ORGANIC AGRICULTURE

ORGANIC AGRICULTURE. Organic agriculture originated as a response to a growing awareness that the health of the land is linked to the health and future of the people. It is a holistic and philosophical approach to agriculture, which has as its goals the protection and conservation of the land for future generations, the production of high-quality food, the return to many traditional agricultural methods, and the harmonious balance with a complex series of ecosystems. Land, water, plants, animals, and people are all seen as interlinked and interdependent.

Definition

The final rule of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), which implements the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990, describes organic production as one which will "respond to site-specific conditions by integrating cultural, biological and mechanical practices that foster cycling of resources, promote ecological balance and conserve biodiversity." Organic agriculture promotes linkages and connections between land and water, plants and people. Soil fertility is enhanced through the use of composted waste to be generated at the farm site and recycled into it, multiple crops and rotations, a belief in the beneficial results of encouraging biodiversity through numerous species, and no use of synthetic fertilizers or pesticides. Further, stringent inspections, record keeping, and certifications are required to verify and maintain the organic status of the land and the food produced.

The terms "alternative," "sustainable," and "ecological" agriculture are also sometimes used, in place of organic, although not everyone believes that these terms are interchangeable. The European Union protects three terms: "organic," "ecological," and "biological" and abbreviations like "bio" and "eco" in all European Union languages. This is to prevent their use in a misleading or false manner. In the United States, the definition of organic agriculture by the National Organic Standards Board is "an ecological production management system that promotes and enhances biodiversity, biological cycles and soil biological activity. It is based on the minimal use of off-farm inputs and on management practices that restore, maintain, and enhance ecological harmony."

Today, organic agriculture is practiced in almost every country in the world, and the amount of certified organic land is growing as well. The total area is more than 42 million acres worldwide. The bulk of the organic land (45 percent) is in Oceania; Europe has 25 percent; North America, almost 8 percent; and Latin America, 22 percent. The emphasis in organic agriculture is on sustainability, local resources, and the stewardship of the environment, as well as expanding its global impact beyond food supply and into ecological health. Economically, the International Trade Center estimates the world retail market for organic food and beverages increased from $10 billion in 1997 to $17.5 billion in 2000. Revenue distribution by 2001 is estimated to be at 46 percent in Europe and 37 percent in the United States.

History

At the beginning of the twentieth century, 39 percent of the United States population lived on farms, compared with less than 2 percent in 1990. Large land holdings were designed as federal lands to protect the natural environment and provide public access. Food quality, adequacy of supply, and public health were concerns. Issues with food quality led to the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. Extensive research was carried out to make plants disease resistant, and to improve yield. In the 1920s Rudolf Steiner, an extremely charismatic and complex individual, gave a series of eight lectures about agriculture that were the foundation of biodynamics, a concept in which all life forms and the land are in balance and combine with agriculture to address the health of the land with a spiritual dimension. By the 1930s hybrid seed corn had became common, and the devastation of the dust storms destroyed millions of acres of farmland in the Plains states. Two world wars had decimated farms and farmlands in much of Europe. Food supply for present and future populations was becoming a global concern. The vitality of the soil was seen by many as the key to a healthy future population.

Sir Albert Howard of England was one of the visionary leaders, if not the founder, of the organic agricultural movement in Europe. Philosophically, he linked the health of the land to the health of the people. Howard believed that agriculture as mainly practiced, with chemical fertilizers and a single crop, was out of balance with the environment and that many traditional agricultural practices should be revived. His major concern was for the health of the soil, which he felt could be maintained by a diversity of plant and animal crops, recycling of waste to enrich the soil, minimal depth in plowing, natural pest control, and smaller labor-intensive farms, emulating traditional methods.

By the 1940s, chemical fertilizers and pesticide and insecticide use had increased. However, a USDA report from the same time warned that insecticides were present in food and advocated the use of naturally occurring products as insecticides. Some believed that conservation practices like cover crops, crop rotation, strip planting, and contouring of the planting were critical to preserve the soil both by keeping it in place and by maintaining its fertility. At the same time, conventional farming was stressing yields, mechanization, and modern practices. In 1949, official guidance was issued from the U.S. government on how to appraise the toxicity of chemicals in foods.

In America, J. I. Rodale had founded Organic Gardening Magazine and the Soil and Health Foundation (now the Rodale Institute). Many credit him from the mid-1940s onward with promoting and supporting organic agriculture in America. He went on to create numerous publications and with his research and publishing delivered his core message of "healthy soil = healthy food = healthy people."

In 1959, the cranberry crop in the United States was recalled due to the presence of a cancer-causing chemical used to kill weeds. In 1962, Rachel Carson's workSilent Spring had a massive impact: Many Americans, for the first time, saw the link between the loss of plant and animal populations and the use of pesticides. By that time organic farming was well established as an alternative approach. Further environmental activism in the 1970s made many aware of organic agriculture and organic foods.

Alice Waters opened her restaurant Chez Panisse in Berkeley in 1971 and has been a promoter and champion of quality ingredients, supporting growers who farm organically. Her influence in turn promoted and sustained many other organic growers. The fame and growing impact of Chez Panisse have affected chefs and the public alike. Numerous chefs today provide details about ingredients on their menu, and many base their entire approach to food on organic products.

Likewise, vegetarians have long focused on the quality of the ingredients in their diet. John and Karen Hess in their landmark book The Taste of America decried the quality of food in America in the 1970s, stating that "[t]he health food and organic movements and the counterculture generally, have made some small but enormously promising steps toward reviving the taste of our food. . . . They are our hope" (p. 298). Organic agricul ture has slowly grown, spurred by various scares but hampered by the counterculture label. Reports and findings in the 1990s with regard to the effect of pesticides and chemicals in food on humans, particularly children (for example, the use of alar on apples), drove the increasing demand for organically produced food, which in turn spurred the growth of organic farms.

Application of Principles

Although many people associate organic agriculture primarily with fruits and vegetables, organic agricultural practices are applied effectively to all crops and animals. All crops—grains, citrus, nuts, fruits, herbs, vegetables, oilseeds like flax and sunflower, beans, cotton, grasses for pastureland—can reinforce a basic organic tenet: grow a variety of crops in a rotation system. Many people prefer organic agriculture because of its systemic approach that ties food production to ecology, and connects land, people, plants, and animals to a common goal, a healthy vital environment for all. Food produced organically is thought to be more flavorful, have higher nutritional values, be safer to eat, and be ecologically sound. Each food safety crisis, environmental scare, and dietary concern has increased the steadily growing pool of organic farmers and consumers.

The founders of the organic agricultural movement—Rodale, Balfour, and Howard, to name a few—passionately shared the belief that the health and vitality of the soil were key to the future of the land and food production. A fundamental principle of organic agriculture is that no synthetic fertilizers or pesticides are permitted. Complex ecosystems that encourage a rich diversity of plants, animals, and insects are considered necessary for a viable and living soil. Composting, worms and beneficial insects in the environment, recycled farm wastes, use of manures, composts, ash, and crop residues contribute to the vitality of the soil, which in turn leads to healthy plants and animals. Further, organic agriculture addresses the broader environmental issues of pesticide and fertilizer residues, run-offs, and concentrations, which affect, not just the health of the organic farm system, but the ecosystems around it. The concept of balance between nature and human actions and stewardship of the land is integral to organic agriculture; in fact, it cannot be maintained otherwise. The inspection process leading to organic certification usually requires a minimum of three years in the United States (two years in the United Kingdom) to allow all traces of past land use practices to disappear. The first usable harvest follows the third year, assuming all other criteria are met for organic certification. This sizable commitment of resources is economically difficult and is one reason that many countries, although not the United States, have subsidies to help farmers certify their land for organic production.

