Organic Farming: Can It Feed Us (Part 1)
VVH-TV News Special
Organic Farming: Can It Feed Us? Part 1
Karl Grossman Chief Investigative Reporter examines Organic Farming on Eastern Long Island.
What is organic farming?
Organic farming can be defined as an approach to agriculture where the aim is to create integrated, humane, environmentally and economically sustainable agricultural production systems. Maximum reliance is placed on locally or farm-derived renewable resources and the management of self-regulating ecological and biological processes and interactions in order to provide acceptable levels of crop, livestock and human nutrition, protection from pests and diseases, and an appropriate return to the human and other resources employed. Reliance on external inputs, whether chemical or organic, is reduced as far as possible. In many European countries, organic agriculture is known as ecological agriculture, reflecting this reliance on ecosystem management rather than external inputs.
The objective of sustainability lies at the heart of organic farming and is one of the major factors determining the acceptability or otherwise of specific production practices. The term 'sustainable' is used in its widest sense, to encompass not just conservation of non-renewable resources (soil, energy, minerals) but also issues of environmental, economic and social sustainability. The term 'organic' is best thought of as referring to the concept of the farm as an organism, in which all the component parts - the soil minerals, organic matter, micro-organisms, insects, plants, animals and humans - interact to create a coherent and stable whole.
The key characteristics of organic farming include:
protecting the long term fertility of soils by maintaining organic matter levels, encouraging soil biological activity, and careful mechanical intervention;
providing crop nutrients indirectly using relatively insoluble nutrient sources which are made available to the plant by the action of soil micro-organisms;
nitrogen self-sufficiency through the use of legumes and biological nitrogen fixation, as well as effective recycling of organic materials including crop residues and livestock manures;
weed, disease and pest control relying primarily on crop rotations, natural predators, diversity, organic manuring, resistant varieties and limited (preferably minimal) thermal, biological and chemical intervention;
the extensive management of livestock, paying full regard to their evolutionary adaptations, behavioural needs and animal welfare issues with respect to nutrition, housing, health, breeding and rearing;
careful attention to the impact of the farming system on the wider environment and the conservation of wildlife and natural habitats.
(c) WVVH-TV 2007 all rights reserved
Channel: News & Politics
Uploaded: November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am
Author: VVHTV
Length: 35:13
Rating: 4.76
Views: 30979
Tags: Cancer Care Farming Food Fruits Hamptons Health Organic Vegetables Vitamins VVH-TV
Video Comments
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civilcasualty (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)
most of the people interested in organic farming, and 100% of my (completely full) organic farming class are under the age of 21.
organic farming is not about resisting technology, or old ways of thinking.
it's rising in popularity, and it's about thinking ahead, and "new age" thinking.
these people clearly stated some (but not even all) of the benefits of organic farming!
(anyone who is interested, check of WWOOF)
wolfgang2588 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)
dude you are so wrong...u really think your food came of a capsule or something? go to the FAO website and take a look of how many thousand of miles have been poluted thanks to the chemichals they trow in, there is now choice, the earth will go organic with or without you...the world dont need people like u anyways..10 more years dude...and u will remember this post.
marineninga (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)
yeah but you can't have an education system that excludes farmers kids because they don't want to, i still support australian farmers!
Yosh0 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)
Even the water you drink running through your house is soiled with fluorine to prevent your teeth from decaying. Organic farming is just the reminisce of the old country, people who don't know how to do anything but farm and are lost in the age of technology. All we gotta do is wait a couple generations till they all die out...then no one will care about organic farming....they won't even know what it is. hahah.
maynardhs79 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)
Why don't you start with yourself?
harryrarmer (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)
If people will not drink synthetic pesticdes from a barrel why will they eat food sprayed with it ?
typeclash (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)
m2, she rocks btw
SirHayler (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)
his voice sounds like jerry springer? lol
Nick2565 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)
actually, scientists have done studies and they believe that the earth can support about 3 billion humans if we each person consumes the same amount of food/energy as they are right now.
thrivesurvive (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)
Brilliant, very informative video. Thank you so very much for making and posting it! |
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