About Organic Farming

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Here we look at; why organic farming; dangerous chemicals; artificial fertilisers; a better life for animals. This is part of our series on Growing Sustainably to help stop climate change.

Organic farming is about producing food and drink without the use of dangerous chemicals or artificial fertilisers. It’s about producing food that is high-quality, full of nutrients, good for people, and good for the planet.

Why Organic?

  1. If Europe’s farmland was organic, agricultural emissions could drop by 40-50% by 2050
  2. Organic milk and meat contains around 50% more beneficial omega-3
  3. Organically produced cereals, fruit and vegetables have up to 68% more antioxidants
  4. Organic foods do not contain dangerous chemicals
  5. Plant, insect and bird life is 50% more abundant on organic farms

No Dangerous Chemicals in Organic Farming

Conventional farmers use dangerous chemicals called pesticides (to kill insects and pests), herbicides (to kill weeds), and fungicides (to kill fungal diseases).

Scientists increasingly believe there is no safe level of pesticides for humans to be exposed to @SoilAssociation

Even the tiny amount of pesticides that the government currently considers safe can be damaging to human health. There is more and more evidence showing that pesticides are more harmful when combined, called pesticide cocktails. In 2017 pesticide cocktails were found in:

  1. 87% of pears
  2. 25% of bread
  3. 64% of apples

The effect on our health of consuming food laced with these dangerous chemicals includes obesity, impaired liver function, cancerous tumours, birth defects, and other development disorders.

67% of soil tested and two-thirds of samples taken from seven river catchments contained pesticide cocktails @SoilAssociation

These dangerous chemicals have one job. To Kill. They don’t kill only the unwanted, they also kill the good. That means farmers have to rely solely on using expensive dangerous chemicals to control pests, weeds, and fungal diseases. These dangerous chemicals don’t work forever so farmers have to keep spending more money on even more dangerous chemicals, purchased from only a handful of giant chemical companies with enormous power to lobby the government. This creates a complete imbalance.

With the use of dangerous chemicals, farmers kill the beneficial insects, bacteria, and fungi that would help the farmer to have healthy crops. These dangerous chemicals are also destroying the soil that is absolutely critical for producing nutrient rich food and sustaining life on earth, more on that on our page about Regenerative Agriculture.

We must support farmers to change how they farm and to use greener approaches #FarmingForChange

Organic farming is about farming with nature, without the use of dangerous chemicals. Pollinating insects are absolutely essential to our food. Three quarters of our food crops need pollinators. Without pollinators we would not have potatoes, tomatoes, coffee, and chocolate as well as many other foods. Organic farmers create wildlife havens where beneficial insects help to control pests. It’s about creating a balance between plants, animals, and humans. A balance where insects and birds feed on pests such as aphids and slugs. One example is the beautiful ladybird; a deadly killer if you’re an aphid. Organic farmers plant trees, have beetle banks, wildflower margins, and ponds around their fields.

On #organic farms there is an average of 50% more plant, insect and bird life, and around 75% more wild bees @SoilAssociation

There is also more work that goes into crop management on an organic farm. How crops are rotated and the variety of crops that are used are another way to create diversity and resilience against diseases and weeds.

Organic farmland stores on average 3.5 tonnes extra carbon per hectare, and #organic soils are around 25% more effective at storing carbon long-term @SoilAssociation

Organic Farming Produces Better Food

Many non-organic foods are processed, preserved, or modified. Organic means that the use of additives and processing aids are heavily restricted. Organic also prohibits the use of:

  1. Hydrogenated fats
  2. Controversial artificial food colourings, sweeteners and preservatives
  3. And prevent organic fruit and vegetables from being washed in chlorine

It’s also important to consider the nutritional value of organic vs non-organic foods. They can look the same but be completely different!

  1. Organic milk and meat contains around 50% more beneficial omega-3
  2. Organically produced cereals, fruit and vegetables have up to 68% more antioxidants

Organic Farmers Never Use Artificial Fertilisers

Dangerous chemicals are not the only problem in conventional farming. It’s also a problem when artificial fertilisers are used. Nitrogen is one example. Conventional farmers spend money to add artificial nitrogen. This might seem like the right thing to do because nitrogen is an essential part of life, but, when nitrogen is used in excess, it becomes dangerous to the soil, air, rivers, and seas. In the water, nitrogen fertilisers can kill fish and other aquatic life. Just like dangerous chemicals, the use of artificial fertilisers creates an imbalance. It’s much more important to have the right environment so that nature can create the balance it needs.

