What is Organic Agriculture

What is Organic Agriculture

By Dr. Kyle Muller

More and more frequently, you hear about organic farming and its health benefits and for the planet. In fact, little by little it is more common to find in markets and supermarkets products such as fruits, vegetables and legumes of organic or ecological production. It is a sector that has slowly been introduced to the sphere of food and that, according to what everything seems to indicate, will increase its production in the coming years due to the greater demand of this type of products by consumers against conventional agriculture. However, you know What is Organic Agriculture And what is the difference from the rest of the cultivation processes? If you want to discover it, keep reading ecology and we tell you.

What is Organic Agriculture

Organic agriculture, also called as biological agriculture or simply Organic Agricultureis a type of agriculture that is characterized by Do not use any artificial element in your processes. That is, the use of synthetic chemicals (produced in a laboratory artificially by human being) is avoided in all the elements of their products, both in relation to pesticides and in fertilizers. Likewise, organic agriculture is also characterized by Use only natural seeds. That is, seeds that have not been genetically modified in the laboratory. In this way, it is an agriculture that develops in the same way that traditional agricultures did and in a completely natural way.

To see an example of the type of fertilizer used in this agriculture, in the following article we explain how to make homemade organic fertilizer.

What is Organic Agriculture - What is Organic Agriculture

What advantages does organic agriculture have

Organic agriculture has various advantages over conventional agriculture. On the one hand, being an agriculture that dispenses with both the use of synthetic chemicals and genetically modified seeds, it is a lot more environmentally respectful. This can be seen in two fundamental aspects. On the one hand, not using synthetic chemicals, soil and ecosystem contamination is avoided. When using synthetic chemicals in the form of pesticides, the entire ecosystem where they are used is damaged.

In fact, one of the main problems that have this type of synthetic pesticides is that they end both with bad insects for crops and good, for example, pollinating insects such as bees. On the other hand, when dispensing with the use of genetically modified seeds, The environment and ecosystem are not put at risk By introducing species that, even ignoring its long -term effects, are completely alien to the native biodiversity of the region where the crops are located.

Likewise, beyond the advantages of organic agriculture for the environment, it is also possible to mention the Advantages for human health. Being natural products, they do not contain the aforementioned synthetic chemicals. These products are harmful to human health. In fact, although they are used in small doses, considered “safe” by official organisms, that does not mean that they are innocuous substances to the human organism. An example of how these substances affect when they are ingested is found in the damage they can produce in the intestine microbiota, especially sensitive to this type of substances such as pesticides or synthetic fertilizers.

What is Organic Agriculture - What advantages organic agriculture has

Organic Agriculture: Disadvantages

However, although organic agriculture has a series of fundamental advantages for the environment and health, it must also be recognized that it implies a series of inconveniences that partially limit its popularization and that it is a type of food that can reach all layers of the population.

On the one hand, it must be taken into account that organic agriculture, when dispensing with synthetic chemicals, generates much smaller crops that those that conventional agriculture can offer. By dispensing with synthetic products such as pesticides or fertilizers, these have to be replaced with pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. These types of products are effective, however, they are usually more expensive compared to synthetic.

Consequently, this also implies that Organic agriculture products prices are higher to those of conventional agriculture, since it is a cultivation process that requires much more work and that also produces a more limited amount of the product in question. In this way, it is a type of agriculture that, on many occasions, ends up being consumed only by the most wealthy sectors of the population, since there is a cost difference with the products of conventional agriculture that ends up producing the rejection of people with less economic resources at the time of purchase.

If you want to read more articles similar to What is Organic Agriculturewe recommend that you enter our category of organic products.

Kyle Muller
About the author
Dr. Kyle Muller
Dr. Kyle Mueller is a Research Analyst at the Harris County Juvenile Probation Department in Houston, Texas. He earned his Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from Texas State University in 2019, where his dissertation was supervised by Dr. Scott Bowman. Dr. Mueller's research focuses on juvenile justice policies and evidence-based interventions aimed at reducing recidivism among youth offenders. His work has been instrumental in shaping data-driven strategies within the juvenile justice system, emphasizing rehabilitation and community engagement.
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