Organic farming is the use of herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers and methods of agriculture, which make use of the land without doing longterm damage to the environment or human beings.
The natural pesticides can vary from biological pesticides to repellants and sprays harmless to humans.
The biological pesticide is an insect, fungus or bacteria which attacks the pest which is affecting our crops.
The insect, fungus or bacteria is grown or bred, either on the farm or bought from a supplier. It is applied to areas of the crops that have been affected by pests. As long as the predatory insect bacteria or fungus doesn´t affect the local ecosystem it can prevent outbreaks of pests by controlling their numbers.
Pesticide sprays and repellents that are nontoxic are usually not as effective in the short term as toxic pesticides. However after toxic pesticides kill off large numbers of pests they either destroy the species in that region drastically affecting the local ecosystems. Or the pest can build a resistance which quite often happens overtime for the most common pests.
Now when a pest adapts to a toxic pesticide the company repsonsible for selling such products must increase the toxicity of the pesticide and therefore poison the local environment even more potently than before. Not very good for local forests or WATERWAYS.
Not very good for our stomachs or the farm workers! But the producers sell the pesticide for a higher premium after each such step is taken. making a better profit as each fix gets more potent just like drugs.
Boring, boring and boring right?
Toxic pesticides are engineered to kill living things, based on a chemical compound or hormone that is equally dangerous to humans if given the equivalent dose.
What we notice with many things that are done too quickly in this world is that a fast fix usually has consequences. From speeding in your car to living a life of fastfood there is always a side effect you don´t want later. What about doing it the right way from the start is that not more intelligent?
Toxic pesticides are a fast fix with alot of consequences, this is not a dedicated approach to contemporary agriculture.
The majority of fruit and vegetables for human consumption are still treated with toxic pesticide and herbicide. A small percentage of those poisons are consumed by us.
Organic farming is not just a compliment to nature but also a way to appreciate our food without worrying too much what kind of chemicals and hormones there are in it and how that could affect us over the long term.
The problem is apart from a coordinated green advertising campaign there has been no big revolution to assimilate big farms, orchards and plantations into total organic farming methodology.
So the few farms that do go organic usually produce less and charge a lot more for what they produce!
This is not because of a lack of space or know how, there is little competition in the organic farming industry and so there is no pressure for the price to come down! In some places organic fruit and vegetables end up costing double! And only the people with the money or strong concern will pay for that kind of food!
What needs to happen is an international incentives scheme for those farms that have gone organic. A move to prohibit pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers that cause harm to ecosystems, waterways, the quality of the soil all the way to our own digestive system!
So if these concerns aren´t enough reason to implement organic farming definitively, take a look at what hormonal pesticides and herbicides can do to the body over time. Humans are still organic creatures we are not made of metal yet. Even though some of us are made of plastic. So we should be aware of the things we eat and drink.
Maybe the reason why little has changed is that people sometimes forget about their own health.