Many feel strongly that organic foods, which are grown without synthetic pesticides, eliminate the concern for ingesting the residues or additives.

Organic Foods

Most consumers believe, and some studies have shown, that there are more nutrients and flavor in organic products. Generally, organic products are more costly than foods grown by conventional agriculture. They are more labor intensive and must meet much stricter regulation, and therefore the cost of organic foods reflects the cost of production. Organic agricultural practices, which utilize local resources and eliminate outside needs as much as possible, fit developing countries' needs very well as well as countries with food supply issues, for example, Cuba.

Cuba is considered one of the success stories of organic agriculture. Heavily dependent upon the Soviets for food and agricultural support, the collapse of the former USSR in 1989 left Cuba desperate for food. Over-night, supplies of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides and mechanized equipment all disappeared. Urban spaces were turned into gardens, plot sizes decreased, and organic practices were followed, as there was no alternative. The results have been dramatic, both in creating a new career for many and dramatically changing both the diet of the population and the appearance of Cuba. Now many people have access to fresh organic foods and unused land is turned to food production. Over one-half million tons of food were grown in Havana alone in 1998.

Before the 1990 Organic Foods Production Act, Title XXI of the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990, many state and other organizations certified organic production. The 1990 rules, published in December of 2000 after a decade in development, review, and revisions, set national standards for certification of agricultural products as organic. Certification for all but the smallest growers and compliance for all agricultural products sold under these standards must be completed by late 2002. Certain practices and types of substances, like synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, are prohibited. The use of the word "organic" is now nationally regulated. In the United States, a raw or processed product labeled "100 percent organic" must contain only organic ingredients, although it can contain water and salt; if labeled "organic" it must be at least 95 percent organic and if labeled "made with organic ingredients" it must have at least 70 percent organic ingredients. Both the "100 percent organic" and "organic" designations can use an approved "USDA Organic" seal and penalties can be levied if there is any deliberate misrepresentation.

Land under Organic Cultivation

In 1997, 1.3 million acres in forty-nine states were certified organic, and although this number had more than doubled in the 1990s, certified organic land still represents just 0.2 percent of all cultivated land (828 million acres). These totals include crop, range, and pasture lands. All indicators are that the amount of certified organic land is increasing rapidly, however. For example, in California, certified organic acreage increased by 38 percent between 1995 and 1997 and in Washington it increased by 150 percent between 1997 and 1999. The highest production crops that are certified organic are corn and wheat, although thirty-five states are producing a variety of certified organic grains. Tomatoes, lettuce, and carrots are the primary organic vegetables, with about 48,227 acres in organic vegetable production (in 1997); grapes produced on 39 percent of the acreage and apples on 18 percent of the certified organic farm land account for about 2 percent of the certified land that is devoted to producing these crops. Organic herbs are grown in thirty-two states; three states have certified specific land for harvesting wild herbs.

Prior to this national legislation for organic certification, organic land certification was given by over 40 organizations, which included twelve state programs. For example, California grew almost half of all certified organic vegetables in 1997; vegetable farming in Vermont, which has been promoting organics for 30 years, was 24 percent organic. Many states have started to develop incentives for organic conversion.

Sales

Most organic farms are about one-third the size of the conventional farm and average about 140 acres. Organic vegetables are generally grown on even smaller holdings, with the majority less than 10 acres in size. They are frequently marketed directly to the consumer primarily through farmers' markets and restaurant chefs, accounting for 3 percent of total organic sales. A very popular form of direct marketing is subscription farming, sometimes known as CSA, an innovative way of connecting the consumer directly with the farm and crop. In 1998, there were 2,746 farmers' markets operating in the United States. Natural food stores, long a source for all organic products, recorded sales of $4 billion in 1999, and an annual sales growth rate of at least 20 percent. Total retail sales of all organic products are estimated at $7.8 billion in 2000, and $833 million of fresh organic fruits and vegetables were sold in natural food stores in 1999.

Organic Agriculture Worldwide

On a global level, in Europe, Japan, the United States, and the United Kindom, retail organic food and beverage sales accounted for about 2 percent of the total, about $13 billion in 1998, with an anticipated annual growth rate of 20 percent.

In 2001, Canada reported of 246,923 farms, 2,230 produced certified organic products, and 614 of these, or 27.5 percent, produced fruits, vegetables, or greenhouse products. Nearly fifteen hundred farms, or 64.7 percent, reported organic field crops. In Canada, the formation of the Land Fellowship in Ontario in the 1950s provided the foundation of the organic farming movement. As in the United States, these early visionaries were joined in the 1970s by a host of individuals and organizations whose concerns for the environmental health of the planet made an immediate linkage to the principles of organic agriculture. Numerous organizations, like the Canadian Organic Advisory Board, which is composed of volunteers, promote and support organic agriculture in a variety of ways throughout the provinces. Canada's National Standard for Organic Agriculture is a voluntary standard for organic production, whose principles and practices focus on protection of environmental biodiversity, a comprehensive and systematic use of organic practices for the production of foods, and a verification process to ensure the standards are met.

Sir Albert Howard is not the only founder of the early organic movement in the United Kingdom to have a global impact. Lord Walter Northbourne is credited with creating the phrase "organic farming" in his 1940 book Look to the Land, and Lady Evelyn Balfour, whose book The Living Soil was based on years of comparative farming data, inspired many to support the principles of organic agriculture put forward by Howard. Lady Balfour was also involved in the founding of the Soil Association in the United Kingdom in 1946. The Soil Association remains an active advocacy group for organic standards. Throughout the United Kingdom, there is a wide range of organizations, government ministries, colleges, and research centers focused on research, education, advocacy, and sustaining organic agricultural practices. The first organic standards were published by the Soil Association. The group performs the majority of the inspections, although several other approved inspection groups also perform certification inspections.

In the United Kingdom there were 2,865 licensed organic farmers in production, or in conversion, in 2000, a dramatic increase from the 828 listed in 1997. In late 1999, 2 percent of all agricultural land (a little over 1 million acres) was farmed organically (fully organic or in conversion). Organic vegetable production value for 1999 was $28.8 million in the United Kingdom. Nearly half of the consumers interviewed said they bought organic produce for the taste.

The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has published the Codex Alimentarius to establish global food standards and guidelines for organically produced foods. The FAO states:

Foods should only refer to organic production methods if they come from an organic farm system employing management practices which seek to nurture ecosystems which achieve sustainable productivity and provide weed, pest and disease control though a diverse mix of mutually dependent life forms, recycling plant and animal residues, crop selection and rotation, water management, tillage, and cultivation. Soil fertility is maintained and enhanced by a system which optimizes soil biological activity and the physical and mineral nature of the soil as the means to provide a balanced nutrient supply for plant and animal life as well as to conserve soil resources. Production should be sustainable with the recycling of plant nutrients as an essential part of the fertilizing strategy. Pest and disease management is attained by means of the encouragement of a balanced host/predator relationship, augmentation of beneficial insect populations, biological and cultural control and mechanical removal of pests and affected plant parts.

