Consumers demand for healthier food and governments’ policies for environmental sustainability of agricultural
processes are increasingly promoting a rapid expansion of organic farming. Nevertheless,the link
between organic products and their enhanced nutritional/environmental values is far from being fully
understood. In this context, we have begun to assess the effect of cultivation variables that may interact
with farming systems and ultimately affect the final product quality. By comparing the response to
conventional vs. organic farming of cauliflower, endive and zucchini here we demonstrate that the overall
quality of organic products depends on many interacting variables. In cauliflower, the cultivar effect
overwhelms other quality determinants with respect to antioxidant activity and nitrate accumulation.
In endive, the liposoluble antioxidant activity increases under organic cultivation only in the absence of
mulching. Finally, organic farming promotes the accumulation of K in zucchini grown on clay but not on
sandy soil. Therefore, understanding the functional links between cultivation variables and physiological
responses is essential to improve and standardize the quality of organic products.