Intensive_or_Organic_Farming_

Which is the best type of farming, organic or intensive' Introduction Organic farming is ‘farming without the use of synthetic fertilizers (such as nitrates and phosphates) or pesticides (herbicides, insecticides and fungicides) or other agrochemicals (such as hormones, growth stimulants, or fruit regulators)’[1]. Intensive farming or intensive agriculture as it is called is a “farming system where large quantities of inputs, such as labour or fertilizers, are involved over a small area of land. Market gardening is an example. Yields are often much higher than those obtained from extensive agriculture”[2]. I am writing this essay as part of my GCSE Chemistry coursework. Positive and Negative Issues of Intensive and Organic Farming Intensive farming has many positive issues and reasons why you may think that it is the best way of farming. However organic farming also has many good reasons why some think that organic farming is the best. Some positive issues for one type of farming may be the negative issue in the other. Nutrition The nutritional content of organic food is very good. In a study comparing organic crops with conventional crops, Dr. Virginia Worthington said ‘organic crops had a higher nutrient content about 40% of the time and overall organic crops had an equal or higher nutrient content about 85% of the time.’ [3] She had collected results from 30 studies that were looking at this. This means that in intensive farming products that about 15% of the time they had a higher nutrient content to organic farming. However organic farming had a high nutrient content about 40% of the time meaning that in general organic farming has a better nutrient content. The biggest percentage though of the results was that 45% of the time organic farming products have the same nutrient content as intensive farming. Organic crops may not just be more nutritional. A 4-year EU study on the benefits of organic food says that ‘some of them, such as fruit, vegetables and milk, are more nutritious than non-organically produced food and may contain higher concentrations of cancer fighting and heart beneficial antioxidants.’[4]. This is meaning that if you eat organic food there is less of a chance of you getting/ if got, to fight it better, cancer. Also organic food is better for the heart and it backs up my earlier point of organic food being more nutritious. Animal Welfare Animal welfare can be quite bad on some intensive farms. Although more and more farms understand that cramming as many chickens as physically possible into one barn is bad, farms still do it. The life that the chickens have can affect our, the consumer’s, health. As the birds are so close together if one gets a disease they all get the disease. For example bird flu. There was a massive outbreak of it and it spread quickly because of inhumane conditions. The quality of the birds eggs can be damaged and people feel strongly about animal welfare with protests and campaigns. Conditions are getting better though, especially in the UK with a lot more free range eggs and companies which make products with eggs advertise the fact that they use free range eggs. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and his ‘Chicken Out’ campaign really made a change in the choice of eggs and chicken in our supermarkets today.[5] [6] [7] The image on the left shows how chickens live on organic farms. They have lots of space, plenty of food and a good quality of life. The image on the right shows how much space the chickens get to live in. Although this means that this means less food for the farmer to buy the quality of life for the chickens is terrible. Many people know that one of the aims of organic farming is to give to animals a good life. Some farmers believe that this gives a better taste whereas some are just concerned about the welfare of the animals. Some of the rules which are organic farmers stand by are: to give their animals lots of outdoor space and fresh air, to encourage normal animal behavior, no genetically modified feed or growth hormones and minimized stress in transport and slaughter.[8]. Farming by these rules gives the animals a stress-free life as though they were living in the wild. Also organic farms try to build up an immunity to diseases which may harm the animals. However if there is a disease risk on the farm or neighbouring farms and it cannot be stopped by anyway then the farmers will use a vaccine. Yields One of the main advantages of intensive farming is that its yield is very high. This means that intensive farmers manage to grow a lot of crops in a small area of land. This is good for mass production as the population of the world is growing so more people need to be fed and the world isn’t expanding. As they can grow more in a smaller area this also means that the prices of crops which retailers(supermarkets, etc) buy is cheaper as it costs less to look after more land. These prices are also passed on to us, the consumer which is why many people choose to buy intensively farmed products instead of more expensive organic food. Intensive farming is cheap. Because more animals can be crammed into a smaller place and because more crops can be grown in a smaller place then there is less ground to cover with fertilizer, pesticide and herbicide among other things. Also the animals move less because they are in a confined space which