Organic farming - Revision history

Ahoussney at 01:06, 20 February 2015

2015-02-20T01:06:32Z

Ahoussney at 17:49, 4 February 2015

2015-02-04T17:49:09Z

Ahoussney at 17:48, 4 February 2015

2015-02-04T17:48:59Z

Ahoussney at 17:48, 4 February 2015

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Ahoussney: Created page with "== History == {{Main|History of organic farming}} Traditional farming (of many kinds) was the original type of agriculture, and has been practiced for thousands of years. F..."

2015-02-04T17:22:04Z

Created page with "== History == {{Main|History of organic farming}} Traditional farming (of many kinds) was the original type of agriculture, and has been practiced for thousands of years. F..."

New page

== History ==
{{Main|History of organic farming}}

Traditional farming (of many kinds) was the original type of agriculture, and has been practiced for thousands of years. [[Forest gardening]], a traditional food production system which dates from [[Prehistory|prehistoric times]], is thought to be the world's oldest and most resilient [[agroecosystem]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The Forest Farms of Kandy: And Other Gardens of Complete Design|author=Douglas John McConnell|year=2003|page=1|url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=QYBSfUJPQXcC&lpg=PP1&dq=the%20forest%20farms%20of%20kandy%20and%20other%20gardens%20of%20complete%20design&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q&f=false|isbn=9780754609582}}</ref>

Artificial fertilizers had been created during the 18th century, initially with [[superphosphate]]s and then [[ammonia]]-based fertilizers mass-produced using the [[Haber-Bosch]] process developed during World War I. These [[Fertilizer#History|early fertilizers]] were cheap, powerful, and easy to transport in bulk. Similar advances occurred in chemical pesticides in the 1940s, leading to the decade being referred to as the 'pesticide era'.<ref name=Horne2>{{cite book|last=Horne|first=Paul Anthony|title=Integrated pest management for crops and pastures|year=2008|publisher=CSIRO Publishing|isbn=978-0-643-09257-0|page=2|url=http://books.google.com/?id=dhO4HAQbNU8C&pg=PA2&dq=pesticide+era+1950s#v=onepage&q=pesticide%20era%201950s&f=false}}</ref> But these new agricultural techniques, while beneficial in the short term, had serious longer term side effects such as soil compaction, [[soil erosion]], and declines in overall soil fertility, along with health concerns about toxic chemicals entering the food supply.<ref name=Stinner2007>{{Cite book |year=2007 |author=Stinner, D.H |chapter=The Science of Organic Farming |editor=William Lockeretz |title=Organic Farming: An International History |publisher=Oxfordshire, UK & Cambridge, Massachusetts: CAB International (CABI) |isbn=978-0-85199-833-6 |url=http://books.google.com/?id=25QnL3-njZQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22Organic+farming%22#v=onepage&q&f=false |accessdate=30 April 2013 |postscript={{inconsistent citations}}}} ebook ISBN 978-1-84593-289-3</ref>{{rp|10}}

Soil biology scientists began in the late 1800s and early 1900s to develop theories on how new advancements in biological science could be used in agriculture as a way to remedy these side effects, while still maintaining higher production. In Central Europe [[Rudolf Steiner]], whose ''Lectures on Agriculture'' were published in 1925.<ref name=Paull/><ref>{{cite journal|last=Paull|first=John|title=Attending the First Organic Agriculture Course: Rudolf Steiner's Agriculture Course at Koberwitz, 1924|journal=European Journal of Social Sciences|year=2011|volume=21|issue=1|pages=64–70}}</ref><ref name=Kirchmann>Holger Kirchmann and Lars Bergström, editors. [http://books.google.com/books?id=B6tBN1dyC9oC&lpg=PR2&pg=PR2#v=onepage&q&f=false Organic Crop Production – Ambitions and Limitations] Springer. Berlin 2008.</ref>{{rp||13–37}}<ref>{{cite journal | author = Paull John | year = 2011 | title = Attending the First Organic Agriculture Course: Rudolf Steiner's Agriculture Course at Koberwitz, 1924 | url = http://orgprints.org/18809/1/Paull2011KoberwitzEJSS.pdf | format = PDF | journal = European Journal of Social Sciences | volume = 21 | issue = 1| pages = 64–70 }}</ref> created [[biodynamic agriculture]], an early version of what we now call organic agriculture.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Lotter | first1 = D.W. | year = 2003 | title = Organic agriculture | url = http://www.donlotter.net/lotter_organicag.pdf | format = PDF | journal = Journal of Sustainable Agriculture | volume = 21 | issue = 4 | page = }}</ref><ref>Biodynamics is listed as a "modern organic agriculture" system in: Minou Yussefi and Helga Willer (Eds.), [http://orgprints.org/544/1/world_of_organic.pdf The World of Organic Agriculture: Statistics and Future Prospects], 2003, p. 57</ref><ref>Biodynamic agriculture is "a type of organic system". Charles Francis and J. van Wart (2009), "History of Organic Farming and Certification", in [https://portal.sciencesocieties.org/Downloads/pdf/B40726.pdf Organic farming: the ecological system]. American Society of Agronomy. pp. 3-18</ref> Steiner was motivated by spiritual rather than scientific considerations.<ref name=Kirchmann/>{{rp|17–19}}

In the late 1930s and early 1940s [[Sir Albert Howard]] and his wife [[Gabrielle Howard]], both accomplished [[botanist]]s, developed organic agriculture. The Howards were influenced by their experiences with traditional farming methods in India, biodynamic, and their formal scientific education.<ref name=Paull>Paull, John (2006) [http://orgprints.org/10138/1/10138.pdf The Farm as Organism: The Foundational Idea of Organic Agriculture] Elementals ~ Journal of Bio-Dynamics Tasmania 83:14–18</ref> Sir Albert Howard is widely considered to be the "father of organic farming", because he was the first to apply scientific knowledge and principles to these various traditional and more natural methods.<ref name=autogenerated2>{{Cite book |year=2007 |author=Stinner, D.H |chapter=The Science of Organic Farming |pages=40–72 |editor=William Lockeretz |title=Organic Farming: An International History |publisher=Oxfordshire, UK & Cambridge, Massachusetts: CAB International (CABI) |isbn=978-0-85199-833-6 |url=http://books.google.com/?id=25QnL3-njZQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22Organic+farming%22#v=onepage&q&f=false |accessdate=10 August 2010 |postscript={{inconsistent citations}}}} ebook ISBN 978-1-84593-289-3</ref>{{rp|45}} In the United States another founder of organic agriculture was [[Jerome Irving Rodale|J.I. Rodale]]. In the 1940s he founded both a working organic farm for trials and experimentation, [[The Rodale Institute]], and founded the [[Rodale Press]] to teach and advocate organic to the wider public. