People these days think organic farming is just a fad, but the truth is that organic farming is nothing new, it was the conventional farming practice that our ancestors followed back in the day. However, it started gaining importance after 1920, as a reaction by individual agricultural scientists, notably Albert Howard, the founder and pioneer of the organic movement, and farmers against industrialized agriculture, which used excessive chemical fertilizers and pesticides and adopted rash and environmentally damaging methods whereas though organic farms produce lower yields than comparable conventional farms, they are more profitable, more friendly to pollinators and the environment, and deliver equally or more nutritious foods with fewer pesticide residues
Why is organic farming becoming crucial?
The prime reason why we need a shift to organic is because of the blatant unchecked use of harmful chemicals used in commercial agriculture that can impact our health. Basically, every bite of an apple you buy from a local store can bite into over 30 pesticides – even if the apple has been thoroughly washed. Organic farmers work alongside natural soil and millions of microorganisms and bacteria that are an integral part of fertile soil. It is these tiny organisms that breathe air, water, and nutrients to the plants, living there for ages nourishing and enriching the soil to feed generations of plants to come. The introduction of chemical fertilizers has degraded soil fertility and perished the microorganisms that contributed to its rich nutrient content, making the soil a sterile environment and nutritionally bankrupt, forcing us to enter into a vicious cycle of adopting more intensive farming strategies which include using chemicals to get excellent results.
So, Organic farming relies on…
Banning of chemicals:
Use of fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, and all things synthetic can deprive nutrition-acquiring processes of plants like nitrogen fixation, making soil nutrient deficient. Also, the toxic residues from all the synthetically farmed food over time build up and can lead to extreme deterioration of human health, resulting in cancers, respirational problems, allergies, ulcers, birth defects, hormonal imbalance, and so on. With green manure and methods that integrate cultural, biological, mechanical, physical, and chemical strategies to manage pest and weed elimination naturally yet efficiently, finding their place in planning rotations, achieving soil sustainability and carbon sequestration is not impossible anymore.
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