Organic Agriculture: Farming for Our Future

By: Christie Lynn Moore, S#995148095 L#1W102, TA Rob Colautti, March 2008

Our worlds population is rapidly growing. Today, there are over 6 billion people living on planet Earth. With our worlds current growth rate at 1.3%, there are now twice as many people then there were 40 years ago. In response to our growing population and technological advancements, agriculture has changed dramatically over the past few decades. Particularly since the end of World War II, food and fiber productivity has increased due to new technologies, mechanization, specialization, and increased chemical use. These changes have allowed for fewer farmers with a lower labor demand. Although these changes have had many positive effects and have reduced some of the risks in farming, there have also been significant costs. Some costs include topsoil depletion, groundwater contamination, the decline of family farms, the degeneration of social and economic conditions in rural communities, and an irreversible decline in biodiversity. A growing movement has emerged during the past two decades to challenge the role of the conventional agricultural establishment. The organic agricultural movement is gaining increasing support and acceptance as a more ethical alternative. This form of sustainable agriculture addresses many environmental concerns, socialconsumer concerns, and offers some innovative and economic opportunities for those involved in the food system.

Organic agriculture has been defined by the USDA National Organic Standards Board as: an ecological production management system that promotes and enhances biodiversity, biological cycles, and soil biological activity. It is based on management practices that restore, maintain, and enhance ecological harmony Organic agriculture is agricultural production without the use of synthetic chemicals such as fertilizers, pesticides, and antibiotics. For crop production, organic materials like compost and manure are used to maintain healthy soil. In order to ensure that the organic system is efficient and sustainable in the long term, sustainable crop rotations, mulching, inter-cropping, nutrient recycling, encouragement of a rich biodiversity and other management practices incorporated. Organic farming is environmentally friendly. The chemicals conventional farms use destroys many beneficial insect species and causes environmental degradation. Groundwater gets polluted from the inefficient use of fertilizers and the indiscriminate use of pesticides. These threats are eliminated in organic farming systems because natural pest control is practiced. Prevention is organic farmers primary strategy in controlling pests and diseases. This is achieved through a variety of ways. One is by building healthy soils by means of fertilizing with composts and manure. Compost is a cheaper source of fertilizer and contains all the nutrients that are needed by plants. Another is natural pest control, using plants with natural pesticide properties. Natural pest control is cheaper than using synthetic pesticides and minimizes the pollution of groundwater and soil. Another advantage to organic farming is that it meets the needs of many consumer concerns. Consumers are turning to organic food because they consider it to be tastier and healthier, both for themselves and the environment. Despite the higher

cost for organic products, consumers are willing to pay for their preferences. Consumers top concerns about non-organic foods include the untested and unlabeled geneticallyengineered food ingredients, pesticide and drug residues, ingesting growth hormones (a probable cancer hazard), and the increased risk of E. Coli.

Lastly, organic farming provides economic justice for small farmers and farm workers, as well as the preservation of family farms. On average, small organic farms are the only small-sized farms that are given a decent price for their products. Organic farming has a good market potential. Although today organic products represent only a small fraction (around 1%) of total food sales, the market is growing sharply and is expected to reach 10% of food sales in major markets over the next few years. In 2006, organic product sales in Canada amounted to over a billion dollars! The reason prices are generally higher for organic foods reflects the need to meet stricter regulations for certification, which makes the process more labour and management intensive, and this system of farming tends to be on a much smaller scale. But you must consider that if the indirect costs of conventional food production such as the clean up of polluted water, replacement of eroded soils, and the costs of health care for farmers and their workers were factored into the price of this food, organic foods would cost about the same, or may even be cheaper! Ultimately, human life depends on the health of our land. With the increasing concern of soil erosion and decline in fertility conventional farming brings, our survival is compromised. Although the worlds population has been increasing, the main cause of hunger is not lack of food production. The main cause of hunger is poverty. There is more than enough food to feed the world. Our thoughts should concern the future. To secure sufficient food for all in a way that neither compromises human prosperity nor threatens the environment, in the short and long term, we should pursue organic agriculture.

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