In Europe, the European Union countries have a total of 10 million acres held in 145,113 organic farms, which represent about 2 percent of farms and about 3 percent of the farming acreage. This figure represents a rapid rate of growth, about 25 percent over the last ten years in European Union member countries. For example, as of 2001, France had over 10,000 organic farms, an increase of 12 percent from the previous year. Ongoing research in organic agriculture is being conducted in most countries, and some have adopted educational programs that support the organic farmers as well as the consumers. Uniformity of standards and dissemination of research are critical to the future of organic agriculture. The International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) was founded in 1972 to coordinate research and represent organic agriculture worldwide in forums for policy and law. Currently, IFOAM is working in 100 countries with more than 690 member organizations. Perhaps most important, it sets, maintains, and revises the IFOAM Basic Standards of Organic Agriculture and Food Processing, which are translated into eighteen languages and ensure the quality of and equal application of the organic certification through the IFOAM Accreditation Programme.

See also Agriculture, Origins of; Agronomy; Canada; Codex Alimentarius; Crop Improvement; Ecology and Food; Environment; Farmers' Markets; Food Politics: United States; Food Production, History of; Green Revolution; Organic Farming and Gardening; Organic Food; Pesticides; Tillage; Toxins, Unnatural, and Food Safety.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Altieri, Miguel. Agroecology: The Science of Sustainable Agriculture. Boulder, Colo.: Westview, 1995.

Balfour, Evelyn. The Living Soil. London: Faber and Faber, 1943.

Barton, Gregory. "Sir Albert Howard and the Forestry Roots of the Organic Farming Movement." Agricultural History, 75, no 2 (2001): 168–187.

Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1962.

Codex Alimentarius Commission and the FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme. Codex Alimentarius: Organically Produced Foods. Rome: FAO/WHO, 2001.

Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). 2000 Statistics on the Organic Sector. London, 2001.

EarthPledge Foundation. Sustainable Cuisine White Papers. New York: 1999.

FIBL (Research Institute of Organic Agriculture). Organic Farming in Europe. Provisional Statistics 2001. Available at Organic-Europe, www.organic-europe.net/europe_eu/statistics.asp.

Funes, Fernando, Luis Garcia, and Martin Bourque, eds. Sustainable Agriculture and Resistance: Transforming Food Production in Cuba. Oakland, Calif.: Food First, 2002.

Gates, Jane Potter. "Tracing the Evolution of Organic/Sustainable Agriculture: A Selected and Annotated Bibliography." Bibliographies and Literature of Agriculture 72. Beltsville, Md.: Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1988.

Greene, Catherine. U.S. Organic Agriculture. Washington, D.C.: USDA, 2001.

Greene, Catherine. "U.S. Organic Farming Emerges in the 1990s: Adoption of Certified Systems." Agricultural Information Bulletin 770. Washington, D.C.: USDA, 2001.

Greene, Catherine, Carolyn Dimitri, and Nessa Richman. "Organic Marketing Features Fresh Foods and Direct Exchange." Food Review 24, no. 1 (2001): 31–37.

Hess, John, and Karen Hess. The Taste of America. New York: Penguin, 1977.

House of Commons Select Committee on Agriculture. Organic Farming : Second Report. London: Parliament, The Stationery Office, 2001.

Howard, Albert. An Agricultural Testament. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1943.

Leopold, Aldo. A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There, New York: Oxford University Press, 1949.

MacRae, Rod. A History of Sustainable Agriculture, Ecological Agricultural Projects. Quebec: McGill University, 1990.

National Research Council. Alternative Agriculture. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1989.

Northbourne, Walter. Look to the Land. London: Dent, 1940.

Rodale, Jerome. Pay Dirt: Farming and Gardening with Composts. New York: Devin-Adair, 1945.

USDA. Soils and Men. The Yearbook of Agriculture. Washington, D.C.: USGPO, 1938.

USDA. Technology on the Farm: A Special Report by an Interbureau Committee and Bureau of Agricultural Economics of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Washington, D.C.: 1940.

Yussefi, Minou, and Helga Willer. Organic Agriculture Worldwide 2002. Biofach in collaboration with International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM), SOEL, Foundation for Ecology and Agriculture, Germany.

Daphne L. Derven

Organic Farming

Organic methods of maintaining soil tilth and fertility

Organic methods of managing pests

Use of antibiotics and growth regulating hormones

Organic and non-organic foods

The popularity of organic culture

Resources

Organic farming is any system of agriculture in which crops, food animals, or both are grown using natural methods of maintaining fertility of the soil, including methods of pest control other than synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. Compared with industrial agricultural systems, which intensively use manufactured fertilizers and pesticides, smaller environmental costs and damages are associated with organic systems. However, yields tend to be smaller in organic agriculture than are obtained using more intensively managed systems. Scientific tracking of the results of organic agriculture over the last several decades has shown that that compared with more industrialized forms of agriculture, organic farming is better able to retain soil, ecological integrity, biodiversity, and energy and material resources. It is also, at this time, more labor-intensive and therefore more expensive, at least in industrialized countries.

Organic methods of maintaining soil tilth and fertility

Soil fertility is a function of two major characteristics: the tilth of the soil, and the ability of the soil to supply essential nutrients to crop plants.

Tilth refers to the physical structure of soil, and is strongly influenced by the concentration of humified organic matter. In soils with good tilth the ability to hold water is great, so that excessively rapid drainage is avoided and rainwater can be used more effectively by growing plants. The organic matter also helps to bind nutrients, thereby preventing them from being lost by leaching, and releasing them slowly for more efficient uptake by growing plants. In addition, soils with good tilth have their sand-sized and smaller inorganic particles loosely aggregated into lumpy structures, which improves soil aeration and eases the growth and penetration of plant roots.

Typically, soil tilth becomes badly degraded in conventional, intensively managed agricultural systems. This happens because soil organic matter is progressively lost through plowing and decomposition, while inputs with plant debris are relatively small. Compaction by heavy vehicles also helps to degrade soil tilth. In contrast, a major goal of organic agriculture is to maintain or increase the concentration of organic matter in the soil (using methods that are described below, in regard to nutrients).

Plants require more than 20 nutrients for proper growth. Some of these nutrients are obtained primarily from the soil, especially compounds of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and sulfur. These nutrients are primarily taken up by plants as inorganic compounds. For example, nitrogen is mostly assimilated from soil as nitrate or ammonium, while phosphorus is taken up as phosphate. In natural ecosystems, these inorganic compounds are steadily recycled by microorganisms from dead organic matter such as plant litter. The microorganisms have the ability to metabolize complex organic forms of nutrients and convert them to simple, inorganic forms, such as the ones just listed. As they perform this function, the microorganisms gain access to the fixed energy and nutrients of dead biomass that they require for their own growth and reproduction. Therefore, soil fertility in natural ecosystems is largely associated with organic matter, from which inorganic nutrients are slowly released from complex, organic forms. These are then efficiently taken up by plants, so that little of these precious nutrients is lost to ground or surface waters or to the atmosphere.

However, in intensively managed agricultural systems, inorganic nutrients are usually added directly, in the form of manufactured fertilizers of various sorts. Synthetic inorganic fertilizers are manufactured industrially from raw materials. For example, rock phosphate mined in Florida or elsewhere is manufactured into super- and triple-superphosphate fertilizers. Inorganic nitrogen fertilizers such as urea and ammonium nitrate are manufactured by combining atmospheric dinitrogen (or nitrogen gas) with hydrogen obtained from methane (or natural gas). Inorganic potassium is obtained from potash, a mined material rich in that chemical, while calcium and magnesium are obtained from limestone (calcium carbonate) or dolomite (calcium, magnesium carbonate). Sulfur fertilizers are manufactured from elemental sulfur or sulfuric acid obtained from sour natural gas or from air-pollution control at metal smelters. The manufacturing of all of these fertilizers has large costs in terms of energy and the depletion of non-renewable material resources.

