-what-usda-organic-label-means
You are correct about the plants not caring much about the fertilizer. But the organic crowd prefers anything “natural”. There’s the pesticide angle, too. On that one, they have a point or two.
The reason organic produce often tastes better: (1) it’s usually locally grown and fresher (no pesticides mean it doesn’t keep as long before the bugs and baddies spoil it), and (2) because of (1) they can grow tastier varieties rather than varieties that ship well and stay looking fresher longer. Like those awful plastic grocery store tomatoes. But one can always go to the local farmers’ market and get great tomatoes, and no difference in taste between organic and regular ones.