means that they use less energy which means that they need less food. [9] On organic farms it is much different. As food is more spread out there needs to be a lot more land to get the same amount of harvest as an intensive farm. The yield is less and to keep the soil fertilized organic farmers rotate their produce having to grow for three years, grass or clover. A consequence of field rotating is that no crops are being grown that year meaning organic farmers produce less food. Also as they grow grass or clover some of these costs are passed onto the consumer. When you’re in a supermarket and you see the organic option it is normally one pound plus more expensive. This puts off many people when if you did you whole weekly shop but with organic food, it could cost a couple of hundred more. People can’t afford that, especially in these economic times. Appearance Another advantage of intensive farming is that the produce always looks as people would recognize it or what people think it should look like. However organically produced food looks like you grew it yourself and it is a bit ‘rough and ready’. This is because on intensive farms the chemicals(in the fertilizers, pesticides, etc) makes sure that the produce is correct because the farmer knows how much fertilizer produces the best results. Also in the factory where the fruit and vegetables is washed and processed there is a machine which will decide whether it is good enough(looks right) to go on to the supermarkets which is why you rarely see a funny looking vegetable in the supermarket. They do this because people think that there is something wrong with the funny looking vegetable and wouldn’t buy when in fact there is nothing wrong with it. Definitions of products used in farming: There are three main products used on crops to protect them and make sure that they grow to their best. They are used on both organic and intensive farms but in different ways. These are pesticides, fertilizers and herbicides. Intensive farmers spray their fields with these products by a tractor/combine harvester or a crop duster which is a plane which sprays out the products. [10] This image shows a farmer spraying his crops with fertilizer. This is how they fertilize all their crops in only a couple of days. The crops are packed in tightly which is why intensive farms have a higher yield. Pesticides Pesticides are ‘agents used to destroy pests’[11]. This means that it is something which kills pests(something which may harm the crop and so it couldn’t be sold). On intensive farms they are sprayed onto the crop and are usually chemicals which could be harmful to the environment or organisms(animals and humans). Organic farmers do not use chemicals but look for natural ways to get rid of pests. Crop rotation is used to break up the pests life cycles and natural predators(for example, lady birds) kill the pests. It is also important that there is healthy soil, as healthy soil means healthy crops which aren’t bothered by pests. Some organic farmers do use manufactured pesticides but these come from seed oils. There are many types of pesticides, depending on the pest, some include: herbicide, insecticide and fungicide. Without pesticides pests would kill crops or give them a disease which means that the farmer wouldn't be able to sell his crop and they would have to be burnt to destroy the disease. Herbicides A herbicide is ‘a substance or preparation for killing plants, especially weeds’[12]. They kill weeds to allow the crops to grow. The weeds are absorbing light, nutrients/minerals and water which could be used to make the crops grow more and to get healthier crops. Intensive farmers use different chemicals to kill different plants. This is so the chemical only kills the unwanted plants and doesn’t kill the crop itself. Some organic herbicides are: spices, vinegar, steam, fire/flames and citrus oil. These are all natural. Fertilizers Fertilizers are ‘ substances which are used to fertilize the soil, especially a commercial or chemical manure.’[13]. This means that they fertilize the soil with nutrients which plants need. The three nutrients in fertilizers are nitrates, potassium and phosphorus. Fertilizers are one of the big differences between organic and intensive farming. Organic farmers use manure, slurry, seaweed and others. If an organic farmer was fertilizing their fields then there may be complaints because of the smell by some people but locals get used to it. Also there needs to be more of the organic fertilizer as it has less nutrients than synthetic fertilizers. This cost is passed onto the consumer. Intensive farmers spray on the fertilizers and may use different fertilizer to best suit which crop they are fertilizing. Potassium is in fertilizer because plants need it to photosynthesize, it is needed in the movement of sugars around the plant(starch) and is essential in roots. As well as this it is used in water control. Phosphorus is in the amino acid process, fights off disease, used in cell devision and needed in the flowering and seed producing process. Photosynthesis happens as the plant needs food so it makes its own. Chlorophyll is a key component in this as it absorbs light to make energy. Nitrogen is a key component in chlorophyll so it is critical for plants to have nitrogen. Plants cannot get nitrogen from the air, even though there is enough of it, so it has to be absorbed from the soil. Also nitrates are used to produce amino acids within the plant. The Nitrogen Cycle The nitrates in fertilizers are part of a much bigger cycle. They are a form of nitrogen and are in the nitrogen cycle. The nitrogen cycle is how nitrogen travels from place to another as it cannot be created or destroyed, only changed. Farmers need to be aware about eutrophication and the effects of it. They can see where eutrophication might happen from the nitrogen cycle. This allows them to stop it.  [14] This image describes the nitrogen cycle showing where nitrogen travels. You can also see where elements are added/taken away because of the differences in the chemical symbols. If any nitrogen from the soil(usually in the form of nitrates) runs off the surface or leaches under the soil into a water supply, this is called eutrophication. You can see this in the diagram. When the fertilizer runs off the ground or leaches under the soil and goes in water supplies(rivers, streams, lakes, etc) then the nitrates in the fertilizer can cause an increase in nitrogen in the water. This is bad. Because of the increase of nitrogen, algae reproduce rapidly and form algal blooms. There is now a lot of algae and they absorb all the oxygen in the water, leaving other marine animals to die of a lack of oxygen. You would think that as there are plants of the riverbed more oxygen can be produced through photosynthesis but because the algae cover the top of the surface no sunlight can get through. Algae blooms are that green covering which can be seen sometimes on stagnant rivers or lakes. The Environment Organic and Intensive faming both have an effect on the environment. Is will start off with why intensive farming can be good for the environment. Steven Davis and colleagues of the Carnegie Institution of Washington calculated how much greenhouse gases would have been emitted if the world did not intensively farm. Their results were that 600 billion tonnes of CO2 has been kept out of the atmosphere because of intensive farming which is a third of all human greenhouse gas emissions between 1850 and 2005. There are two reasons why so much CO2 has been kept out of the atmosphere. The first is, as i mentioned earlier, that there are lots of crops growing so more plants are absorbing CO2 through a process called photosynthesis. The plants need to be growing at their best to absorb the most CO2 which means that fertilizer and pesticides are can be good to use in an environmental way on the crops. The world’s population is always growing and so more crops need to be grown to feed the ever growing populations of countries. This is the second reason as more land needs to be used to grow plants because intensive farming has such a high yield there is less need to chop down trees to clear space. the trees use the photosynthesis process to absorb CO2, so more is taken out of the atmosphere.[15]. Organic farming would not do well here as it has a lower yield meaning more space is needed to grow the same amount of crops which means that it has a bad carbon footprint. In organic farming there is still the transport fuel and electricity which comes from fossil fuels mostly which is bad for the environment. On the other hand intensive farming uses pesticides and fertilizers which are made from crude oil. Crude oil(Petroleum) is a fossil fuel and as everyone knows these are bad for the environment. When they are manufactured a lot of CO2 produced which has an effect on global warming. The environment seems to be a big part of organic farming with farmers looking for more natural solutions and ways which will be better for the world but there is still an impact. There is an impact from the fact that organic animals produce more CO2 as they live longer. Also if the organic produce is being taken to supermarkets then there is pollution from the transport. Also there are more environmental downsides. ‘Organic tomatoes grown in heated greenhouses in Britain generate one hundred times the amount of CO2 per kilogram produced by tomatoes in unheated greenhouses in southern Spain.’[16] This comes from a news report titled ‘Organic Farming, no better for the environment’ and this seems to be the case. As well as tomatoes there are examples for milk and chickens which need more land and energy, which isn’t good for the environment. The animals also live a longer life so more CO2 is produced. However organic farming also benefits the environment. It is sustainable over a long time, there is no water pollution as there are only natural fertilizers. Also it benefits the soil by ‘soil building practices such as crop rotations, inter-cropping, symbiotic associations, cover crops, organic fertilizers and minimum tillage are central to organic practices.’