Often, the rates of fertilization in intensively managed agriculture are intended to satiate the needs of crop plants for these chemicals, so their productivity will not be limited by nutrient availability. However, excessive rates of fertilization have important environmental costs. These include: the contamination of ground water with nitrate; eutrophication of surface waters caused by nutrient inputs (especially phosphate); acidification of soil because of the nitrification of ammonium to nitrate; large emissions of nitrous oxide and other nitrogen gases to the atmosphere,

with implications for acid rain and Earth’s greenhouse effect; and the need to use herbicides to control the weeds that flourish under artificially nutrient-rich conditions.

In contrast, organic methods of maintaining site fertility focus on soil organic matter. Much action is expended on maintaining or increasing the amount of organic matter in the soil, because this is the reservoir from which inorganic nutrients are slowly made available to growing crop plants. Organic matter is also critical to soil tilth, as was previously described. Organic farmers add nutrient-containing organic matter to their soils in three major ways.

First, as dung and urine of animals, which contains both organic matter and large concentrations of nutrients. However, care must be taken to avoid the contamination of surface and ground waters with pathogenic bacteria. This method of organic fertilization also causes local air pollution with ammonia and distasteful smells.

Second, as green manure, which is growing or recently harvested plant material that is directly incorporated into the soil, usually by plowing. The most fertile green manures are the biomass of plants in the legume family, such as alfalfa or clovers. This is because legumes have a symbiosis with a bacterium that can fix atmospheric dinitrogen (N₂) into biologically useful nitrogen. Consequently, legume-derived green manure is a commonly used organic means of fertilization with nitrogen.

Finally as compost, or partially decomposed and humified organic material. Composting is an aerobic process by which microorganisms aided by soil animals break down and metabolize organic material, eventually forming complex, large molecular-weight materials known as humic substances. These are resistant to further decay, and are very useful as a soil conditioner and to a lesser degree as an organic fertilizer.

It is important to understand that growing plants take up the same, simple, inorganic forms of nutrients from soil (for example, nitrate, ammonium, or phosphate), regardless of whether these are supplied by organic matter or manufactured fertilizer. The important difference between fertilization using organic or synthetic materials is in the role of ecological processes versus manufacturing ones. Organic methods rely more heavily on renewable sources of energy and materials, rather than on non-renewable materials and fossil fuels. Overall, the longer-term environmental implications of maintaining soil tilth and fertility using organic methods are much softer than those associated with conventional, intensive agriculture.

Organic methods of managing pests

In agriculture, pests are any organisms that significantly interfere with the productivity of crop plants or animals. This can occur when insects eat foliage or stored produce, when bacteria or fungi cause plant or animal diseases, or when weeds interfere excessively with the growth of crop plants. In conventional agriculture, these negative influences of pests are usually managed using various types of pesticides, such as insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides. On the shorter term, these methods can be effective in reducing the influence of pests on agricultural productivity. However, important environmental damages can be associated with the use of pesticides.

Organic farmers do not use synthetic, manufactured pesticides to manage their pest problems. Rather, reliance is placed on other methods of pest management, the most important of which are:

1. The use of varieties of crop species that are resistant to pests and diseases. If the crop species has genetically based variations of tolerance to the pest or disease, then resistant varieties can be developed using standard breeding techniques;
2. Attacking the pest biologically, by introducing or enhancing populations of its natural predators, parasites, or diseases;
3. Changing other ecological conditions to make the habitat less suitable for the pest. Depending on the pest, this may be possible by growing plants in mixed culture rather than in monoculture; by rotating crops or by using a fallow period so that pest populations do not build up in particular fields; by managing the overwintering microhabitat of certain pests; by using mechanical methods of weed control such as hand-pulling or shallow plowing; and by other means. Obviously, use of these techniques requires knowledge of the ecological requirements and vulnerabilities of important pest species.
4. Undertaking careful monitoring of the abundance of pests, so that specific control strategies are used only when required. Note that this may include the use of certain pesticides, but these must be based on a natural product. For example, an insecticide based on the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (or B.t.) may be acceptable, as may one based on pyrethrum, a chemical extracted from several species of plants related to the daisy. However, synthetic analogues of these, such as genetically engineered B.t. or synthesized pyrethroids are not considered acceptable in organic agriculture.

Note that many of these pest-control practices are important components of a system known as integrated pest management. However, in that system pesticides are often used as a last resort, when other methods do not work effectively enough. In organic agriculture, pesticides are not used (other than the “natural” ones just referred to).

In addition, organic farmers, and the consumers of the goods that they produce, must be relatively tolerant of some of the damages and lower yields that pests cause. Consumers, for example, may have to be satisfied with apples that have some degree of blemishing associated with scab, a fungal-caused problem that does not affect the nutritional quality or safety of the apple, but has become associated with poor aesthetics. In conventional agriculture, this cosmetic damage is managed through the use of pesticides, in order to supply consumers with apples of an aesthetic quality that they have become conditioned to expect.

Use of antibiotics and growth regulating hormones

In some types of intensive culture of agricultural livestock, animals are kept together under very crowded conditions, often inside large buildings in a poorly ventilated and smelly environment, and often continuously exposed to their manure and urine. Under these sorts of conditions animals are highly vulnerable to developing infections of various sorts, which ultimately cause reductions of growth, and may result in their death. To manage this problem, intensive agriculture typically relies on antibiotics. These may be given to animals when they are actually sick, or they may be added continuously to their food as a prophylactic (or preventive) treatment. Ultimately, humans are exposed to small residues of antibiotics in products of these animals that they consume. It has not been scientifically established that this exposure poses an unacceptable risk to humans, potentially occurring, for example, through the evolution of resistant varieties of antibiotic-resistant pathogens. Nevertheless, there is controversy about the antibiotic contamination of foodstuffs from intensive agriculture.

Organic farmers might also use antibiotics to treat an infection in a particular sick animal, but they do not continuously add those chemicals to food that is fed to livestock. In addition, many organic farmers attempt to keep their animals under more open and sanitary conditions than are often conventionally used to intensively rear livestock under dense, industrial conditions. Animals that are relatively free of the stresses of crowding and constant exposure to manure are more resistant to diseases, and have less of a need of antibiotics.

In addition, some industrial systems of raising livestock use synthetic growth hormones, such as bovine growth hormone, to increase the productivity of their animals, or of animal products such as milk. Inevitably, these hormones persist in a trace contamination in the animal products that humans consume. Although no significant risk to humans has been convincingly demonstrated from these exposures, there is controversy about the potential effects. Organic farmers do not use synthetic growth hormones to enhance the productivity of their livestock.

Organic and non-organic foods

Many people believe that organically grown foods are safer or more nutritious than the same foods grown using conventional agricultural systems. In large part, these beliefs are influenced by the occurrence of trace contamination of non-organic foods with pesticides, antibiotics, and growth hormones. Although this topic is highly controversial, scientific studies have not yet convincingly demonstrated that organically grown foods are indeed safer or more nutritious than conventional agricultural produce. There have been some notable exceptions, such as the spread of bovine encephalopathy (mad cow disease) through beef, which was only made possible by the industrial-agricultural practice of grinding up dead livestock to feed to livestock. Organically grown beef cannot spread mad cow disease. Moreover, many persons who buy organic food are not operating under the (possible) illusion that they are primarily protecting their personal health by eating organic foods; they are concerned that their relationship to the food-production system, and to the Earth on which that system depends, be one that they can contemplate with satisfaction rather than dismay. In this regard, there is no scientific doubt that organic agriculture results in lessened soil loss and other impacts on the natural world as compared to industrial agriculture. Organic agricultural systems use less of non-renewable resources of energy and materials, keep the agricultural ecosystem in better health, and enhance the sustainability of the agriculture.

