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I have worked in the food production industry and have grown my own ducks, chickens and vegetables. I was the king of organic and I saw and tasted the results first hand. My eggs always had poop smeared on them. My kids refused to eat them because of that problem; even when I cleaned them in bleach water. They tasted the same as the store bought eggs because our local egg suppliers produce the best tasting eggs in the world.

I know that the processing of non-organic foods is the same as organic foods. There is much robotics that prevents that food worker sneezing on the produce. The difference is the chemicals used to keep the produce from insect infestation. I know from my own experience growing my own vegetables, that insects are a nuisance. Radishes would have grub worms in them, squash would have leaf mites, corn cobs would have some little devil that took out a few rows of kernels and so forth. Imagine the disappointment to cut open a cabbage head and find that grub worm burrowed inside. I still ate it, but I never found one from the grocery. I wonder how many of these Whole Foods customers are finding that grub worm as extra protein in their produce?

Seriously, these organic farmers who avoid insect control, cause the entire area to go out of insect control. Their neighbors have to ward off their insects that blow over to their fields. And, the insecticides they use to control them, get carried by the winds onto the supposed organic crops.

The word “organic” means very different things, and the decision-making process that people apply is not as simplistic as you imply. And the word “organic” means very, very different things when applied to meat and to vegetables.

At this point, the health/taste advantages of healthy animals vs. the animals that go into the cheaper meats are essentially impossible to argue with. The fat is different. The vitamin content is different (look at the difference of K2 between butter from healthy cows, and those that aren’t). The texture is different. The color is different. And so on.

The only real exception to that is bivalves. Farmed bivalves are just as healthy as wild ones, and, often healthier, because the cages can be placed in cleaner areas.

For vegetables, it depends an awful lot on the type of vegetable. I am going off of memory, but IIRC it doesn’t matter much for things like coconut, avocado, or asparagus. But, on the other hand, for blueberries, it makes a huge difference. There are measurable, and significant, differences in the production of polyphenols, and the antioxidant load is quite different.

You are viewing the question from one angle only, but the truth is that there are a lot of diverse issues involved. “Organic for organic’s sake” is clearly just marketing, but thinking that there aren’t real differences is simply wrong. Vegetables that are not left to fend for themselves do not produce the same natural pesticides, meaning that, chemically, they are not really the same plant.