Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Organic agriculture is also a highly ethical form of agricultural production, with clear
concerns for animal and human welfare, such as ensuring that farmers get a fair return for
their work and are not exploited by consumers. There is also a strong undercurrent of social
justice, which forms a continuum back to the earliest organic proponents, and which is also
equally strong in the 'green' movements across the globe. There is a view of agriculture being
different and more fundamental from other 'industries' and there is a need for people to recon-
nect with agriculture. Such reconnection is considered an important step in addressing many
of the social ills perceived by the organic movement.
These principles of organic agriculture are in contrast with industrial farming and the
'reductionist' approach that underlies it, where each crop can be grown in isolation and individ-
ual issues such as nutrition, pests and diseases are all addressed individually rather than part of
a system. Industrial farming also exhibits a split between people and nature, with a confronta-
tional attitude, as demonstrated by the militaristic trade names of many pesticides and herbi-
cides, such as Invade, Ambush and Warrior! Farming is also viewed as just another means of
production, which should not be afforded any more rights or limited by more obligations than
other production sectors, and is not considered a fundamental part of a society (Reeve 1992).
Organic agriculture and the philosophy on which is it founded are fundamentally different
from industrial agriculture and the philosophy that underlies it. This difference between them
has been obscured since the 1990s by the rapid emergence of market-driven organic agricul-
ture. To fully understand the organic movement it is essential to understand its worldview and
underlying principles, which includes often radically different philosophies from that of main-
stream society.
Challenges for organic agriculture
While organic agriculture aims to be environmentally sustainable, it has not yet reached its
goals and there are issues that still need to be addressed. Many of these issues are reviewed in
detail in other chapters of this topic, including several key topics that were selected for particu-
lar analysis, such as the impact of tillage in organic agriculture and the industrialisation of
organic production systems.
A common question asked of the organic movement relates to its yields (e.g. Trewavas
2004): can organic agriculture feed the world? Like questions about sustainability, productiv-
ity also depends on many factors including the farmer's background, the farm's resourceful-
ness and local and national support mechanisms. The appropriate answer may be: does
conventional agriculture successfully feed the world now? High input-high yielding systems
are currently failing to feed the world, not because of problems with productivity, but because
of problems with food distribution and social organisation, and serious concerns such poverty,
racism and gender imbalance (Woodward 1996).
Comparisons of organic and conventional farming have been a common feature of the
organic literature since the 1980s. The researchers have looked at a wide range of measures
including yield, economics, resource use efficiency, environmental impacts and social factors
on a diverse range of farm types such as dairies, orchards and mixed cropping farms. Some
important examples of comparative research have been published in prestigious journals, pro-
viding valuable credibility for claims that organic agriculture is productive
and
sustainable
(Reganold
et al.
1993, Drinkwater
et al.
1998, Mäder
et al.
2002). Additionally, numerous other
studies have been published in academic journals of various disciplines (e.g. Murata and Goh
1997, Letourneau and Goldstein 2001). Some key findings from research that has examined
yields suggest trends including (Wynen 1994, Stonehouse
et al.
2001, Mendoza 2002):