The popularity of organic culture

The environmental damage and resource use associated with organic agriculture are much less than

KEY TERMS

Humus —Organic material made up of well-decomposed, high molecular-weight compounds. Humus contributes to soil tilth, and is a kind of organic fertilizer.

Nutrient —Any chemical required for life. The most important nutrients that plants obtain from soil are compounds of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and sulfur.

Organic matter —Any biomass of plants or animals, living or dead. The most important form of organic matter in soil is dead, occurring as humic substances.

Tilth —The physical structure of soil, closely associated with the concentration of humified organic matter. Tilth is important in water and nutrient-holding capacity of soil, and is generally beneficial to plant growth.

those of conventional agricultural systems. However, yields tend to be smaller, and the organically grown produce is often relatively expensive to the consumer. Overall, the balance of these two considerations suggests that society receives a positive net benefit from the use of organic agricultural systems.

Organic agricultural systems will not become more widely adopted unless a number of socioeconomic conditions change. First, larger numbers of consumers will have to be willing to pay the somewhat higher costs of organically grown food, and they will have to modify some of their perceptions about the aesthetic qualities of certain foods (e.g., apple blemishes). This appears to have been happening in some industrialized countries; in the United States, for example, sales of organic food increased by over 16% in 2005 alone, to a total of $13.8 billion in consumer sales. The U.S. organic market grew almost fourfold between 1997 and 2005. Second, vested agricultural interests in big business, government, and universities will have to become more sympathetic to the goals and softer environmental effects of organic agriculture. These institutions will have to support more research into organic agriculture, and promote the use of those systems. Lastly, it will be necessary that the practitioners of intensive agricultural systems be made to deal more directly and sensibly with the environmental damage associated with their activities, especially the use of manufactured pesticides and fertilizers. As with many other industries, agriculture is presently allowed to “externalize” environmental damages that it causes—that is, to make profits in the present while letting other people, downwind or downstream or in the future, suffer the costs.

See also Crop rotation; Fungicide.

Resources

BOOKS

Dabbert, Stephen, et al. Organic Farming: Policies and Prospects. London, UK: Zed Books, 2004.

Duram, Leslie A. Good Growing: Why Organic Farming Works. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2005.

Lampkin, Nicholas. Organic Farming. New York: Diamond Farm Book Publishers, 2000.

Myers, Adrian. Organic Futures: A Case for Organic Farming. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing Company, 2006.

PERIODICALS

Green, Rhys E. “Farming and the Fate of Wild Nature.” Science. 307 (2005): 550-555.

Macilwain, Colin. “Organic: Is It the Future of Farming?.” Nature. 428 (2004): 792-293.

Mder, P. “Soil Fertility and Biodiversity in organic Farming.” Science 296, no. 5573 (2001) 167-178.

OTHER

Sustainable Agriculture Program University of Illinois. “US Organic Food Market Growth Over Time (graph).” 2005. <http://asap.sustainability.uiuc.edu/members/dananderson/documents/rog-graph> (accessed November 15, 2006).

Bill Freedman

Organic farming

Organic agriculture refers to systems in which crops are grown using natural methods of maintaining fertility of the soil , and methods of pest control other than the use of synthetic pesticides . Compared with conventional agriculture systems that intensively use manufactured fertilizers and pesticides, much smaller environmental costs and damages are associated with organic systems. However, yields tend to be smaller in organic agriculture than are obtained using more intensively managed systems. Overall, the balance of these considerations (that is, of environmental damage and yield) suggest that compared with more intensive agriculture, organic agricultural systems are much more sustainable of soil quality, ecological integrity , and energy and material resources.

Organic methods of maintaining soil tilth and fertility

Soil fertility is a function of two major characteristics: the tilth of the soil, and the ability of the soil to supply essential nutrients to crop plants.

Tilth refers to the physical structure of soil, and is strongly influenced by the concentration of humified organic matter. In soils with good tilth the ability to hold water is great, so that excessively rapid drainage is avoided and rainwater can be used more effectively by growing plants. The organic matter also helps to bind nutrients, thereby preventing them from being lost by leaching , and releasing them slowly for more efficient uptake by growing plants. In addition, soils with good tilth have their sand-sized and smaller inorganic particles loosely aggregated into lumpy structures, which improves soil aeration and eases the growth and penetration of plant roots.

Typically, soil tilth becomes badly degraded in conventional, intensively managed agricultural systems. This happens because soil organic matter is progressively lost through plowing and decomposition , while inputs with plant debris are relatively small. Compaction by heavy vehicles also helps to degrade soil tilth. In contrast, a major goal of organic agriculture is to maintain or increase the concentration of organic matter in the soil (using methods that are described below, in regard to nutrients).

Plants require more than 20 nutrients for proper growth. Some of these nutrients are obtained primarily from the soil, especially compounds of nitrogen , phosphorus , potassium, calcium , magnesium , and sulfur . These nutrients are primarily taken up by plants as inorganic compounds. For example, nitrogen is mostly assimilated from soil as nitrate or ammonium, while phosphorus is taken up as phosphate. In natural ecosystems, these inorganic compounds are steadily recycled by microorganisms from dead organic matter such as plant litter. The microorganisms have the ability to metabolize complex organic forms of nutrients and convert them to simple, inorganic forms, such as the ones just listed. As they perform this function, the microorganisms gain access to the fixed energy and nutrients of dead biomass that they require for their own growth and reproduction. Therefore, soil fertility in natural ecosystems is largely associated with organic matter, from which inorganic nutrients are slowly released from complex, organic forms. These are then efficiently taken up by plants, so that little of these precious nutrients is lost to ground or surface waters or to the atmosphere.

However, in intensively managed agricultural systems, inorganic nutrients are usually added directly, in the form of manufactured fertilizers of various sorts. Synthetic inorganic fertilizers are manufactured industrially from raw materials. For example, rock phosphate mined in Florida or elsewhere is manufactured into super- and triple-superphosphate fertilizers. Inorganic nitrogen fertilizers such as urea and ammonium nitrate are manufactured by combining atmospheric dinitrogen (or nitrogen gas) with hydrogen obtained from methane (or natural gas ). Inorganic potassium is obtained from potash, a mined material rich in that chemical, while calcium and magnesium are obtained from limestone (calcium carbonate ) or dolomite (calcium, magnesium carbonate). Sulfur fertilizers are manufactured from elemental sulfur or sulfuric acid obtained from sour natural gas or from air-pollution control at metal smelters. The manufacturing of all of these fertilizers has large costs in terms of energy and the depletion of non-renewable material resources.

Often, the rates of fertilization in intensively managed agriculture are intended to satiate the needs of crop plants for these chemicals, so their productivity will not be limited by nutrient availability. However, excessive rates of fertilization have important environmental costs. These include: the contamination of ground water with nitrate; eutrophication of surface waters caused by nutrient inputs (especially phosphate); acidification of soil because of the nitrification of ammonium to nitrate; large emissions of nitrous oxide and other nitrogen gases to the atmosphere, with implications for acid rain and Earth's greenhouse effect ; and the need to use herbicides to control the weeds that flourish under artificially nutrient-rich conditions.

