Organic food and organic farming become a pop issue in today’s society. People begin to concern which kind of food is better for their health and which farming method is better for the environment. Most mothers will select food carefully and buy foods with the organic label when they are shopping in the supermarket, because they think organic food is better for their family’s health. But what is the difference between the “organic farming” and “industrial farming”? In the definition, organic farming is a form of agriculture that “relies on techniques such as crop rotation, green manure, compost and biological pest control.” Compare with organic farming, industrial farming will use more chemicals. Is organic farming better than industrial farming? This controversial issue has aroused wide public concern and heated discussions. From my deeper research in this area, I get a new understanding of the relationship between organic farming and industrial farming. Organic farming and industrial farming both have benefits and drawbacks, the best way to produce food is combining the organic farming with the industrial farming.
In Richard Schiffman’s article, he deems that industrial farming has a serious drawbacks: industrial farming will impact the environment and people’s health. Schiffman is a writer and a former environmental freelance journalist whose work has appeared in the Washington Post. Schiffman states industrial is easy to pollute the water because industrial farming need to uses a plethora of chemicals. He thinks industrial agriculture is productive and can deliver more massive quantities of food but it is depend on “standardized applications of toxic chemicals and petroleum-based fertilizers"(2) It will pollutes th...
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...eory, and organic farming also can get some benefits from learning some industrial farming methods. When we develop the organic agriculture, at the same time, we do not need to give up the traditional agriculture, we should combine the organic farming and the industrial farming together, and from a better agriculture method.
Works Cited
Schiffman, R. In defense of organic farming: Less Than a Cure-all, More Than a Fad.
Commonweal, New York, January 11, 2013.
Steven Shapin. “Organic Food and Farming Has Drawbacks”. The Local Food Movement. Ed.
Amy Francis. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2010.
Steuteville, Robert, “Outlook on Sustainable Enterprise.” In Business, Emmaus, PA,
May-Jun 1995.
Argyropoulos, C, “Organic farming without organic products”. Land Use Policy. MAY, 2013.
Check your supermarket, there could be lies on your food, telling you that what you are eating is organic and cared for but most of it is not. The documentary In Organic We Trust by Kip Pastor focuses on organic foods, what they are, how they are grown, and what makes them “organic”. What he finds is shocking and relevant to society today in every way possible. Pastor proves this to the audience by using a strong form of logos throughout the documentary. He conveys it to those watching by using pathos to play on their heart strings, but lacks via ethos to win over the rest of the audience. A great job is done in this film of convincing the audience that Pastor is on their side and fighting for the health of America, even questioning what “organic” actually is.
On the topic of environmental impacts due to “industrial farming”, Bill McKibben and Blake Hurst share completely different perspectives. McKibben believes that industrial farming has simply left an unexcusable bad impact on the environment, saying that it is unethical and that the meat we eat is potentially killing our environment and us as well. McKibben states that “we should simply stop eating factory-farmed meat, and the effects on climate change would be one of the many benefits.” (page 201). McKibben addresses that the techno fixes brought in industrial farming are simply not enough to help our environment.
Muthyam’s article states, “conventional farming’s dependency on chemical fertilizers destroys topsoil,” (Muthyam 4) and without healthy topsoil we can never produce more antioxidants or carbon. The increased production of these elements could alleviate climate change. The human beings who feel strongly about the climate change issue would be challenged on their “Bt gene” eating habits. Muthyam makes the reader think twice about buying conventional farming products because they are contributing to the problem presented. No one likes to hear about others starving which strikes the reader when they read organic farming can feed masses. The article states “we could feed our entire population through urban agriculture alone” (Muthyam 6). She also refers to the chemicals and synthetic fertilizers as being poison, which gets people double-taking their decisions to consume these conventional products. Consumers of conventional produce wouldn’t consider eating a product if it was directly labeled as
Do you know how factory farms affect your health, the world around you, and your children 's future? Factory farms are one of the major leading causes of pollution ,which causes a great amount of problems. The animals produced by the masses on these factory farms are extremely exploited and treated inhumanely. The methane from tons of animal manure is causing detrimental global warming. Global warming is affecting much more than the temperature, its damaging crops, species of animals are going extinct, and humans are having health problems. Raising livestock requires a great amount of land ,including animal habitats and rainforests that used to nourish the planet. Factory farms have the U.S. food production
The amount of foodstuffs produced by organic farms does not meet the demand of the population, which is the main objective of farming. Observing the United States of America alone and using myself as the average American we
The cutting down on the uses of pesticides and fertilizers is one on the next great step we have to make as a society. It will take a long time to implement these changes and there will be Problems along this journey. The sooner we start this long journey. The longer we have to work out the Kinks in sustainable farming. We at least should think about the future generations that will live on earth. This is the one place we all have to call home and it’s our job to take care of it for the next generations. We can’t give them a problem that take a long time to fix because it could be too late to fix the problems in a generations or two. This is why we need to push the world to a sustainable farm
Organic foods have become more and more popular over the years, and consumers may or may not be knowledgeable when shopping for organic and/or conventional foods. This report will help define the difference between organic and conventional foods and farming, including the health benefits and risks. The demand for organic foods will also be discussed briefly. The purpose of this research is to describe and identify the advantages and issues that are involved with organic and inorganic foods.
