Why Organic Agriculture is a Good Thing

Organic agriculture is the practice of producing food without using manufactured chemicals to enhance the plants, to control weeds and pests, or to enrich the soil. Organic agriculture employs things like crop rotation, natural fertilizers derived from compost and other sources, and other methods to maximize production without manufactured chemical involvement. There are some compelling reasons to choose organic agriculture for people and for the environment.

Runoff from chemically fertilized fields pollutes rivers and streams.

Although recent laws have restricted the use of some agents found in manufactured fertilizers, phosphates can still find their way into fields. The reason for the restriction on these chemicals had little to do with agriculture and much to do with homeland security and bombs made from these fertilizers. When phosphates reach the water system, they can create a huge increase in aquatic plant life and algae. These plants can take over the water and create a deadly environment for the other aquatic life. Organic agriculture eliminates almost all of this type of pollution from runoff.

Overuse of chemical fertilizers can reduce the biotic diversity within the soil.

While fertilizers can positively affect the growth of plants, they rarely have the same effect on the animal life. The fertilizer can kill off, at least temporarily, many of the creatures that produce desirable effects on the soil. The chemicals can have detrimental effects on human skin, also.

Using chemical weed and pest control can have a negative impact on control.

When chemicals are applied for pest and weed control, they can do a reasonably good job for a while. With each year of use, the chemicals become less effective as more of the undesirable weeds and pests become resistant to them. If the same chemicals are used for several years, the number that become resistant will increase until there is no net gain from their use. This requires that each year stronger and different chemicals be applied to the same piece of real estate to get continued control.

The pest control products are toxic to humans.

Starting with "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson, the stories of human harm and death have become legion. Although many of the agents have been developed with much a shorter lifespan in the environment, human contact with the huge and concentrated quantities of these materials is a real hazard. Children and pregnant women face extreme risk around these chemicals. Most of them can be removed from edibles by simple washing. However, if that washing does not happen, ingestion by humans has led to bad consequences.

Some of these toxins concentrate as they ascend the food chain.

Since poisonous materials are frequently designed to be absorbed by the body to do their work, these agents are stored in the liver and fat of animals. Even if they were applied to the soil, a certain amount still makes up the food chain. Grass absorbs the chemical. Cows eat the grass and store the chemical in their bodies. Humans eat the cows and get the poisons into their systems. Predators and scavengers are not exempt from this problem. It has led to problems with breeding, the quality of bird eggs, and poisoned fish.