Artificial nitrogen fertilisers increase the amount of nitrous oxide in the atmosphere, a greenhouse gas 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide @SoilAssociation #FarmingForChange

Organic farmers know that nitrogen is available for free, from the air. Organic farmers use living plants that improve the soil, such as clover, as well as compost.

Animals Have a Better Life on Organic Farms

We all know the terrible documentaries on industrial farming and the horrendous conditions that animals have to endure. Life is very different from that on organic farms.

Organic is one of the highest welfare standards in the UK. It covers the conditions that animals live in, the food that animals eat, and how animals are transported and slaughtered.

Organic animals live free-range, which means they have access to pasture. There are also more standards like not allowing mutilations, such as beak-trimming of poultry, and no routine use of antibiotics. What is more important on organic farms is to create hygienic conditions for the animals to live in, with the right food so animals are naturally healthy.

Livestock kept on organic farms are also an essential part of a healthy ecosystem, soil regeneration, and reducing global heating by capturing carbon. As animals graze they naturally spread their manure over the soil, which feeds plants and microorganisms and without ploughing and digging this allows the soil to capture and store carbon. This natural ecosystem also has amazing methanotrophic bacteria that digests methane produced by the animals.

Here Are Some Specifics About Animals on Organic Farms

Chickens

  1. Flocks are smaller so it’s easier to manage the health of each bird
  2. Beaks must not be trimmed
  3. Plenty of opportunities to forage, dust bath, and eat insects
  4. Live twice as long as intensively farmed chicken bred for meat

Cows

  1. On average they spend 200 days at pasture
  2. A minimum of 60% of their diet must be from foraging
  3. A lower and more sustainable milk yield that protects their health and welfare

Pigs

  1. Kept in family groups with access to fields
  2. Generally, pigs are outdoors all year round, except in severe weather
  3. Tails are never docked and they never have their teeth cut or wear painful nose rings
  4. Pigs are weaned later, at 40 days, to allow piglets to develop naturally

Sheep

  1. No routine use of antibiotics and wormers
  2. Flocks are managed to reduce disease risk
  3. Managing pastures with clean grazing systems

Fish, seaweed, mussels, oysters, and clams

  1. Fewer salmon means more space, reduced stress and risk of disease and parasites
  2. Restrictions on the number and type of treatments that can be used
  3. Higher welfare from birth to slaughter
  4. Only fed an organic, natural, and sustainable diet

Organic Farmers Never Use GM

It is a sad fact that most conventional farms feed their animals Genetically Modified (GM) foods. This GM-fed meat, egg, and dairy is currently unlabelled in supermarkets. Conventional farms may also use gene modification for short-term disease resistance, which is just a sticking plaster approach as it does not get to the root cause of a problem.

Luckily, the organic system bans all GM ingredients from being fed to livestock.

Instead of modifying genes, organic farmers work to higher welfare standards to reduce disease before it happens.

Organic Farming Is Essential for Our Future

As well as improving our health and happiness, organic farming is also an essential part of farming like nature so we stop destroying and degrading our soils.

The UN FAO calculated that we have about 60 years of harvests left @UNFAO #ClimateActionNow

Organic farming is one part of growing sustainably to give back more than we take and to improve the planet for every future generation.

Here Is What You Can Do

  • Share this with others
  • Talk to your friends and colleagues
  • Look at the food you buy
  • Start asking questions about organic foods
  • Buy food produced using organic methods
  • Try growing your own organic vegetables
  • Be inspired. We can live climate positive

Where Next?

There is so much inspiring information to give you ideas of how to Live Climate Positive, you can:

  1. Get started and Vote with your money
  2. Try the Sustainability Roadmap
  3. Use the Company Directory
  4. Read My Blog Posts
  5. Subscribe to My Free Email Newsletter
  6. Support Us

Sources Used to Create This

  1. What is organic food | Soil Association
  2. Fixing nitrogen | Soil Association
  3. Why organic | Soil Association
  4. Better for Animals | Soil Association
  5. Reducing pesticides | Soil Association
  6. The cocktail effect | Soil Association
  7. Ten Years for Agroecology in Europe | IDDRI
  8. Methanotroph | Wikipedia
  9. Endocrine disruptor | Wikipedia

Production Notes

This was produced by me, James Walters, as a personal project to help stop climate change by inspiring others to grow, eat, and live sustainably.

Any advice given is the opinion of those involved and does not constitute medical, financial, or legal advice.

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