Organic Farming
Enconomic Benefits
Conventional farming is very detrimental to the environment. Farming creates external costs to society mainly from the damage done by pesticides, nutrient run off and other problems associated with conventional farming. In my mothers home country of England many studies have been done in regards to organic versus conventional farming. A study done in 1996 concluded that the costs due to environmental damage per hectare were two hundred and eight British pounds. If you add all of the farmland in England the total environmental cost is two-thousand three hundred forty three million pounds using conventional methods (Pretty 117). If Organic farming was widely practiced it would save society billions of dollars because they would not have to clean up after the damage done by the pesticides. Another study done in the UK concluded that organic farms also produce more jobs than conventional farming. The study found that organic farms employ 135% more people than conventional farms (Morison 24). In this economic downturn those jobs are highly valuable and would help to restart the economy especially since unemployment is so high.
Organic Farming
| Organic Farmers in India using traditional farming methods Source: Organic farming in Kerala http://persianoad.wordpress.com/2007/10/24/why-india-should-promote-organic-farming/ Organic Agricultur |
Organic Farming Can Be Done on a large scale Taken From:thefutureofthings.com/news/1047/organic-farmi... |
Environmental Benefits
Not only is there tangible economic benefits Organic farming benefits the environment. The most obvious benefit is that organic farming does not use chemicals that kill wild life and the farms do not use chemicals that deplete the soils of their natural nutrients according to the EU commissioner for agriculture organic farms emit less harmful toxins into the air, the soil retains carbon dioxide better and are more resistant to climate change, because the soil retains water better, than conventional farms (Kanter). Another benefit of Organic farming is the crop rotations system. When a field only grows a crop for a season or two then switches what it grows it preserves soil quality. Most organic farms do have a crop rotation system, conventional farms do not have a rotation system and in some cases the soil becomes so depleted that the land is no longer usable and more land has to be cleared in order to plant food.
Organic Farming Presentation
A brief i-movie that I made to describe some of the negative aspects of conventional farming and the advantages of organic farming
File Type: video/3gpp: 1.03 M
Organic Farming
There are many misconceptions about Organic farming. If you have anything to ask about Organic Farming just ask me.
- Question:
How is it possible to make organic farming one hundred or close to one hundred percent organic?
Apr. 26, 2009- Answer:
that is tough, it would have to start with farmers willing to have a smaller harvest for a few years but they just have to stop using inorganic pesticides and fertilizers
Apr. 26, 2009
- Answer: