What are some good points about Organic Farming?
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Question by cyndidynamite: What are some good points about Organic Farming?
Part two of the question before, i need some good points to organic farming thiss time, all answers are apreciated ^^)
xxx
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10 Responses to What are some good points about Organic Farming?
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Products are usually natural and free from any chemicals; pesticides etc. Basically, they are raised with the Back to Basics methods – no pollutants – all natural! Therefore you get the goodness of untampered with produce and no nasty side effects from added nasties and preservatives, etc.
Banshee Babe
October 15, 2011 at 11:10 pm
The health issue, of course, as in consuming fewer artificial chemicals.
Also, they tend to more economically stable in that they are not reliant on chemical pesticides or fertilizers and so the cost of those are zero. They also tend to not be cultivated in monocultures, which attract horrible pest infestations. Mixed plantings also allow for a constant generation and regeneraiton of soil, whereas a massive monoculture will drain the soil of certain key ingredients.
WIth respect to the environment, organic farming is superior for the reasons enumerated above, namely that the application of external chemicals (pesticides, fertilizers, etc) is much less.
jenny
October 15, 2011 at 11:12 pm
usually tast real good and grow properly with no poisens
Terrence D
October 15, 2011 at 11:12 pm
Organic farming is currently on a roll, high level of public acceptance of product allows sale at premium prices, at least until the number of hectares in organic farming reaches the demand for the products. At that time the advantage of brand recognition will fade.
Because fertility of land is not being boosted with chemical balancing, there will be a longer period before the micro nutrients run short. But this should not be construed as permanent. One of the early observations in soil science, made before any chemical fertilizers were used, was that when land has been used for hundreds of years for agriculture, it needs a very long rest, a period of many decades, to allow natural soil breakdown to replace depleted plant nutrients.
Because organic farming in general sends less food to market, it avoids having markets break with big surplus crops. This is a clear advantage to farmers who typically lose money when crops are at a bumper, and make money only when crops are in short supply.
Likewise, because organic farming would not support as large a population, it would act as a natural population control mechanism.
Many efforts in organic farming are much more labor intensive which provides for a lot more employment, even if not great wages. It helps to have a helpful wife and a large family to do the work for free.
While health benefits for those who consume only organic products may be hard to prove, it is clear that for farmers and farm workers, absence of pesticides has some improved risk profiles.
Because organic farming is dependent on big tractors and tillage machines, lots of diesel fuel, the supplying community is kept supplied with money even though total crop inputs are less costly per hectare ( though not per kg of produce.)
donfletcheryh
October 16, 2011 at 12:06 am
The 1st point to consider is Our Higher Power “LOVES IT !!!!!”
the3rdtom
October 16, 2011 at 12:54 am
Organic farming leads to greater sustainable soil fertility as the most important crop any well managed organic farm grows is soil. Chemical fertilizers are very short lived and unused fertilizer tends to leach out of the soil causing lots of ecological problems such as dead zones in the river ocean interfaces
Organic farms use far less chemicals than conventional farms
Organic farms are far less dependent on petroleum. They do use petrol products for tractors and trucks but they do not use them for pesticides and fertilizers.
Organic farms pollute less
Organic farms produce food that is higher in nutrition. A growing body of peer reviewed reports says organic foods are much more nutrient dense and generally have a proper omega 3 to omega 6 ratio.
Organic farms produce more than conventional farms especially in less than ideal conditions such as drought according a 20+ year study done by the Rodale institute. Diversified organic farms produce more than 5x what a mono cropped conventional farm produces.
Workers on organic farms are not exposed to hazardous chemical pesticides because they are not used.
GMO’s are not allowed.
Animals are treated better as confined feeding operations are not allowed and the animals must be given daily access to the out of doors.
Organic farms have less soil erosion because of the practice of cover cropping. A well managed organic farm will never let a field sit with nothing on it for more than a few weeks, usually far less time between harvest and getting a cover crop on the land insues.
Organic farming is a better fit for 3rd world agriculture because the farms tend to be human scale, not machine scale so the poor farmers are not forced into buying expensive equipment and inputs and thus forced into a lifetime of debt and poverty
All farming systems use manure but only organic regulates the use. Organic farms are not allowed to apply raw manure within 4 months of harvest for most crops and low growing crops such as root vegetables and leafy greens prohibit the use of raw manure within 6 months of planting these crops. Composting manure is greatly encouraged.
ohiorganic
October 16, 2011 at 1:36 am
it is chemical free. Good for the health and consumer friendly.
