Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Is organic agriculture the answer to the sustainability problem?
To ensure that organic agriculture is the answer to the sustainability problem, it has to be
adapted to the local farming, social, geographical and climatic factors. The European form of
organic agriculture, especially its current market-driven style, is not necessarily the most
appropriate system for other countries. The principles of organic agriculture are guides to
tailor organic practices to each individual farming location. For example, there will always be
locations where certain crops cannot be grown sustainably or economically using the current
range of organic methods. As more becomes known about the environmental, social and
economic performance of organic agriculture in a growing range of settings (OECD 2003),
rational decisions can be made about the prospects and limitations of organic agriculture and
general requirements for success can be identified.
It could be expected that settings similar to that found in Europe where organic agricul-
ture was originally developed would be the most suitable. However, low-input systems in
remote locations with marginal environments (e.g. rangeland grazing) have also been found
to be well suited to organic agriculture. In New Zealand and particularly Australia, the
farming conditions faced by the early proto-organic growers were very different from those
encountered in Europe. In Australia the unreliable and sparse rainfall, ancient depleted
soils, widely dispersed production bases and very small consumption bases present serious
challenges for agriculture, both organic and conventional. Some adaptation and experimen-
tation was going to be necessary. In parts of south-eastern Australia broadacre, organic
cropping depletes phosphorus from the soil because the allowable organic fertilisers are
inadequate. In contrast, further north in the rangelands of western Queensland, running
beef cattle organically is straightforward and the farms appear to be no less sustainable than
before conversion. Clearly, the sustainability question must be addressed in terms of partic-
ular farm types.
In many countries, organic agriculture has affected most areas of agriculture and food
production, often starting in niche markets such as 'direct to customer' or on-farm process-
ing. It has been adapted to local conditions, both social and agronomic, to produce viable sus-
tainable farming strategies. This has resulted in a multitude of sustainable and profitable
organic enterprises emerging around the world (Stokstad 2002, Thompson 2002) showing
that organic agriculture can have a central role in ensuring that agriculture becomes fully
sustainable.
Organic agriculture is just a small part of the agribusiness world, which itself is just a small
part of the wider global socioeconomic system and its dominant cultural values. Consequently,
the capacity of organic agriculture to inf luence, for example, international trade, labour rela-
tions and agrichemical policy is limited. An example of this lack of power is in the US National
Organic Program (NOP) deliberations, in which representatives from the organic movement
were secondary to government agencies (Merrigan 2003). Although the movement may inter-
nally aim for certain ideals, its development is inevitably shaped by global markets and politics.
Stepping back from looking at the organic movement's success, it is apparent that despite the
enormous growth since the 1990s, organic agriculture still only makes up a tiny proportion of
all commercial agricultural production (Norse and Tschirley 2003).
This introductory chapter presents an overview of the history and development of the
organic movement from its roots in early 1900s Europe to its current position as a high-profile,
thriving niche sector in global agriculture. The chapter describes some of the key people and
trends which shaped modern organic agriculture and reports on the status of organic agricul-
ture around the world in specific countries. In order to understand the aims and practices of
organic agriculture, the evolution of the core principles are also discussed. Finally, some of the
challenges for organic agriculture are identified.
