organic method of farming ; the solution to global food crises
agriculture is the cultivation of crops and rearing of livestock for man's benefits. it is the main source of food globally. agriculture provides shelter, it brings devolopment and create employment for more than 70% of the world's population. it is important to note that without agriculture there'll be no live on earth and thus food is one of the basic need of man. however, man is yet to sustainably produce food to meet the demands of global population especially in developing countries where the cost of food production is high due to lack of technology innovation in the sector, lack of support to farmers and corruption ...g
Organic farming has been shown to be less efficient for land use. Switching to organic farming at this point would increase food shortage.
yeah in the the short run, but in the long run, it will help produce sustainable quality and healthy foods. it will also help maintain healthy soils and natural habitats for future generations
Perhaps, it is certainly a topic worth talking about. There does seem to be some evidence emerging supporting its efficiency if very specific methods are used. But I think similar methods could be applied to any type of farming and equally improve efficiency. An ecologically friendly approach to agriculture (as impossible as that is as farms displace forests and other ecosystems that were present prior to the farm) is an important direction that must be achieved, but certain practices of huge potential fall outside of the organic umbrella and for that reason it is hard to support. Genetic engineering for example, has the potential to end world hunger. GMO could help maximize output and sustainability.
On top of that, Organic branding has made myself and others very skeptical. Many brands claim wild unfounded health benefits to organic produce, and charged a very high price for it. Some also claimed it was better for the environment, which until now anyway, is not true in most cases. Most large scale organic farming requires so much more land, that it displaces far more of the natural ecosystem than other agriculture.
Organic farming also uses pesticides, containing chemicals like hydrogen peroxide and lime sulfur. In fact, GMO allows the insertion of naturally occurring pest resistant genes created by other plants, reducing the need for pesticide use.
And as for natural habitats, I guess that depends on your definition of natural. If you mean as it was before human intervention then, no, it will not.
i am not disputing your perception on the practice of organic agriculture. in terms of GMOs practices and considering the cost of laboratory research on it, how many rural farmers can afford to purchase GM seeds and animals? don't forget that the bulk of global food comes from the rural areas. despite that, majority of farmers in the globe practice organic farming by default either because chemical inputs are expensive or because organically produced foods store longer, have higher nutritional and health benefits, and tastier than GMOs or chemically produced foods.
I'm not sure there is any evidence to support the claims that organic food can be stored for longer, contains more nutrients or is healthier. Tastier is a matter of perspective, but again another claim lacking support. All foods; plant, fungal or animal based, are chemically derived. I think the point you are trying to make, is that organic farming is more holistic, and less dependent on artificial supplementation. It is important to use the right vocabulary or we are debating different things.
Before continuing any further, it might be useful if you defined your intention of the word organic, that way we can systematically assess its efficiency and plausibility.
organic refers to naturally occurring substances e.g chemicals from plants, fungal or animal extraction. the process of producing food nuturally or not using artificial chemicals to grow plants or animals can be referred to as organic method of farming. however, the use of synthetic (inputs) chemicals in farming have been proven to cause adverse environmental degradation leading to soil erosion, ground water pollution, salinization, soil contamination and toxic chemicals entering the food chain. these are few of the numerous challenges caused by conventionally practiced farming.
Synthetic chemicals such as DDT and dioxins have instilled a paranoia of man-made supplements. But not all synthetic chemicals are harmful. To rule out all synthetic chemicals is to rule out many proven or potentially beneficial substances.
All the adverse conditions you mention, are caused by various synthetic and naturally occurring chemicals used for agriculture.
Many of the most dangerous substances to man are naturally occurring, such as Botulinum toxin. Should the requirements for safe, sustainable farming practices not be based on safe versus unsafe. There is no logic including or excluding a chemical simply on the basis of natural or synthetic.