Organic vs. Sustainable Agriculture
Agriculture, to many is just an industry of farmers and cows. Most people can’t even come close to fathom just how essential the continuance of agriculture is to not just our well being, but our very lives. People of the United States have been spoiled, they’ve never had to worry about the grocery stores running empty because, even to this day, there hasn’t been a problem growing enough to feed, not only the U.S. but a good part of the world too. The day though is fast approaching that we won’t be able to keep those grocery stores stocked. Due to the depletion of the vital resources, needed to produce our food, it is becoming increasingly challenging for today’s agriculturalists to feed the world. The only way to be able to keep up with the exponentially growing population and shrinking resource base, is to radically change how we produce our food or we will be looking at a huge crisis in the very near future. From this, need of new farming and production techniques, comes a couple new practices that will be discussed in this publication. One is sustainable, and the other is organic crop production. In the following, both practices will be discussed in detail hopefully clearing the air on which practice, in the long run should be the path production agriculture takes.
Organic Agriculture, as defined by the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB): “Is an ecological production management system that promotes and enhances biodiversity, biological cycles and soil biological activity. It is based on minimal use of off-farm inputs and on management practices that restore, maintain, and enhance ecological harmony.” Which is very fancily put for agriculture with as little man made input as poss...
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Earles, R, Williams, P. (2005) Sustainable Agriculture: An introduction. Retrieved October 22, 2006, from http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/PDF/sustagintro.pdf
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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
With the rapid growth of our global population pouring into the next millennium, we will witness an ever-growing hunger rate around the world. That is unless we call for a revolution on the global scale. The Green Revolution which already sprouted in the early part of the century only need to add a bit more momentum and we will see a bright future for the human race, a future without hunger and starvation ¡V hopefully.It is becoming increasingly difficult for the planet to support its overwhelming population. And since the amount of arable land available is becoming scarce, we must seek ways to dramatically improve crop yields of existing cropland.
6. "Organic Farming." US Environmental Protection Agency. 29 July 2009. Web. 15 Feb. 2011. .
Today’s economy and the environment are hurting due to the lack of nurture we have been providing. Conventional farming rules the world of agriculture, but not without a fight from organic farming. Organic farming is seen as the way of farming that might potentially nurture our nature back to health along with the added benefit of improving our own health. With her piece “Organic farming healthier, more efficient than Status Quo,” published in the Kansas State Collegian on September 3, 2013, writer Anurag Muthyam brings forth the importance behind organic farming methods. Muthyam is a senior at Kansas State University working towards a degree in Management. This piece paints the picture of how organic farming methods
With the world’s population continuing to increase, the demand for food is higher than ever. This increase in food demand also calls for more efficient ways of growing and providing the food. Two methods that are very controversial are the organic and conventional method. While many people support the organic method because of its known benefits, others feel that it is an over inflated industry that cheats consumers out of their money. But recently many studies have disproved those critics. These studies prove that Organic food is a better choice than conventional because it is better for the environment, avoids the use of chemicals, and is generally more beneficial.
Currently, there is a global demand emerging for organic products specifically a huge consumer demand in the United States and Europe. The United States ranks fourth in organically farmed land globally, and sales of organic food have increased by almost a factor of six, from $3.6 billion in 1997 to $21.1 billion in 2008 (Reganold, Andrews, Reeve, Carpenter-Boggs, Schadt, Alldredge, Ross, Davies, Zhou, 2010). In the United States, organic farming has gained much popularity in the farm sector, mainly due to the new wave or generally recognized as healthy food products (Uematsu, Mishra, 2012).
Thirty years later, organic farming was in high demand, but suffered developing pains. Although there was agreements being made, there was no regulations put forth towards organic farming. Fast forwarding to present time, many consumers are starting to purchase organic food products even making it a trend. Written in Inouye, Alena, and McCauley’s 2006 article “Organic Farming Should Be Pursued”, “organic farming is gaining in popularity due to Americans ' increasing concern about food safety and environmental protection.” This quote assumes the reasoning behind the sudden popularity in organic farming is society’s attraction towards the idea of a cleaner food industry and environment. The article also mentions, “As a result, sales of organic foods in the United States have increased by more than 20 percent every year since 1996, reaching $7.8 billion in 2000.”(Inouye, Alena, McCauley) The fact that popularity towards organic farming grows at a rate of 20 percent every single year further proves how its movement has such an impact towards the consumers of
Organic foods are those grown without the use of growth hormones, antibiotics, synthetic pesticides, or chemical fertilizers. Genetically modifying crops is also not preformed in organic farming. Soil fertility can be maintained using crop rotation, cultivation practices, and cover crops. Natural fertilizers and pesticides are still considered to be included in organic farming (Winter & Davis, 2006). Products that are controlled with cultivation conditions rather than chemical-synthetic pesticides include organic products (Woese, Lange, Boess & Werner Bogl, 1999). The use of synthetic pesticides and materials falls under conventional farming. If the materials are on the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances, it can, however, be considered organic. A process that chemically changes a substance extracted from naturally occurring sources is considered a synthetic material (Winter & Davis, 2006).
Perry, Luddene, and Schultz, Dan. A Field Guide to Buying Organic. New York: Bantam Books, 2005.
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.
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
In today's grim economy and moving forward into an uncertain future, an increasing number of people have started using organic gardening as a means to grow some of their own food. While this was once a common practice during the Victorian era, organic gardening has made quite the come back in the past couple of years. In fact, Americans all across the country are taking advantage of everything from vacant lots to their own backyards.
Agriculture is one of the most ancient forms of art and science that ties human development and well-being to natural resources and ecosystems. (Fritz J. Häni, 2007) Sustainable Agriculture is the production of food, fibre, plant and animal products using farming techniques that protect the environment, public health, human communities and animal welfare. (Sustainable Agriculture - The Basics, 2015) Sustainable agriculture is an integrated system of plant and animal production practices having a site – specific application that over the long term will:
Organic food production is most closely defined as “an ecological production management system that promotes and enhances biodiversity, biological cycles, and soil biological activity.” That said, it is manifested by the practice which strives to sustain and augment ecological consonance. The U.S. endeavors to do so by prohibiting the usage of pesticides, growth hormones, antibiotics, modern genetic engineering techniques (including genetically modified crops), chemical fertilizers, or sewage sludge (Carl K. Winter & Sarah F. Davis, 2006).
Organic farming has mushroomed drastically in importance and influence worldwide from its modest beginnings in the first half of the last century. Organic farming is production of food and livestock without the use of herbicides, pesticides, weedicides, fertilizers or genetically modified organism and use natural resources such as manure and compost instead. In other words, it is a production system which maintains the quality of soil ecosystem as well as human beings. According to IOWA State University, “the chemicals were not used for farming before World War 2. A number of munitions used in farming have contributed to field of agriculture. For instance, ammonium nitrate used as ammonium nitrate fertilizer”.