What are some pros and cons of organic farming?
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Question by Z <3: What are some pros and cons of organic farming?
Im trying to learn a little more on organic farming and the positives and negative of both… any help or websites is appreciated 🙂
Feel free to answer in the comment section below
9 Responses to What are some pros and cons of organic farming?
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pros-healthy
cons-expensive
2slik
October 11, 2011 at 10:38 am
Pros- Don’t need to buy from market. No pesticides.
Cons- They’ve probably sprayed some chemicals. Water. Good Soil. Fertelizers.
Jason
October 11, 2011 at 10:45 am
Organic vegetables and fruits are better for you because they aren’t grown with chemicals or pesticides but you will probably produce less of a crop since the bugs are going to get to it because pesticides weren’t applied.
Chey
October 11, 2011 at 11:41 am
Pros
organic food is expensive for a reason. people want food that isn’t covered in pesticides.
Cons
the whole world can’t be fed food from organic farms. the reason normal (not organic) food is cheaper is because it is mass produced. there are too many people in the world to feed everyone food from organic farms. it is only for the relatively wealthy people who can afford it.
Dee
October 11, 2011 at 11:44 am
pros-healthy, supports organic farmers, doesn’t hurt animals (As the food is made traditionally)
cons-expensive, harder to buy, chances are you will have kind of a large drive whenever you want to buy
Sage of Life
October 11, 2011 at 11:53 am
pros is it wont give you cancer like half the stuff in the grocery store will. the cons is the fda dosent profit off of it so they make it hard for you to get it. unless you grow it your self. so that makes it exensive. when its acually the cheaper food in the first place. but personally i have a problem with trusting food regulated by the same agency that makes a profit off of us being sick. think about that for a second and you will want to eat dirt before you go to the supermarket for food. trust me. they alredy prooven in canada that about 30% of all ingredients used in american packaged foods cause cancers of various types. so yeh eat organic foods you wont die as fast.
MrGizmo757
October 11, 2011 at 12:25 pm
If u want a proper answer – http://www.yahoo.com is a great option. It will give u a scientfic answer to your question. .
Staz
October 11, 2011 at 12:35 pm
pros- same as non-organic (use same cropping/grazing systems, and land use practices) except if you grow the right crops or animals you can make more per unit because some people thinks it’s healthier and better for the environment so they will pay more.
cons- can’t support the worlds population with organic because you need chemical fertilizers like ammonium (from haber-bosch) for example that is responsible for supporting 1/3 of the worlds population.
pollution from runoff, leaching, etc. is in some cases worse with organic. you don’t really know how much your applying with something like manure so it’s often over used and not incorporated leading to more runoff.
much lower yield
most of the crops/animals used in organic are here thanks to genetic modification. ex. you would not have corn without it.
today’s pesticides/chemicals are safe to use (some do have some small impacts that can be repaired, but this is due to bad practices which also occurs with organic methods).
you wouldn’t get the food unless it’s local and in season (without GM it would go bad)
plants take up the nutrients the same way no matter how it’s put in the soil and use the processes to produce fruit, vegetative parts, etc. animals break down materials into what their body needs and pass the rest. (i.e. it’s the same product, but it’s more expensive to produce a certain yield with organic).
you’re not eating the pesticides because they come off and don’t get used in the plant, but can in some cases be broken down in soil to something that is useful (and yes poor use of these can lead to environmental problems, but if used correctly do not), so it’s more expensive and less reliable to hope the ladybugs (for example) will work.
aldeub
October 11, 2011 at 1:12 pm
Pros: ecologically sustainable, proper treatment of animals, crop rotation, no chemical fertilizers, no chemical pesticides. It’s about philosophy. Go check out IFOAM. You get a market premium. Insentives if you are in Europe.
Cons: more labour intensive, you might have to use your brain when you farm, difficult with the prevalence of GM corn and soy therefore you cannot get these. No government funding in Canada or the United States.
To the people that suggest organic farming can’t feed the world, the problem is most of the world’s people are poor and cannot afford to buy food.
keiths_81ca
October 11, 2011 at 2:02 pm