In contrast, organic methods of maintaining site fertility focus on soil organic matter. Much action is expended on maintaining or increasing the amount of organic matter in the soil, because this is the reservoir from which inorganic nutrients are slowly made available to growing crop plants. Organic matter is also critical to soil tilth, as was previously described. Organic farmers add nutrient-containing organic matter to their soils in three major ways.

First, as dung and urine of animals, which contains both organic matter and large concentrations of nutrients. However, care must be taken to avoid the contamination of surface and ground waters with pathogenic bacteria . This method of organic fertilization also causes local air pollution with ammonia and distasteful smells.

Second, as green manure, which is growing or recently harvested plant material that is directly incorporated into the soil, usually by plowing. The most fertile green manures are the biomass of plants in the legume family, such as alfalfa or clovers. This is because legumes have a symbiosis with a bacterium that can fix atmospheric dinitrogen (N2) into biologically useful nitrogen. Consequently, legume-derived green manure is a commonly used organic means of fertilization with nitrogen.

Finally, as compost, or partially decomposed and humified organic material. Composting is an aerobic process by which microorganisms aided by soil animals break down and metabolize organic material, eventually forming complex, large molecular-weight materials known as humic substances. These are resistant to further decay, and are very useful as a soil conditioner and to a lesser degree as an organic fertilizer.

It is important to understand that growing plants take up the same, simple, inorganic forms of nutrients from soil (for example, nitrate, ammonium, or phosphate), regardless of whether these are supplied by organic matter or manufactured fertilizer. The important difference between fertilization using organic or synthetic materials is in the role of ecological processes versus manufacturing ones. Organic methods rely more heavily on renewable sources of energy and materials, rather than on non-renewable materials and fossil fuels . Overall, the longer-term environmental implications of maintaining soil tilth and fertility using organic methods are much softer than those associated with conventional, intensive agriculture.

Organic methods of managing pests

In agriculture, pests are any organisms that significantly interfere with the productivity of crop plants or animals. This can occur when insects eat foliage or stored produce, when bacteria or fungi cause plant or animal diseases, or when weeds interfere excessively with the growth of crop plants. In conventional agriculture, these negative influences of pests are usually managed using various types of pesticides, such as insecticides , herbicides, and fungicides. On the shorter term, these methods can be effective in reducing the influence of pests on agricultural productivity. However, important environmental damages can be associated with the use of pesticides.

Organic farmers do not use synthetic, manufactured pesticides to manage their pest problems. Rather, reliance
liance is placed on other methods of pest management, the most important of which are:

1. The use of varieties of crop species that are resistant to pests and diseases. If the crop species has genetically based variations of tolerance to the pest or disease , then resistant varieties can be developed using standard breeding techniques;
2. Attacking the pest biologically, by introducing or enhancing populations of its natural predators, parasites , or diseases;
3. Changing other ecological conditions to make the habitat less suitable for the pest. Depending on the pest, this may be possible by growing plants in mixed culture rather than in monoculture ; by rotating crops or by using a fallow period so that pest populations do not build up in particular fields; by managing the overwintering microhabitat of certain pests; by using mechanical methods of weed control such as hand-pulling or shallow plowing; and by other means. Obviously, use of these techniques requires knowledge of the ecological requirements and vulnerabilities of important pest species.
4. Undertaking careful monitoring of the abundance of pests, so that specific control strategies are used only when required. Note that this may include the use of certain pesticides, but these must be based on a natural product. For example, an insecticide based on the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (or B.t.) may be acceptable, as may one based on pyrethrum, a chemical extracted from several species of plants related to the daisy. However, synthetic analogues of these, such as genetically engineered B.t. or synthesized pyrethroids are not considered acceptable in organic agriculture.

Note that many of these pest-control practices are important components of a system known as integrated pest management . However, in that system pesticides are often used as a last resort, when other methods do not work effectively enough. In organic agriculture, pesticides are not used (other than the "natural" ones just referred to).

In addition, organic farmers, and the consumers of the goods that they produce, must be relatively tolerant of some of the damages and lower yields that pests cause. Consumers, for example, may have to be satisfied with apples that have some degree of blemishing associated with scab, a fungal-caused problem that does not affect the nutritional quality or safety of the apple, but has become associated with poor aesthetics. In conventional agriculture, this cosmetic damage is managed through the use of pesticides, in order to supply consumers with apples of an aesthetic quality that they have become conditioned to expect.

Use of antibiotics and growth regulating hormones

In some types of intensive culture of agricultural livestock , animals are kept together under very crowded conditions, often inside large buildings in a poorly ventilated and smelly environment, and often continuously exposed to their manure and urine. Under these sorts of conditions animals are highly vulnerable to developing infections of various sorts, which ultimately cause reductions of growth, and may result in their death. To manage this problem, intensive agriculture typically relies on antibiotics . These may be given to animals when they are actually sick, or they may be added continuously to their food as a prophylactic (or preventive) treatment. Ultimately, humans are exposed to small residues of antibiotics in products of these animals that they consume. It has not been scientifically established that this exposure poses an unacceptable risk to humans, potentially occurring, for example, through the evolution of resistant varieties of antibiotic-resistant pathogens . Nevertheless, there is controversy about the antibiotic contamination of foodstuffs from intensive agriculture.

Organic farmers might also use antibiotics to treat an infection in a particular sick animal, but they do not continuously add those chemicals to food that is fed to livestock. In addition, many organic farmers attempt to keep their animals under more open and sanitary conditions than are often conventionally used to intensively rear livestock under dense, industrial conditions. Animals that are relatively free of the stresses of crowding and constant exposure to manure are more resistant to diseases, and have less of a need of antibiotics.

In addition, some industrial systems of raising livestock use synthetic growth hormones , such as bovine growth hormone, to increase the productivity of their animals, or of animal products such as milk. Inevitably, these hormones persist in a trace contamination in the animal products that humans consume. Although no significant risk to humans has been convincingly demonstrated from these exposures, there is controversy about the potential effects. Organic farmers do not use synthetic growth hormones to enhance the productivity of their livestock.

Organic and non-organic foods

Many people believe that organically grown foods are safer or more nutritious than the same foods grown using conventional agricultural systems. In large part, these beliefs are influenced by the occurrence of trace contamination of non-organic foods with pesticides, antibiotics, or growth hormones. Although this topic is highly controversial, it is important to understand that scientific studies have not yet convincingly demonstrated that organically grown foods are indeed safer or more nutritious than conventional agricultural produce.

From the environmental perspective, the most important differences between food grown by organic and conventional methods is in the resulting environmental effects of the agricultural systems. Organic agricultural systems result in less use of non-renewable resources of energy and materials, in better health of the agricultural ecosystem , and in enhanced sustainability of the agricultural enterprise.

The popularity of organic culture

The environmental damage and resource use associated with organic agriculture are much less than those of conventional agricultural systems. However, yields tend to be smaller, and the organically grown produce is often relatively expensive to the consumer. Overall, the balance of these two considerations suggests that society receives a positive net benefit from the use of organic agricultural systems.

However, organic agricultural systems will not become more widely adopted unless a number of socioeconomic conditions change. First, larger numbers of consumers will have to be willing to pay the somewhat higher costs of organically grown food, and they will have to modify some of their perceptions about the aesthetic qualities of certain foods (e.g., apple blemishes). Second, vested agricultural interests in big-business, government, and universities will have to become more sympathetic to the goals and softer environmental effects of organic agriculture. These institutions will have to support more research into organic agriculture, and promote the use of those systems. Lastly, it will be necessary that the practitioners of intensive agricultural systems be made to deal more directly and sensibly with the environmental damage associated with their activities, especially the use of manufactured pesticides and fertilizers.

