Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
for them if they pursue organic farming in a more systematic manner;
production output is instead likely to increase, after farmers receive for-
mal training on organic methods, and after farmers apply greater and
more targeted organic inputs to their fields.12
Furthermore, studies of organic farms in countries like the United
States have actually documented similar or increased yields from organ-
ically farmed fields over time, which has brought in substantive revenue
for farmers.13 Phasing out chemical-
intensive industrial agriculture in
favor of organic production could therefore benefit producers econom-
ically. Critics have argued, however, that the increased supply of organic
products could erode the price premiums organic farmers now receive,
threatening the growth potential of organic agriculture.14 This may turn
out to be the case. Yet, as I have shown, producers receive myriad other
benefits from organic production—more self-suiciency in input making,
increased opportunities for directly negotiating relationships with buy-
ers and consumers, the potential to revitalize soils (and possibly increase
yields), as well as improved human and environmental health. These fac-
tors provide important economic flexibility for farmers and their families.
Undeniably, given the multitude of factors that play a role in our ag-
ricultural production, from soil type to climate, we can't predict exactly
how each farm will take to organic farming.15 A strong argument can be
made that no general conclusions about the scaling-up of organic farming
can or should be drawn for the entire food system, based on one plot in
a particular locale. However, it can definitively be said that agriculture's
reliance on artificial inputs is tenuous, shortsighted, and both ecologically
and socially destructive.16
As for the third and last claim, that organic farming is geting to look a
lot like industrial agriculture—I hope my portrait of Kerala's unfolding
transition has shown the limits of this argument. Several scholars have
argued that organic agriculture does not transform the economic system
but instead represents another frontier in the commodification of nature,
leading to ecological destruction.
Evidence from Kerala complicates this simplistic analysis of social
change. Neither nature nor our economic system are static and mono-
lithic. As contemporary ecological thinking posits, change is the norm,
