Organic vs conventional farming

Organic food sales grew 9. In general, organic operations must demonstrate that they are protecting natural resources and conserving biodiversity. Where the conventional farmer would use insecticides for pest control, the organic farmer would make use of beneficial insects, birds or traps. And where the conventional farmer might use herbicides for weed control, the organic farmer would rotate crops, till the dirt and hand-weed or mulch to manage the weeds.

Exploitation Restraint In contrast, several agro-ecologically based researchers stress more the fluid transition between conventional, integrated and organic farming, as an outcome of different assessments of economic, ecological and social goals.

Consequently, technique strategies such as integrated pest management of balanced nutrient supply might improve conventional agriculture to such as an extent that it may appear unnecessary to strictly ban pesticides and mineral fertilizers as required by organic standards. However, there is scientific that organic agriculture differs Organic vs conventional farming conventional agriculture not only gradually but fundamentally.

Implementing organic methods consequently seems to provide a new quality in how the agro-ecosystem works. This functioning cannot be explained by summing up single ecological measures. Organic farming seems to improve soil fertility in a way and to an extent which cannot be achieved by conventional farming even if the later consistently respects some ecologically principles.

Organic agriculture is one of several to sustainable agriculture and many of the techniques used e. What makes organic agriculture unique, as regulated under various laws and certification programmes, is that: The basic rules of organic production are that natural inputs are approved and synthetic inputs are prohibited, but there are exceptions in both cases.

Certain natural inputs determined by the various certification programmes to be harmful to human health or the environment are prohibited e. As well, certain synthetic inputs determined to be essential and consistent with organic farming philosophy, are allowed e.

Lists of specific approved synthetic inputs and prohibited natural inputs are maintained by all the certification programmes and such a list is under negotiation in codex. Many certification programmes require additional environmental protection measures in adoption to these two requirements.

While many farmers in the developing world do not use synthetic inputs, this alone is not sufficient to classify their operations as organic. Modern Farming Today's chemical farms have little use for the skilled husbandry which was once the guiding principle of working the land.

The emphasis today is solely on productivity - high input in exchange for high returns and productivity mostly diminishing now however for farmers worldwide. Four important considerations - what happens to the land, the food it produces, the people who eat it and the communities which lose out - are overlooked.

Land exhaustion The constant use of artificial fertilizer, together with a lack of crop rotation, reduces the soil's fertility year by year. Fertilizers High yield levels are produced by applying large quantities of artificial fertilizers, instead of by maintaining the natural fertility of the soil.

Industrial vs. Organic - Sustainable Table

Nitrate run-off About half of the nitrate in the artificial fertilizer used on crops is dissolved by rain. The dissolved nitrate runs off the fields to contaminate water courses. Soil erosion Where repeated deep ploughing is used to turn over the ground, heavy rains can carry away the topsoil and leave the ground useless for cultivation.

Soil compaction Damage to the structure of soil by compression is a serious problem in areas that are intensively farmed. Conventional tillage may involve a tractor passing over the land six or seven times, and the wheelings can cover up to 90 per cent of a field. Even a single tractor pass can compress the surface enough to reduce the porosity of the soil by 70 per cent, increasing surface run-off and, therefore, water erosion.

In the worst cases, the surface run-off may approach percent - none of the water penetrates the surface Agricultural fuel As crop yields grow, so does the amount of fuel needed to produce them.

European farmers now use an average of 12 tons of fuel to farm a square kilometre of land; American farmers use about 5 tons figures. Biocide sprays The only controls used against weeds and pests are chemical ones. Most crops receive many doses of different chemicals before they are harvested.What does the Organic label promise you?

Unlike natural and other eco-label claims, only organic offers government-backed assurance that products are grown and processed without the use of toxic chemicals, antibiotics and synthetic growth hormones.

Organic and Conventional Agriculture If you listen to many of the current debates over agriculture and food, you believe there are only two sides: those who support “organic” farming, and those who support “conventional” farming —with no common ground between them.

Industrial vs. Organic. There is a common misconception that organics is a new fad or something reserved for left-wing hippies, greenies or the well-to-do. What people forget is that organic farming is actually the traditional way of farming.

Sustainable Vs. Conventional Agriculture | Environmental Topics and Essays

Organic farming is the method by which agriculturists develop and cultivate vegetables, dairy products, grains, meat and fruits. The method of organic farming has been brought into use to preserve water and soil and also to reduce the pollution that can be caused because of faming.

He is now a consultant, most recently for the Environmental Working Group, a critic of conventional farming and crop biotechnology, and has joined the board of the The Organic Center, the research arm of the Organic Consumer Association (OCA), the organic .

First, thanks for publishing my comment. The studies that you cite about the relative nutritional values of organic vs conventionally produced milk are funded by the same corporate entities that employ conventional dairying practices.