See also Crop rotation; Fungicide.

Resources

books

Carroll, R.C., J.H. Vandermeer, and P.M. Rossett. Agroecology. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1990.

Conford, P. (ed.). A Future for the Land: Organic Practices From a Global Perspective. London: Green Books, 1992.

Lampkin, Nicholas. Organic Farming. New York: Diamond Farm Book Publishers, 2000.

Soule, J.D., and J.K. Piper. Farming in Nature's Image: An Ecological Approach to Agriculture. Island Press, 1992.

periodicals

Mder, P. "Soil Fertility andBiodiversity in Organic Farming." Science 296, no. 5573 (2001) 167-178.

Bill Freedman

KEY TERMS

Humus

—Organic material made up of well-decomposed, high molecular-weight compounds. Humus contributes to soil tilth, and is a kind of organic fertilizer.

Nutrient

—Any chemical required for life. The most important nutrients that plants obtain from soil are compounds of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and sulfur.

Organic matter

—Any biomass of plants or animals, living or dead. The most important form of organic matter in soil is dead, occurring as humic substances.

Tilth

—The physical structure of soil, closely associated with the concentration of humified organic matter. Tilth is important in water and nutrient-holding capacity of soil, and is generally beneficial to plant growth.

Agriculture, Organic

Organic farming is a production system that sustains agricultural productivity while avoiding or largely excluding synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. Whenever possible, external resources, such as commercially purchased chemicals and fuels, are replaced by resources found on or near the farm. These internal resources include solar or wind energy, biological pest controls, and biologically fixed nitrogen and other nutrients released from organic matter or from soil reserves. Thus organic farmers rely heavily on the use of crop rotations , crop residues, animal manures, compost, legumes , green manures , off-farm organic wastes, mechanical cultivation, mineral-bearing rocks, and aspects of biological pest control to maintain soil productivity and tilth , to supply plant nutrients, and to control insect pests, weeds, and diseases. In essence, organic farming aims to promote soil health as the key to sustaining productivity, and most organic practices are designed to improve the ability of the soil to support plant and microorganism life.

In contrast, conventional farming is characterized by monoculture systems that are heavily dependent on the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. Although such systems are productive and able to furnish low-cost food, they also often bring a variety of environmental effects such as pesticide pollution, soil erosion, water depletion, and biodiversity reduction. Increasingly, scientists, farmers, and the public in general have questioned the sustainability of modern agrochemically based agriculture. A large number of organic farmers do use modern machinery, recommended crop varieties, certified seed, sound livestock management, recommended soil and water conservation practices, and innovative methods of organic waste recycling and residue management. Clearly, though, there are sharp contrasts between organic and conventional agriculture.

Most management systems used by organic farmers feature legume-based rotations, the application of compost, and several diversified cropping systems, including crop-livestock mixtures. Through the adoption of such practices, organic farmers aim at:

• building up soil organic matter and soil biota
• minimizing pest, disease, and weed damage
• conserving soil, water, and biodiversity resources
• long-term agricultural productivity
• optimal nutritional value and quality of produce
• creating an aesthetically pleasing environment.

Features of Organic Farming

Organic farming is widespread throughout the world and is growing rapidly. In Germany alone there are about eight thousand organic farms occupying about 2 percent of the total arable land. In Italy organic farms number around eighteen thousand, and in Austria about twenty thousand organic farms account for 10 percent of total agricultural output. In 1980 the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimated that there were at least eleven thousand organic farms in the United States and at least twenty-four thousand farms that use some organic techniques. In California, organic foods are one of the fastest-growing segments of the agricultural economy, with retail sales growing at 20 percent to 25 percent per year. Cuba was the only country undergoing a massive conversion to organic farming, promoted by the drop of fertilizer, pesticide, and petroleum imports after the collapse of trade relations with the Soviet bloc in 1990.

Given new market opportunities, farmers grow all kinds of crops, including field, horticultural, and specialty crops, as well as fruits and animals such as cattle, pigs, poultry, and sheep.

Although research on organic farming systems was very limited until the early 1980s, pioneering studies of R. C. Oelhaf (1978), the USDA (1980), W. Lockeretz and others (1981), D. Pimentel and others (1983), and the National Research Council (1984) on organic farming in the United States provide the most comprehensive assessments of organic agricultural systems. These studies concluded the following:

1. As farmers convert to organic farming, initially crop yields are lower than those achieved in conventional farms. In the corn belt, corn yields were about 10 percent less and soybean yields were about 5 percent less on organic farms than on paired conventional farms. Under highly favorable growing conditions, conventional yields were considerably greater than those on the organic farms. Under drier conditions, however, the organic farmers did as well or better than their conventional neighbors. Beyond the third or fourth year after conversion and after crop rotations became established, organic farm yields began to increase, so that their yields approached those obtained by conventional methods.
2. Conventional farms consumed considerably more energy than organic farms largely because they used more petrochemicals. Also, organic farms were considerably more energy-efficient than conventional farms. Between 1974 and 1978 the energy consumed to produce a dollar's worth of crop on organic farms was only about 40 percent as great as on conventional farms.
3. Studies conducted in the Midwest between 1974 and 1977 found that the average net returns of organic and conventional farms were within 4 percent of each other. Organic farms had a lower gross income by 6 percent to 13 percent, but their operating costs were less by a similar amount.
4. The USDA formulated Midwest farm budgets in order to compare crop rotations on organic farms with continuous conventional crop practices. The analysis assumed that yields on organic farms were 10 percent lower. In addition, rotations tie up part of the cropland with forage legumes, such as alfalfa; on conventional farms this land would be producing either corn or soybeans. Since corn and soybeans command a higher price, potential income is reduced in proportion to the amount of land tied up in forage legumes. In essence, organic farmers are turning part of their potential income into renewal of the soil (by adding organic matter) in order to assure sustainability of future crop production. The conventional system maximizes present income and is not as concerned about viewing soil as a long-term investment. In conclusion, although initially yields are likely to be lower in organic farms, variable costs are likely to be much lower. With little or no expenditure on agrochemicals, and the availability of premium prices for certain crops, the net result may be similar or higher gross margins for organic farmers.
5. Many organic farms are highly mechanized and use only slightly more labor than conventional farms. When based on the value of the crop produced, however, 11 percent more labor was required on the organic farms because the crop output was lower. The labor requirements of organic farmers in this study were similar to those of conventional farmers for corn and small grains, but higher for soybeans because more hand weeding was necessary. A number of other studies indicated that organic farms generally require more labor than conventional farms, but such needs can be kept to a minimum if hand weeding or handpicking of insects is not used. The labor required to farm organically is a major limitation to the expansion of some organic farms and an important deterrent for conventional farmers who might consider shifting to organic methods.

In many ways, organic farming conserves natural resources and protects the environment more than conventional farming. Research shows that soil erosion rates are lower in organic farms, and that levels of biodiversity are higher in organic farming systems than in conventional ones. In addition, organic farming techniques tend to conserve nitrogen in the soil/plant system, often resulting in a buildup of soil organic nitrogen. Organically managed soils have more soil microorganisms and enhanced levels of potentially available soil nitrogen.

