Wayne there probably is a syth vs organic advantages/disadvantages thread or two or three somewhere here.
If not you can always start one.
I'm with you though, I like the organic methods better. Two completely different systems, both can work for the intended purpose of growing plants and harvesting the fruit, but you have to rewire your brain to really understand either one of them and make them effective.
It reminds me of a YouTube video I watched awhile ago, this guy had two homemade shoe box type deep water culture hydroponics units in his kitchen and he was going to compare the General Hydroponics line of nutrients (mostly synthetic) against GH's General Organics line of nutrients. Organics is something he never did before and what was so obvious is he never read about what the General Organics line was designed for—which is soil! A DWC system is not designed for organics anyway, at least not without some major modifications, but his conclusion was the General Organics nutrients sucked because the plants didn't grow as big.
Actually he sucked because he had no idea what he was doing from the get go. He understood chemical salt fertilizers, but never did his homework about what organics is all about.