The Importance Of Organic Agriculture

Introduction

There has been a long loved debate on several aspects of organic and conventional agriculture. The importance of organic agriculture is the environmentally sound vs conventional importance of producing sufficient food to feed the world and its evolutionary approach on all aspects. Organic agriculture is described as a farming system that uses natural fertilization and biological properties to grow its production. Organic prohibits the use of anything synthetic, anything with hormones, any antibiotics, and genetically modified organisms(GMO). This type of farming system agriculture is the world’s oldest form of farming which dates back to being practiced over thousands of years. Far before the industrial revolution period which

(Bengtsson J., et al., 2005) Organic Agriculture is a combination of modern technology and ecology fused together with natural processes to practice farming. Agroecology is the term used to study organic agriculture. Polyculture or companion planting is a huge benefit with organic farming and is beneficial due to providing soil microbes and beneficial arthropods that improve the health of the crop. Organic farming relies on the natural breakdown of organic matter. With this method, you are able to benefit from all the nutrients during consumer consumption and promote ecological balance. Due to polyculture environments, local biodiversity is increased and it also reduces susceptibility to

Then in 2002, the USDA released its national standard labeling for organic products, officially bringing the movement to the shelves. In the first half of the decade, organic food sales grew by 17 to 20 percent a year, while conventional food sales grew by about 2 to 3 percent a year. By 2003, organic foods were available in about 20,000 natural food stores and 73 percent of conventional grocery stores in the United States. (Smithsonian) Up until the 1920’s, all farming was done organically worldwide. All things were done naturally in this instance. It was not until World War II that farming methods changed dramatically. It was when research on chemicals designed as nerve gas showed they were also capable of killing insects and then converted into farming practices. The organic movement began as an alternative model to industrial agriculture, which arose in the 20th century as a result of advances in various technologies such as biochemistry, the creation of nitrogen fertilizer and development of hybrid seeds. (Ponti T., 2012) World War II accelerated these technological innovations, with large-scale irrigation and application of fertilizer (made from ammonium nitrate, a cheap source of fertilizer which had been used in ammunition) and pesticides such as DDT developed by Paul Muller in 1939 developed