Reason # 2: Modern organic farming works better
The scientific studies done by the Farming Systems Trial at the Rodale Institute in Pennsylvania, and validated around the world by other researchers and farmers, show beyond a doubt that when done properly, modern organic farming is more productive and profitable for farmers.
• Organic production exceeds chemical yields, especially in years of drought and flood.
• Organic farming uses less fuel.
• Organic farming creates jobs by requiring more labor, but they are good, healthy jobs.
• Organic farming creates a more diverse and stable local and farm economy.
• Organic farming prevents flooding and drought damage by building healthy soil that is extremely absorbent and resilient.
• Organic animals and crops are more resistant to disease and insect problems, just as a healthy person is more resistant to disease.
Many chemical farmers have been so trained to believe that organic farming is impossible that they have stopped thinking at all. In order to break through the hardened shell around their minds, we must be willing to build relationships, share our knowledge and experience, and start at the very beginning. We must lead by example.
Because the solution is modern organic farming.
Reason #3: Modern organic farming protects our environment
Anyone who cares about the environment should be a supporter of organic food and farming. The chemicals that are excessively applied to crops (and even more so with the increasing number of GMOs) affect us and our environment in so many ways:
• Synthetic chemicals enter into our water and poison everything downstream, including us.
• Synthetic chemicals kill the living organisms in the soil that absorb and sequester carbon, leading to ever more atmospheric pollution—whether you believe that leads to climate change or not.
• Synthetic chemicals are a wasteful use of our precious resources. Using fossil fuels to make, transport, and apply them is completely unnecessary.
• Synthetic chemicals cause us to utilize land unintelligently by growing too much corn, soybeans, and meat in a thoughtless, wasteful, and poisonous manner.
Ultimately, to me it’s not about saving the polar bear or other rare species—although I believe strongly that we should—it’s about saving us. The planet will be just fine without us. But if we are going to stay here, we need to go organic.
Again, the solution is modern organic farming.
For more reasons why modern organic farming can feed the world, come back to Maria’s Farm Country Kitchen this Friday.