Environment plays an important role in the existence of diverse life on the earth. There are three main environmental mediums; air, water, and land. Each medium has its own value to support the diverse life existing on the earth.
Land is one of the important environmental mediums from where we acquire most of the nutritional food we eat. Globally, food is often grown using two methods: conventional or organic.
One study has shown that organic food production is preferable to conventional food production because it prevents biodiversity loss, soil erosion, and water pollution as well as provides benefits to human health and the environment.
So what is the difference between “Conventional” and “Organic” food production?
Conventional Farming:
- Synthetic or chemical fertilisers are used to grow food.
- Chemical herbicides are used to control weeds.
- Synthetic pesticides are used to control pest growth.
Organic Farming:
- Natural fertilisers (manure, compost) are used to grow food.
- Natural methods (hand weeding, mulching, and tilling) are used to control weed growth.
- Natural methods (insects, birds, traps) are used to control pest growth.
By focusing on adopting natural methods and encouraging the development of sustainable livestock and sustainable agriculture, organic production reduces greenhouse gas emissions and damages to both humans and the environment.
Sustainable and organic production provides natural, healthy, and nutritious food with abundant other benefits. Let’s find individually what is the importance and benefits of organics for the environment and humans.
Understanding the drawbacks of conventional farming is equally important for appreciating the environmental advantages of organic cultivation.
Due to the widespread usage of synthetic fertilisers and pesticides, conventional farming has been heavily criticised for contributing to biodiversity loss, soil erosion, and increased water pollution.
Benefits of Organic Production to the Environment:
- Organic production promotes environmental sustainability over the long term.
- Organic production utilizes no synthetic fertilisers and pesticides, therefore causing no water and soil pollution.
- Organic production consumes less non-renewable energy by using fewer agrochemicals (agrochemicals require high energy/fossil fuels to be produced).
- Organic production is eco-friendly and has the capacity to mitigate the adverse climate change impacts and greenhouse gas effects.
- By utilizing organic production practices (tillage, crop rotation) high amount of carbon can be stored in the soil.
- Organic producers and organic sellers both are the custodians of biodiversity at all levels (from production to market supply) and cause no harm to wildlife.
Benefits of Organic Farming to Humans:
The production of organic food is not only beneficial for the environment but also provides nutritional benefits to human health. Organic food provides many benefits to human health as they are free from synthetic fertilisers.
- All the food grown by using organic methods contains no fertilisers and pesticides, therefore no toxins accumulate in the human body.
- Numerous scientific studies reveal that organic food is rich in antioxidants and provides benefits to human health.
- Organic food products (vegetables, fruits, organic fish, and poultry) do not contain GMOs and provide high nutritional content as compared to food grown by conventional methods.
- There are fewer chances of food-borne diseases from organic food.
- Food grown by organic methods is rich in nutrients such as iron, vitamin C, phosphorous, and magnesium.
- Organic food contains no heavy metals and causes no harmful impacts on pregnant mothers and their neo-natal.
The future of healthy food production is possible only through sustainable and organic farming. By growing organic food you can provide benefits to both nature and the humans living in it.
Now is the time to replace our conventional food production method with organic production, and by doing so we can provide healthy and nutritious food to ourselves and our coming generations.