Conversion to Organic Farming

In order for farmers to become certified organic producers, they must complete a certification procedure. The United States and most European countries have created regulations that apply to the production and sale of organically grown produce. All organic produce must carry a quality mark authorized by the government and provided to farmers by legal organizations that conduct strong verification systems with on-site annual inspections. Farmers willing to convert to organic farming must adhere to specific production standards and can be certified as organic only after three years of strictly following such standards.

From a management perspective, the process of conversion from a high-input conventional management to a low-input (or low-external input) management is a transitional process with four marked phases:

1. Progressive chemical withdrawal
2. Rationalization of agrochemical use through integrated pest management (IPM) and integrated nutrient management
3. Input substitution, using alternative, low-energy inputs
4. Redesign of diversified farming systems with an optimal crop/animal assemblage so that the system can support its own soil fertility, natural pest regulation, and crop productivity.

During the four phases, management is guided in order to ensure the following processes:

1. Increasing biodiversity both in the soil and aboveground
2. Increasing biomass production and soil organic matter content
3. Decreasing levels of pesticide residues and losses of nutrients and water
4. Establishment of functional relationships between the various farm components
5. Optimal planning of crop sequences and combinations and efficient use of locally available resources.

It is important to note that the conversion process can take anywhere from one to five years depending on the level of artificialization or degradation of the original high-input system. In addition, not all input substitution approaches are ecologically sound, as it is well established that some practices widely encouraged by some organic farming enthusiasts (such as flame-weeding and applications of broad spectrum insecticides) can have serious side effects and environmental impacts.

For scientists involved in transition research, an important outcome of these studies is the realization that the process of converting a conventional crop production system that relies heavily on synthetic, petroleum-based inputs to a legally certifiable, low-external input, organic system is not merely a process of withdrawing external inputs, with no compensatory replacement or alternative management. Considerable ecological knowledge is required to direct the array of natural flows necessary to sustain yields in a low-input system.

see also Agricultural Ecosystems; Agriculture, History of; Agriculture, Modern; Agronomist; Compost; Soil, Chemistry of; Soil, Physical Characteristics of.

Miguel Altieri

Bibliography

Altieri, Miguel A. Agroecology: The Science of Sustainable Agriculture. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1995.

Gliessman, Stephen R. Agroecology: Ecological Processes in Sustainable Agriculture. Chelsea, MI: Ann Arbor Press, 1998.

Lampkin, N. Organic Farming. Ipswich, UK: Farming Press Books, 1990.

Lockeretz, W., G. Shearer, and D. H. Kohl. "Organic Farming in the Corn Belt." Science 211 (1981): 540-47.

National Research Council. Alternative Agriculture. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1984.

Oelhaf, R. C. Organic Agriculture. New Jersey: Allanheld, Osmon and Co. Pub., 1978.

Pimentel, D., G. Berardi, and S. Fost. "Energy Efficiency of Farming Systems: Organic and Conventional Agriculture." Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 9 (1983): 359-72.

Pretty, J. N. Regenerating Agriculture: Policies and Practice for Sustainability and Self-reliance. London: Earthscan, 1995.

Report and Recommendations on Organic Farming. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1980.

Youngberg, G. "Organic Farming: A Look at Opportunities and Obstacles." Soil and Water Conservation 35 (1980): 254-63.

Organic farming

Organic farming is the process by which crops are raised using only natural methods to maintain soil fertility and to control pests. The amount of crops produced by conventional farming methods is often larger than that of organic farming. But conventional farming, with its heavy use of manufactured fertilizers and pesticides (agrochemicals), has a greater negative effect on the environment. In comparison, organic farming produces healthy crops while maintaining the quality of the soil and surrounding environment.

Soil fertility

Soil fertility is a measure of the soil's ability to grow crops and plants. Fertility is affected by a soil's tilth and the amount of nutrients it contains. Tilth refers to the physical structure of soil. Good tilth means that soil is loose and not compacted. It holds a great amount of water without becoming soggy and permits air to penetrate to plant roots and soil organisms. It also allows plant roots to grow and penetrate deeper.

The nutrients in soil are directly related to the soil's concentration of organic matter (living or dead plants and animals). Plants require more than 20 nutrients for proper growth. Some of these nutrients are obtained primarily from the soil, especially inorganic compounds of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and sulfur. In natural ecosystems, microorganisms (bacteria and fungi) in the soil break down organic matter, releasing the inorganic nutrients necessary for plant growth.

In conventional farming, soil tilth is destroyed by the use of heavy machinery, which compacts the soil. Very little organic material is added to the soil in conventional farming, decreasing the amount of nutrients that are naturally produced. Instead, inorganic nutrients are added directly to the soil in the form of synthetic fertilizers, which are manufactured from raw materials. These fertilizers are often applied at an excessive rate. As a result, they pass through the soil to contaminate groundwater and flow along the surface of soil to pollute surrounding bodies of water, threatening native species.

In contrast, organic farmers try to increase soil fertility by increasing the organic matter in the soil. They do so by adding the dung and urine of animals (which contains both organic matter and large concentrations of nutrients), by plowing under growing or recently harvested plants (such as alfalfa or clover), or by adding compost or other partially decomposed plants. These methods rely more heavily on renewable sources of energy and materials rather than on nonrenewable materials and fossil fuels.

Managing pests

In agriculture, pests are any living thing that causes injury or disease to crops. This can occur when insects eat foliage or stored produce, when bacteria or fungi cause plant diseases, or when weeds interfere excessively with the growth of crop plants. In conventional farming, pests are usually managed using various types of pesticides, such as insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides. In the short term, these methods can be effective in reducing the influence of pests on crops. However, the long-term use of these chemicals has been shown to have a severe effect on the environment.

Words to Know

Fertilizers: Substances added to agricultural lands to encourage plant growth and higher crop production.

Organic matter: Any biomass of plants or animals, living or dead.

Pesticides: Substances used to reduce the abundance of pests, any living thing that causes injury or disease to crops.

Tilth: The physical structure of soil.

Organic farmers do not use synthetic, manufactured pesticides to manage their pest problems. Rather, they rely on other methods. These include using crop varieties that are resistant to pests and diseases, introducing natural predators of the pests, changing the habitat of the crop area to make it less suitable for the pest, and (when necessary) using a pesticide derived from a natural product.

Animal husbandry

In conventional farming, livestock animals are generally kept together under extremely crowded and foul conditions. Because of this, they are highly susceptible to diseases and infections. To manage this problem, conventional farmers rely on antibiotics, which are given not only when animals are sick but often on a continued basis in the animals' feed. Since the mid-1990s, however, scientists have known that this practice has led to the development of new strains of bacteria that are resistant to the repeated use of antibiotics. These bacteria are not only harmful to the animals but are potentially harmful to the humans who consume the animals.

Organic farmers might also use antibiotics to treat infections in sick animals, but they do not continuously add those chemicals to the animals' feed. In addition, many organic farmers keep their animals in more open and sanitary conditions. Animals that are relatively free from crowding and constant exposure to waste products are more resistant to diseases. Overall, they have less of a need for antibiotics.

Some conventional farmers raising livestock use synthetic growth hormones, such as bovine growth hormone, to increase the size and productivity of their animals. Inevitably, these hormones remain in trace concentrations, contaminating the animal products that humans consume. Although risk to humans has yet to be scientifically demonstrated, there is controversy about the potential effects. Organic farmers do not use synthetic growth hormones to enhance their livestock.

[See also Agriculture; Agrochemical; Crops; Slash-and-burn agriculture ]