Organic farming

[tarak]

Dear friends,

Don't you thinkthat organic farming is a defeatist approach???Immediately please donot think I have not understood the real nature of organic farming ,like it is a philosophy and not a method of farming...and it has to do with making systems sustainable ....recyclable....having understood all this I still say that instead of finding more creative eco-friendly tools and interventions to enhance productivity in agriculture we have put our hands up towards the synthetic pesticides and other farm inputs and are marching back.I do understand that there is no fool proof method and variuos things have to be integrated to arrive at a solution,but still why not think in a direction of a biodegradable farm inputs which are economicallyand ecologically sustainable

regards

Tarak Dhurjati

[Buffy]

For some of its practitioners, Organic Farming is a "philosophy" or "way of life", but it has been pretty carefully defined by various governmental agencies around the world. Here, the USDA/FDA have regulations defining what can be labeled as "Organic" and so the big food companies are looking at how they can utilize it for marketing purposes, sometimes playing fast and loose with the common definition of foods that "exclude the use of synthetic chemicals in crop production and prohibit the use of antibiotics and hormones in livestock production." (from the USDA site)

 

Now your basic philosophy is understood, although might be considered a bit dated. Its been 20 years since Dow came out with "Without chemicals, life itself would be impossible," and of course the Jeremy Rifkins and eco-activist types have been furiously trying to scare everyone by droning on about "Frankenfoods." Unfortunately, they're right. The pressure to "get stuff out the door" runs into the "Law of Unintended Consequences" and there are problems with an inability to contain advances that later prove to be bad or at least require a lot more care (anyone remember DDT?).

 

There's no easy answer to this one, but care needs to be exercised and is often not.

 

Cheers,

Buffy

[Fishteacher73]

Unbridaled use of anything can be problematic. Organic isn't always better; Snake venom is organic but I relly would not want to use it as a salad dressing. This being said, organic solutions are not olny more eco-friendly but used in the right combination I feel have a better chance of being effective. Using organic methods is the way these systems evolved. Lady bugs are probably much better at killing aphids than poisons that kill off helpful organisms as well (also leave residue upon the food). Granted there might be some loose play by some of the companies to cater to a niche market, but many see it as a philosophy of producing healthy food with a minimum of ecological impact.

 

i have been split about both irradiation of foods as well as genetically altered foods. In theUS the regulations for labeling such foodstuffs is reasonably lax. In the EU many ate banned or require prominant labeling of their contents. IMO I think this would be the best approach here in the states. Let the consumer decide what it wants....That's capitalism anyway, right?

[Robust]

Right-on!....Fish....common sense should be the rule here. Genetically modified food production needs to be banned - and quickly!

[Michaelangelica]

See new thread

http://hypography.com/forums/earth-science/9479-organic-farming-feasible-5.html