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Are you Environmentally Organic?

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Today the organic food movement is no longer considered to be a luxurious fad, enjoyed exclusively by those with the financial resources to care. Indeed, our common high street supermarkets have been cashing in on our desire to live a greener, more sustainable life and the organic market is thought to be worth in excess of $14 billion in the USA. But looking beyond the feel-good marketing, there are an increasing amount of poignant questions that should be addressed, when it comes to the role of organic farming within long-term sustainable agriculture.

The goal behind organic farming is to mitigate the risk of using industrial chemicals and fertilisers, plus at the same time enhance soil fertility, encourage biodiversity and prevent soil erosion. If you look at a field sporting an “organic” sign, the last thing you would expect to see is a dustbowl, yet in some parts of the world, organic farming is taking its toll not only on the environment, but is impacting farmers, workers and consumers.

One of the reasons for this is the term “organic” is open to interpretation. For example many farmers use organic farming techniques, such as not using harmful pesticides, but do not practise some of the fundamental techniques, such as crop rotation. This would then suggest that the line is blurred somewhere between organic and a monoculture, the definition of the word itself meaning the tilling of the land for one particular crop. Monoculture has of course had its advantages over the years, for example having only one crop enables farmers to mechanise planting, weeding and harvesting, thus getting a greater yield. The world’s population surpassed the 7 billion mark in 2011 and the United Nations forecasts this number to be 9.6 billion in 2050. Having the capacity to produce enough food to feed the planet is therefore a genuine concern.

History has taught us some hard hitting lessons, when it comes to the detrimental effects of widespread monoculture, for example the Irish Potato Famine, the Texas Male Sterility (corn) and the Victoria Oat Blight. These examples illustrate the dangers of using a narrow gene pool within crops grown on a large scale, as it will render crops vulnerable to insects, weeds and disease. Therefore the consensus is that monoculture is not sustainable long-term, but if organic is the answer, how can we ensure we are getting it right?

Organic agriculture will of course ensure that the life of the soil is protected, and there are distinct advantages for farmers, such as certain organic plants being more resilient and lasting longer, not to mention giving a better quality of nutrients. Farming organically also needs to maintain a strict quality control process over the types of fertiliser used, as some foods that are grown to organic standards can also contain commercially manufactured pesticides, such as spinosad. Production under the organic banner does contain fewer dangerous chemicals, however a number of pesticides are still permitted. Therefore, organic farming also does take an additional investment from farmers, who already operate on slim profit margins, as organic produce is less heavily subsidised and subject to seasonal availability. It also needs greater amounts of manual labour, although the upside to this is obviously providing better employment opportunities to farm workers.

It is therefore about an education process for consumers, to encourage them to buy from local farmer’s markets and inform themselves about what is being brought into their kitchens. Better still, if consumers are genuinely interested in taking part in sustainability initiatives, why not start in your own back garden, by attempting to grow some of your own food? Of course, for people living in the UK, cultivating an all year round source of fresh avocados from your window box is not feasible, however making use of our own open space through vegetable patches and herb spirals will not only teach us to be less wasteful, but will also serve as a valuable lesson in teaching our children sustainable practises for the future.

For Ideas on Getting Started in the Garden Please Read:

Planting in Pots and Other Ways of Playing with Permaculture in the Big City

From the Bottom Up – A DIY Guide to Wicking Beds

Lessons from an Urban Back Yard Food Forest Experiment

Watch Geoff Lawton’s Introduction Video into Micro Space Urban Permaculture below to see what’s possible.

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