Organic Farming: Is It Really Better For The Environment?

What would happen if the entire farming industry turned organic? According to the Organic Trade Association, if every farmer in the U.S. produced organic foods, 500 millions pounds of harmful pesticides could be eliminated per year.

Why Should We Change to Organic Farming?

Traditional farming involves the use of thousands of chemicals such as synthetic pesticides, which have severe effects on the environment. For one, pesticides allow disease resistance to build up in plants, weeds, plant-eating-insects, fungi, and bacteria. The chemicals used to produce synthetic pesticides not only contaminate the soil, but also our water supply and air, and can stay adhered to the ground for decades.

Healthy soils grow healthy food, but if the soil is contaminated with thousands of synthetic pesticides and chemicals, these will adhere to crops. Over the past 9 years, the USDA Agricultural Research Service has shown that compared to conventional farming, organic farming methods are more successful in building up organic soil matter. This means that one teaspoon of compost-rich organic soil can have as many as 600 million to 1 billion beneficial bacteria from 15,000 species. One teaspoon of soil treated with chemicals on the other hand may carry only around 100 beneficial bacteria.

Erosion is another reason why you should support organic farming. Issues related to erosion can affect land, food supply, and humans. Luckily, organic farming practices help diminish erosion. A study that compared organically and chemically treated wheat fields showed that organic fields featured about eight inches more of topsoil and that erosion was only 2/3 of the erosion present in chemically treated field.

Organic farming can also diminish the effects of global warming. A test run by the Rodale Institute since 1981 has shown that a healthy organic agriculture system can actually reduce carbon dioxide and help slow climate change. If around 10,000 medium sized farms in the U.S converted to organic production, they would store as much carbon in the soil as the equivalent to taking 1,174,400 cars off the road or reducing car miles driven by 14.62 billion miles.

What is Neem’s Role in Organic Farming?

Neem is a completely natural pesticide that doubles as a fertilizer. It is eco-friendly and does not contaminate soils, nor does it cause any damage to the fauna that surrounds the plantations, as it repels bugs instead of killing off beneficial insects. Neem has the potential to be used on thousands of organic farms, as it is easily accessible and can grow even in the least fertile conditions.