Friday, December 17, 2010

Organic farming




Commercial agriculture has reached the objective of producing a lot of products at a low price. We can choose between a big number of products and we can eat vegetables and fruits all year round. But in order to grow the crops faster, farmers use a lot of pesticides and chemical fertilizers many times.

There is an alternative way of cultivating the land: organic agriculture. Organic agriculture is a type of farming that consists in cultivating the land ecologically. This means taking care of the soil by  using natural fertilizers (manure), natural methods to control the plagues and respecting the natural cycle of plants. The four principles of organic agriculture are Elath, ecology, fairness and care.

As people are more and more worried about health, organic agriculture has increased considerably in the most developed countries. Here you have some maps and graphs where you can observe the evolution of organic agriculture in Europe and Spain:






Evolution of organic agriculture in Spain in the last 20 years:


More information about organic farming in the world on the following links: 

- Global Organic Farming Statistics and News:


-  International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM)


Organic farmers need a certification to start selling their products as organic. These are the labels that certify organic products in Spain and in Europe.  



The following report refutes the idea that organic agriculture can´t produce enough food to feed people. Researchers of the Universite of Michigan have shown that organic agriculture can yield up to three times more than convencional agriculture on the same plot of land:

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Organic_Farming_Can_Feed_the_World_999.html

And finally, the reasons why organic food  is more expensive than conventional food:
  



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