Organic farming is the type of farming that doesn’t involve the use of chemicals like herbicides, pesticides. The products from here are purely natural and not under the influence of artificial means like hormones, drugs, chemicals, or Genetically Modified Organisms. Treatment, fertilization of plants is done using natural substitutes. The same goes for animals which are also raised chemical-free and are fed only organic food substitutes. Crop production also involves crop rotation, use of cover crops, and integrated pest and weed management. Resistant good breed animal varieties are used to produce high-quality animals and combat pests, diseases, and other hardships.
Organic farming tackles the increasing environmental concerns (pollution, climate change), chemical usage in agriculture, and health issues like cancer associated with most agricultural products nowadays.
There are farms that sell organic products in supermarkets and these have labels/ seals that tag them as organic. However, to do so, a farmer/company has to get certified by certain bodies and their products will be “organically certified”. Products labeled as “100% organic” must contain overall natural nutrients excluding water and salt. Products labeled just “organic” must contain at least 95 percent organically produced ingredients excluding salt and water. In the USA for example, certification is done by the USDA and the NOP.
ADVANTAGES OF ORGANIC FARMING
Advantages of organic farming.
1. Ecological and conservation benefits; prevents soil degradation, erosion, and contamination decreases pollution, optimizes biological productivity, biodiversity protection, and environmental protection.
2. Development of resistant crop and animal varieties as they’d be exposed to natural hardy conditions which will make them adapt and become better. Such varieties can resist drought, pests, diseases, and vectors.
3. Health benefits; organic products are chemical-free implying no incidences of diseases like cancer or poisoning.
4. High-quality products. Organic products taste better and are more nutrient-rich compared to their chemically and artificially produced counterparts.
5. High market and demand for organic products makes their production a lucrative venture. With increasing health awareness, most people nowadays are resorting to buying such products. Doing business in such an area is thus something everyone would need to look into.
6. costs of starting and operating an organic farm make it a profitable niche. Additional costs of chemical fertilization and any artificial inputs are cut off thus reducing production costs.
7. Workers on organic farms enjoy a clean and contamination-free environment as the necessity of wearing protective gear like masks and gloves to avoid exposure to harmful herbicides and pesticides is avoided.
8. Organic farming pest control measures like crop rotation, use of organic pesticides, use of resistant varieties, and predator-prey pest control methods help to naturally kill off pests and parasites on farms and prevent incidences like pest and vector resurgence that arise as a result of continued usage of chemical control on farms. The result is that the pests and vectors multiply instead much stronger and more resilient than before.
9. Soil protection. Crop rotation and the use of organic manure to fertilize the soil result in improved soil fertility without harming the soil and its fauna by using harmful chemical substitutes. The use of cover crops helps to prevent soil erosion and fix nitrogen into the soil by leguminous cover crops.
10. Organic farming minimizes wastage and facilitates integrated agriculture. outputs from one system of the farm can be used in another unit for example organic manure from the animals can be used to fertilize crops.
Bottom line.
Organic farming is a very important aspect to invigorate in farming systems we have today to do away with harmful chemicals and get food in its natural form. Besides health and environmental benefits, organic agriculture has numerous other advantages soeveryoe should practice it on their farms, gardens and lives.