Mutya P
October 16, 2011 at 2:10 am
1. Feed the soil first. The soil becomes heathy. Then Soil will start feeding your crops.
2. Take less from the field and give more to soil. Take the fruits and recycle the waste back to soil.
3. Let the worms dig the soil and throw away your plough.
4. Grow mutually benefitting crops like Leguminous crops rather than soil depleting crops.
Ghost Who Walks
October 16, 2011 at 3:08 am
The best parts of Organic farming is that it is done in a sustainable way, not mining the land for nutrients, not using ingredients that are made from fossil fuels, not polluting the ground water and if vegan organic farming not raising animals which can emit green house gasses such as methane. Some farms can collect methane and use it as a fuel source.
guss99
October 16, 2011 at 3:44 am
Modern industrial farming practices…aren’t. They aren’t actually farming the earth, because there are so many chemical concoctions poured over the massive mono-cultures of plants the dirt does nothing but hold the plants up.
1- As many have pointed out, organic farming is free of synthetic chemicals which can taint our food and remain in our systems, leading to diseases, cancers, etc. The fertilizers are incredibly toxic, and a lack of proper earth management causes loss of topsoil and the fertilizers end up in our water supplies. The pesticides disrupt the natural processes of the planet and lead to worse problems…the more pest/herbicide you use, the more resistant the ‘nuisances’ become, the more you have to use, the more the resistant… and so on. Meanwhile, you have killed the natural predators of your nuisance and are now dependent on the ever-increasing amounts of chemicals. Organics relieve this process, restoring balance and stewardship to rebuild the soil and ecosystems.
2. Organics do away with genetically modified strains of crops. Did you know that the modern banana is incapable of reproduction due to our meddling? If the laboratories containing the DNA cultures all caught fire, the species would slowly decline, then cease to exist without hope of recovery. Need I say more?
3. Industrial crops that aren’t laboratory-created aren’t precisely bred selectively for taste. Because we have a compulsion to instant gratification, we demand that any and every kind of vegetable be available NOW. The result? There is an episode of the show “Good Eats” where the hots puts a modern tomato in a vice and cranks up the pressure to several tens of pounds per square inch. Industrial farming breeds for what will look best on the shelves- organics breed for taste and quality.
4. There are startlingly few restrictions on what can be done to our industrially raised meats, eggs, and dairy. Cattle feedlots frequently stuff their charges with heat-rendered, literal, garbage. I’m talking chewing gum still in aluminum wrappers, pizza boxes, rejected French fries, and ‘spent hens’ from the egg industry. This alters the nutritional content of the meat and is generally…disgusting. Non-free-ranging eggs have 1/3 less cholesterol and much lower percentages of vitamins. Organics feed animals most closely to what they would eat naturally. (I say closely, because domestic animals don’t actually exist ‘naturally’ in the wild, but you get the point.) The meats, dairy, and egg products are nutritionally higher in what’s good for us, and lower in the bad.
5. Lack of antibiotics. It’s estimated that 70 percent of antibiotics used in the United States are given to healthy animals to improve their growth. That’s unnecessary! And when the animal/meat comes in to contact with a resistant organism, the antibiotics your doctor would give you will have reduced effects and might not do anything at all because the drugs fed to cattle are the same prescribed to you! Organics don’t feed drugs, and are likewise much safer.
6. Mono-cultures. Take a drive across Iowa, what do you see? Miles of corn followed by miles of hog confineries. Nebraska? Miles of corn and wheat. Many organic farms grow a large mix of procucts. A row of this, a section of that, an area of brambles, and orchard, a woodlot, a cow here, goat there…They make tiny ecosystems that nourish each other, playing on the strong point of the differing species around. Trees and brambles control erosion, animals control weeds and take organic waste too good to go directly on to the compost heap and turn it into ready fertilizer, certain plants give of natural hormones that repel the things that love to infest it’s neighbors. It’s truly a beautiful thing.
There are so many benefits, it takes whole series’ of books to cover them all. Going organic is a choice that impacts positively on our lives in nearly every way.
Owl Feathers
October 16, 2011 at 4:07 am