Is organic food better for you than processed foods?

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There has been a massive movement toward more natural, healthier, more concious living and eating. Two of the major trends which have become buzz words for more natural less tampered with and additive laden products are "organic" and "whole foods". Organic foods are foods which are not exposed to persticides, hormones, pasteurization, artificial colorants or preservatives. Whole food relates to vitamin supplements, nutritive shakes, and drinks normally. What it means is that the complete fruit or vegetable matter has been included. Examples would be vitamin and mineral supplements, potato chips or potato products that are produced with the skin, where most of the nutrition of a potato is, included. Whole grain organic wild rice is both a whole food and an organic food. Teas and liquid vitamins can also be whole foods. Access to these products is becoming much more widely distributed. You can find organic or whole food products in most grocery stores. Though they won't have the selection or variety of products that your local whole food or health food store or specialty store. However many organic and whole food healthy alternative products are being offered in chain grocery stores next to their processed food counterparts. Often organic or healthy alternative foods are more expensive than the mainstream products that stores have offered for years. Why? Why is food that is less processed and contains less foreign infusions, fortifications, and preservatives more expensive than products which have the liquid of a fruit juice distilled down to a concentrate and then have more water added to them? Why is organic meat way more expensive to purchase? My question is do you know what is different in the processing, production, and presentation of regular products versus organic or whole food products? Is organic food really better for your body? More nutritious? Better tasting? Is it worth the added expense or is the same stuff we have been using for years just as good and the whole healthy foods movement is just a marketing ploy to make food more expensive, or to make you feel beter about feeding it to your family?