Organic Farming Methods: An Annotated

Organic Farming Methods: An Annotated Review Synthesis The concept of organic food immediately conjures images of responsible agricultural practice, non-chemical growing procedures and a dedication to environmentally sound farming operations. However, the literature review would reveal a multitude of perspectives that demonstrate organic foods to be a debatable and nuanced subject. As many advocates as exist in research and in practice, there are equally as many critics and opponents to organic farming practices. The text by Wellson (2006) is a suitable starting point as it provides a general overview of the subject. Identifying organic food industries as a growing consumer interest, Wellson takes an essentially positive perspective on the subject, describing organic foods as offering consumers a way of controlling the content of that which they consume. This overview also demonstrates that organic farming is a substantial business today, even to the extent that it undermines some of the preconceptions which consumers hold of organic farming. Namely, many disassociate organic farming from large corporate agricultural operations, but an article by Pollan (2006) reveals that organic farming is not the independent business context it once was. Indeed, he denotes that "large-scale organic businesses, which have bought up successful small organic producers, follow the logic of industry, 'the tremendous gains in efficiency to be had when the irregularity of nature can conform to the precision and control of a machine.'" (Pollan, 123) The Pollan article reveals that organic farming is big-business and that many of its farming practices, though not chemically or mechanically intervened, may not constitute ethical treatment of animals by the perspective of many consumers. This is reinforced in the article by Raynolds (2004), which also describes organic farming from the perspective that it is an important economic enterprise with attachments to many of the same entities that drive conventional agriculture. Particularly, Raynolds identifies global trade practices as having been impacted by the cultural sway in many countries toward organic practices. As a result, Raynolds indicates, "organic certification proves central to network governance, shaping product specifications, production parameters, and enterprise participation." (Raynolds, 725) The enormity of this business is further supported by the global economic report provided by Willer et al (2008), which describes the business as robust. This report placed international sales at $38.6 billion in 2006, a rate doubled since that reported in 2000. (16) A report by Dmitri & Greene (2002) indicates that demand for organic goods in the United States consumer market drives much of this growth. Perhaps one of the primary reasons for this is the evidence which suggests that U.S. regulations on agricultural operations and imports both do not provide sufficient protection to the health of consumers. So denotes an article by Raeburn, which indicates that a pesticide called Dichlorvos has been demonstrated to negatively impact the human nervous system but is still used heavily in growing operations. By contrast, an article by Goldberg (2000) takes a distinctly negative perspective on this rising prominence, citing organic operations as both fundamentally inefficient and designed to cater to an economically elite demographic of consumers. Goldberg argues that the outlets to organic farming operations on the scale discussed by Pollan and Raynolds benefits only "an affluent, upper middle-class consumer that can afford their $3/pound tomatoes. They are major contributors to Greenpeace, which has been running the anti-genetic engineering campaign." (Goldberg, 1) This latter point also cites the political and economic implications of organic farming in contrast to those industries supported by large-scale corporate farming. Indeed, as the article published by the Mayo Clinic Staff (2008) tells, organic farming operations eschew such commercially important industries as chemical fertilizer, pesticide and livestock growth hormones in order to promote purer food products. The Mayo Clinic article provides a number of indicators to differentiate between the results of traditional and organic farming operations, particularly indicating that organic operations are more beneficial to soil and the ecological balance in their growing environment. This is underscored by the brief history of organic farming as described in the text by Paull (2006). Paull would refer to a British agriculturalist named Lord Northbourne, who would coin the term organic farming to refer to that which viewed the whole ecology of the farm as something which must be preserved. In his work with Lyons (2008), Paull would renew his endorsement of organic regulatory measures, this time in response to increased consideration of nanotechnology as a way to stimulate food growth. This is a finding which is usefully supplemented by the finding in the article by Badgley et al (2007), which found that in comparative studies to traditional methods, yields from organic agriculture were equally high. This indicates that organic methods do not damage efforts at improving world hunger even as they protect the environment. This underscores a primary impetus of organic farming operations which is denoted in the report by Shepherd et al (2003), which undertook an assessment of the environmental impacts of organic farming. The authors found that across such subjects as soil health, ecological resiliency, water contamination and food contamination, organic farming operations have proven consistently healthier. This positive perspective is also supported in the article by Bengtsson et al (2005), which addressed the interests of biodiversity. The withholding from pesticides practiced in organic operations tend to improve species richness and prevent major ecological disruption. By contrast, though the article by Hole et al (2004) does not find reason to doubt that organic operations promote greater biodiversity, it also finds that evidence is in short supply at this juncture and that conclusions cannot yet be comparatively drawn to traditional operations with any empirical reliability. A good final word on this subject is one which pointedly refutes such a claim. The article by Pimintel et al (2005), illustrates that so-called 'organic' methods have been in practice for thousands of years. Indeed, this is a useful point of resolution for the synthesis of our literature, indicating that humanity has a well-recorded history of sustainable success without the aid of machinery or chemical intervention.

Works Cited:

Badgley, C.; Moghtader, J.; Quintero, E.; Zakem, E.; Chappell, M.J.; Aviles- Vazquez, K.; Samulon, A. & Pefecto, I. (2007). Organic Agriculture and the Global Food Supply. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems, 22, 86- 108.