[17]. This means that the soil is always fertile without need for synthetic fertilizers which aren’t environmentally friendly. Global Warming Global warming is an increase of the earth’s average temperature. The build up of CO2 has created a blanket which is warming the earth. Scientists have noticed the earth warming for some time and have begun to see the effects of it. Ice caps are melting, droughts are happening and there has been a more violent change in weather. Some farming can be good for global warming(see above) but it can also be bad. The U.S food system has contributed nearly 20 percent of the countries CO2 emissions. Also all the pesticides, fertilizers, fuel, oil, electricity, equipment, etc makes the carbon footprint even bigger. As well as the source products of these items there is all the electricity and fuel(shipping) which is need in the manufacturing process. Conclusion Organic and intensive farming both have their good and bad points. There are farms which exist which are a mixture of intensive and organic farms. These are the future. Intensive farming is needed because the worlds population is growing continuously and people need to be fed. Saying this global warming needs to be a factor which is why intensive farming is also good because more food can be grown in one place. I think this for the crops which the intensive farmers grow. For the animals I think that they should be given space and a good quality of life in the outdoors. This is why organic farming is good. In my essay I mentioned yields. This is where intensive farming comes in as the higher yield is very important as to get as much food from one place as I said earlier on. Also my points can be backed up from the pictures of chickens (above) which show that animals deserve a better life than that of one which they get in an intensive farm. Some people may disagree with me because they might just care about the price of the food which they are paying for so they will go with intensive farming. Others may believe that organic farming is the way to go because they don’t like to see the use of synthetic fertilizers being used. However if those people looked at the bigger picture then they would see that these farms that are inbetween organic and intensive have to be the farms of the future otherwise the world could end quicker than you think as well as many other problems. Bibliography [1] The Hutchinson Encyclopedia(2000), Helicon Publishing, Sheffield. I think that this is a reliable source because it has been a trusted encyclopedia for over 60 years and have no relationship with farming. [2] The Hutchinson Encyclopedia(2000), Helicon Publishing, Sheffield. I think that this is a reliable source because it is a trusted encyclopedia and has no relation to farming. [3] http://www.mindfully.org/Food/Organic-More-Nutritious-WorthingtonNov01.htm, (1999), America. I think this is a reliable source because it comes from an article comparing organic farming to intensive. Date obtained: 19th March, 2011. [4] http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/86972.php(2007), MediLexicon International Limited, America.. I think that this source is reliable because it is written in a non-biased way and is a news website which has no connections to farming. Date obtained: 19th March, 2011. [5]http://ezinearticles.com/'The-Disadvantages-of-Intensive-Farming&id=635659, 2011. This is a reliable source because the website is factual and has many topics without an opinion to farming. Date obtained: 19th March, 2011. [6]http://www.farmtrails.org.uk/low_sizergh/chickens.html. I think that this is reliable because there are other pictures of the organic farm. Date obtained: 19th March, 2011. [7]http://www.jehohanan.org/images/poultry-farming.jpg, 2009. This is a reliable source because there are other pictures showing the same bad welfare. Date obtained: 19th March, 2011.[8]http://www.soilassociation.org/Whyorganic/Welfareandwildlife/Animalwelfare/tabid/381/Default.aspx. Although this source is bias I have taken the facts, not the opinions from the information. Date obtained: 19th March, 2011. [9] http://www.infoaboutagriculture.co.uk/Intensive_Agriculture_/, 2009. I think that this is a reliable source because it covers all aspects of agriculture and doesn’t seem to have an opinion. Date obtained: 19th March, 2011. [10] http://www.futura-sciences.com/uploads/tx_oxcsfutura/images2/agriculture_intensive.jpg, 2009. This is a reliable source because the picture is what happens on farms. Date obtained: 19th March, 2011. [11]http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pesticide, 2007. I think this source is reliable because dictionary.com is well known and trusted. Date obtained: 19th March, 2011. [12]http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/herbicide,2011. I think that this is a reliable source because dictionary.com has no connection to farming. Date obtained: 19th March, 2011. [13]http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fertilizer. 2011. I think that this is a reliable source because it is a well known site with factual content. Date obtained: 19th March, 2011. [14]http://sbi.oregonstate.edu/about/cycles/index.php. I think that this is a reliable source because it provides all the information needed. Date obtained: 19th March, 2011. [15]http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19042-intensive-farming-massively-slowed-global-warming.html, June 14th 2010. I think that this is a reliable source because ‘New Scientist’ is a well known and factual magazine/website. Date obtained: 19th March 2011. [16] http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/organic-farming-no-better-for-the-environment-436949.html, (2007), Cahal Milmo. I think that this is a reliable source because ‘The Independent’ is a well trusted, non biased newspaper. Date obtained: 19th March 2011. [17]http://www.fao.org/organicag/oa-faq/oa-faq6/en/. I think that this is a reliable source because it is a news website and doesn’t seem to be supporting or against organic farming.