People all over the world are extremely concerned about our environment especially as how it relates as to what we put into our bodies and also how it affects our earth. Many are turning to organic, holistic, natural, back to the earth, and homesteading, which are all disciplines of agriculture that are growing in popularity each day.

Large food producers over the years have done an excellent job of providing substantial amounts of nutritious food for a growing world population, but is this scenario of farming sustainable? Organic farmers and conventional farmers are looking for common answers to this question.

Organic farmers depend on crop rotation, crop residue recycling, animal manure and mechanical cultivation to maintain the soil and to control weeds, insects and other pests. Organic farming does not permit the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, plant growth regulators, and livestock feed additives.

Enhancing and maintaining soil health and productivity is the mainstay of organic farming. Many natural methods are employed including crop rotation, green manure, cover cropping, application of compost and mulching, Organic farmers also use certain fertilizers such as seed meal and mineral powders such as rock phosphate and greensand which are naturally occurring forms of potash.

Organic farming began as a protest against the industrialization of agriculture in the early 20th century. Research produced hybrid seeds, fields and harvests grew in size and cropping became specialized in order to make efficient use of machinery, irrigation, fertilization and the use of chemical pesticides. Nitrates which were used during World War I and II as munitions became an abundant and cheap source of nitrogen.

Another major problem is the wide spread use of genetically modified organisms (GMO), human growth hormones (HGH), sewage sludge and antibiotics in the production of our food supply.

Standard farming allows farmers to precisely apply only the necessary fertilizers to the soil in order to minimize waste pollutants. Organic fertilizers such as manure which contains fixed amounts of various elements which can not be adjusted. The most common problem is over application of these organic fertilizers because of their relative lack of potency. These over applications can very easily lead to pollution of the water supply.

Can agribusiness change to large scale organic farming and still be able to make a profit without raising the consumer’s cost to unacceptable levels?

The current food distribution system favors high volume production with large farming corporate operations and cannot be easily altered. What we know as organic farming may change very dramatically in the coming years. A growing consumer market is normally one of the main factors encouraging conventional farmers to convert to organic agricultural production methods. I believe this trend will continue.