What is Organic Farming? 

it took hundreds of thousands of years for the human population to reach 1 billion and in less than 200 years that has increased to nearly 7.5 billion people many scientists calculate the sustainable population to be about 2 billion people which means we need to manage our resources and food production very carefully to cater to the extra 5.5 billion people as populations have grown farming practices have become more intensified to maximize crop yields and ensure that we can feed our ever-growing population fertilisers and pesticides are used on crops and animals may be kept inside in more densely packed sheds to maximize milk yields or egg production or speed up the time needed for the animal to be ready to be sent to the market for meat to learn more about conventional farming watch our video on modern agriculture in this video we are going to look at an alternative to conventional farming organic farming we're going to see what it is in theory and the pros and cons of this method in relation to other modern agricultural methods organic farming currently accounts for about 1% of agricultural land worldwide it focuses on sustainability and is thought to have less detrimental effects on the environment than conventional farming this is led to it being proposed as an alternative to conventional agriculture for helping to overcome the climate change crisis we are currently experiencing but the debate continues as it is not a perfect solution in theory organic farming should not use chemical fertilizers herbicides and pesticides or feed additives for livestock it requires the follower to use more natural alternatives this results in lower yields but the farmer can sell their product at a higher price because consumers believe the product is of a higher quality instead of fertilizers manure is used this recycles waste and improves the soil structure however it is smelly and more difficult to apply than chemical fertilizers and also means the farmer has less control over the mineral content they are putting into their soil crop rotation is used to reduce diseases building up in the soils and to strengthen the soil composition certain crops such as the legume family so peas and beans fix nitrogen from the air and increase the nitrates in the soil this makes this were much more fertile and so farmers rotate legumes with their other crops growing multiple crops is however less efficient and produces lower yields than specializing in one or fewer crops instead of using herbicides weeding is the preferred organic farming technique this is of course much more environmentally friendly because it is chemical free but it is very labor intensive although this does mean more jobs available which is a great thing organic farming is thought to maintain the biodiversity better than conventional farming because fewer chemicals are used there are more bumblebees and insects in the area because pesticides haven't been used weeds and non crop plants can grow as herbicides aren't used biodiversity benefits the food chain across all levels from the plants up to the foxes these are the theories of organic farming and is how we farmed for 100 thousand years before the Industrial Revolution it is generally thought that organic farming is much better for biodiversity and also produces a healthier product because less chemicals are used on it in the second video on organic farming we will look at some of the problems of organic farming and the reality of what it means to be an organic farm you

What is Organic Farming?