Organic Farming May Not Be Eco Friendly

Annie

Diamond Member
Nov 22, 2003
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I buy alot of organic foods, not keen on the idea of ingesting too many persticides, more importantly anti-biotics. Interesting though that 'technology' may be helping the environment more than the 'old ways':

http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article2283928.ece

Organic farming 'no better for the environment'
By Cahal Milmo
Published: 19 February 2007

Organic food may be no better for the environment than conventional produce and in some cases is contributing more to global warming than intensive agriculture, according to a government report.

The first comprehensive study of the environmental impact of food production found there was "insufficient evidence" to say organic produce has fewer ecological side-effects than other farming methods.

The 200-page document will reignite the debate surrounding Britain's £1.6bn organic food industry which experienced a 30 per cent growth in sales last year.

David Miliband, the Environment Secretary, drew a furious response from growers last month when he suggested organic food was a "lifestyle choice" with no conclusive evidence it was nutritionally superior.

Sir David King, the Government's chief scientist, also told The Independent he agreed that organic food was no safer than chemically-treated food.

The report for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs found "many" organic products had lower ecological impacts than conventional methods using fertilisers and pesticides. But academics at the Manchester Business School (MBS), who conducted the study, said that was counterbalanced by other organic foods - such as milk, tomatoes and chicken - which are significantly less energy efficient and can be more polluting than intensively-farmed equivalents.

Ken Green, professor of environmental management at MBS, who co-wrote the report, said: "You cannot say that all organic food is better for the environment than all food grown conventionally. If you look carefully at the amount of energy required to produce these foods you get a complicated picture. In some cases, the carbon footprint for organics is larger."

...
 
We should take a page out of Cuba's farming book, they get more kj of food energy out than they put it - here it's the opposite.
 
This article doesn't say anything other than people dispute organic methods of farming. No evidence is provided. Eat the food and you can taste the difference.

It is not upon organic farming to prove it is healthier, it is upon industrial farming to prove otherwise.

How perverse is it to think the opposite?
 
Well, one thing's for sure. Organic farming is not going to feed the world because it takes up too much land. By 2050 the world's food demand will double. We are already farming half of Earth's available land and that's with the help of fertilizers and pesticides to increase output. Biotechnology appears to be the future in farming, not traditional organic farming.
 
Well, one thing's for sure. Organic farming is not going to feed the world because it takes up too much land. By 2050 the world's food demand will double. We are already farming half of Earth's available land and that's with the help of fertilizers and pesticides to increase output. Biotechnology appears to be the future in farming, not traditional organic farming.


You're right on that..We couldn't feed the planet going about it the organic way...I worked on a farm..and they did organic growing.(veggies)

Some crops you just couldn't grow due to insects..and what have you.

Small sized gardens..(family gardens) you can easily go organic & do just as good as the guy using Miracle Grow..To feed yourselves no problem...but with the population we have now forget it.

We as a race did get by for many centuries growing organic...

Bio is the future...creating plants to withstand insects,wilt & rot...fungus...whatever you may find on a leaf.

However...the soil over times gets leeched of nutrients....That's what puts flavor into a veggie is making sure the minerals,nitro..and all the other good stuff is in the ground....

It's probaly not even legal for a farmer to spread his cow manure out onto a field..that's gona produce comercial goods.

Believe me...It's amazing what a stalk of corn..or a squash plant..or even a tomato plant takes out of the ground in a growing season....In as little as 2-3 years you notice whimpier crops not adding nutrients to the soil...

I sure do miss my veggie gardening..:(
 
You're right on that..We couldn't feed the planet going about it the organic way...I worked on a farm..and they did organic growing.(veggies)

Some crops you just couldn't grow due to insects..and what have you.

Small sized gardens..(family gardens) you can easily go organic & do just as good as the guy using Miracle Grow..To feed yourselves no problem...but with the population we have now forget it.

We as a race did get by for many centuries growing organic...

Bio is the future...creating plants to withstand insects,wilt & rot...fungus...whatever you may find on a leaf.

However...the soil over times gets leeched of nutrients....That's what puts flavor into a veggie is making sure the minerals,nitro..and all the other good stuff is in the ground....

It's probaly not even legal for a farmer to spread his cow manure out onto a field..that's gona produce comercial goods.

Believe me...It's amazing what a stalk of corn..or a squash plant..or even a tomato plant takes out of the ground in a growing season....In as little as 2-3 years you notice whimpier crops not adding nutrients to the soil...

I sure do miss my veggie gardening..:(

I buy organic veggies and fruits and meats, when they aren't prohibitively expensive. As I said earlier, it's both because of taste and with the meats, the anti-biotics. I'm phobic about the anti-biotics. I know I've ingested plenty through meats over the years, but not for illness.

The pediatrician that I went to as a baby told my mother about the 'wonder' of anti-biotics developed during WWII. He was deeply concerned though at over prescribing. He was way ahead of his time, but was involved in the trials. As a result, I only had them once as a child, when I had pneumonia. That was it.

As an adult, one winter nearly constantly, due to strep. My parents took me down to FL for 10 days after the third recurrence, that did it. I got better.

I was vigilant that my kids not take them, other than for strep and ear infections, (which probably helped save their hearing-they had a lot of ear infections). My older son had to take them for a serious sinus infection, which eventually landed him in the hospital, with IV anti-biotics, which worked. In part I think, because he hadn't built up an immunity to them.

Technology as all things, is a mixed blessing.
 
Organic farmers are taking out the woodlands to make a farm. I like making as much food as possible per square foot out of nice planet as possible. Food is good.

:cuckoo:

12 cylinders or walk
 

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