What’s getting in the way of mass organic agriculture?
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Industrial Organic agriculture is no better than industrial agriculture. These organics located not farm from Boardman, Oregon have a coal fired power plant in the background, which spews NOx and SOx.
Question by Green the Deserts, Fund Food Projects: What’s getting in the way of mass organic agriculture?
I know the benefits of organic agriculture, but I’m not hearing of any farmers’ changing their methods of production. Care to explain?
Can you help? Leave your own answer in the comments!
5 Responses to What’s getting in the way of mass organic agriculture?
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i dont know much about this but i would say politicians and local laws and alos the lack of better investment in this area and also maybe farmers unwilling to change their ways.
Pichaiappan
June 7, 2011 at 9:02 am
Right now it’s too expensive and inefficient; the population’s rapidly expanding, and we’re on the verge of a food crisis. Making everything “natural” isn’t exactly a top priority, though I see why you’d want more organic agriculture (I prefer organic food as well; its definitely healthier for us and the environment)
There’s also a heavy political component. Corn is a HUGE industry, and more natural, organic foods means less corn syrup and corn derivatives, and would force some very powerful people to give up a lot of their income.
Eric
June 7, 2011 at 9:51 am
One of the main barriers to farmers wanting to make the switch is the certification process. IN order to become a ‘certified organic producer’, the soil needs to be considered free of all chemicals. This usually requires that the farm operate according to organic methods for several years prior to becoming certified.
Since organic farming does cost a little more (due to lower yields) and the farmer can’t charge organic prices in those transition years, they can easily face a deficit.
umgrego2
June 7, 2011 at 10:48 am
Organic agriculture is less efficient and it, in some ways, is a marketing ploy. Conventional agriculture is better than organic for the environment in many ways (insect resistance management, crop scouting, moderate use of modern, safer, pesticides, no-till). Modern agriculture is based on science, rather than on old wives tales.
katie
June 7, 2011 at 11:20 am
Reality.
Pesticides prevent bug from ruining crops. No pesticides, huge increases in unsalable product due to bugs. Same for fungicides.
Chemical fertilizer addresses SPECIFIC shortages in soil to increase crop yield or to tailor soil conditions to a particular crop. No chemical amendments to the soil, you have to go with what you can get from organic manure, green crop and ash.
Herbicides eliminate competition from weeds. No herbicides mean you have to hoe it by hand or hire it done or you reduce your harvest due to competition from plants you can’t market.
Spraying storage facilities means fewer bugs, molds, and fungi to destroy produce. Nobody wants to buy a head of lettuce with cockroaches in it, or a bunch of bananas with poisonous spiders. And who wants rats or their leavings?
All these production killers are controlled with chemicals. Chemicals brought us out of sustainance farming and into a world where less than 1 percent of the population can feed the rest of it. But not if we can only use a tiny fraction of production due to “organic” limits.
SLA
June 7, 2011 at 11:47 am