Factory farming is widespread throughout the United States and accounts for a vast amount of meat production. While industrialized farming is convenient the problems it creates outweighs the efficiency of confined animal feeding operations. Industrialized farming is a danger to the environment and human and livestock health. Americans must be educated on the harmful effects factory farms create and be introduced to organic farming as a viable solution. If this problem is pushed aside, serious problems will occur.
For years organic farmers and conventional farmers have feuded over which is superior. Organic farmers argue that their product is more eco-friendly because they do not use the synthetic chemicals and fertilizers conventional farmer’s use. Conventional farmers argue that their product is healthier and yields more. People tend to have stereotypes regarding the two types of farmers. Organic farmers are usually thought of as liberal, hippy, tree-huggers while conventional farmers are usually thought of as right-wing, industrialists. Obviously, some do adhere to this stereotype, but a majority of these farmers are normal, hardworking people. Although these farmers, both believe in their methods, one is no better than the other. There are advantages and disadvantages to both, but there is no true superior method of crop farming.
To help keep crops from being destroyed, conventional farmers use many methods such as pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides. Nearly 1 billion pounds of these chemicals are used every year (“pesticides”). Because of this excessive use, some scientists express concern that using artificial chemicals in the farming process could produce unhealthy crops. People who ate it over a long period of time could suffer from degraded health and stunted growth (“Organic Foods”). For example, in 1989, the EPA banned the use of Alar which was a chemical used to ripen apples (“Farming, Organics”). This chemical proved to be carcinogenic after causing tumors in mice after several laboratory tests (“Organic Food”). As a result of these findings there was a dramatic increase of the sales for organic food (“Organic Food”). Another study found that Atrazine (one of the most widely used herbicides in the United States) has the potential of being carcinogenic and reducing sperm counts in males (“Organic Food”). This was further proven when evidence was found that chemicals u...
The term “organic” is almost everywhere in modern society, whether it’s used to promote a product or it’s debated on whether it really benefits the human diet. Organic food is heavily debated on as it appears more and more in local grocery stores and farmers markets begin to populate, it raises questions such as “Is organic food better than food grown with pesticides and biologically engineered genes?” and “Are there benefits to eating organically over foods grown in any other way?” In terms of what data and results show in research may help lead to answers to most of the heavily debated issues throughout discussions on organic food.
Thesis: Organic food is full of nutrients and when compared to conventional food is a much better choice
A study of 362 datasets found that organic agriculture produces 80% of conventional yield with 21% standard deviation (Tomek et al. 2012). Second, organic farming requires less energy input which equates to less money spend from the farmers in addition to lowering carbon emissions. A study by the Department of Environment shows that organic agriculture uses 25 percent less than energy than their chemical counterparts, and certain crops like organic leeks and broccoli use 58 and 49 percent less, respectively (Bialis et al. 2013). Third, organic farming does not use pesticides. According to the World Health Center, 20,000 people die annually from the exposure of pesticides (Costa et al. 2014). Fourth, the methods that organic farmers use are better for the environment in the long run. And lastly, organic farming creates more jobs. A study done in United Kingdom shows 93,000 jobs could be created if Britain were to make a full scale shift to organic farming (Herro 2006). Although conventional agriculture is the primary producer for food currently, a large scale shift to organic agriculture is better suited to feed the world because organic agriculture can produce at adequate yield, requires less energy input, do not use
Converting a natural farm into an organic farm is a multi-year process. To have the organic certification by USDA, it must be proven that no prohibited materials have been used in the field for at least 3 years. Organic agriculturists are required to keep up buffer zones between organic farmland and contiguous potential sources of water, substance or hereditary float to keep their yields from being spoiled by actions made on close-by farms. Organic farmers may not offer harvests developed in buffer zones as organic. These are some common organic food practices; Crop rotation, manure, compost, green manure utilization, cover cropping, avoidance of synthetic fertilizers, avoidance of synthetic pesticides, buffer areas and planting habitat corridors so that biodiversity is enhanced. Organic cultivating polishes might move forward soil and water quality. Essential soil functions for example, water-holding capacity, soil microbial activity, and nutrient cycling which are strongly influenced by the structure of soil especially the level with which it forms soil aggregates. Aggregates and the pore spaces within them are key components of the soil microbial habitat. The measure of aggregates influences soil air circulation and drainage. Over the top culturing and the
they can increase choice of organic foods. Nevertheless, for the majority of people, they need cheaper food, and they should regard conventional foods as their first choice. No matter what people choose organic or conventional foods, their main purpose is to get a healthier body. If people focus on changing their eating habits, not comparing organic foods with conventional foods, they will be healthier. As long as people can change their eating habits like eating more vegetables and less meat, they will get a healthier body whether they eat organic or conventional foods.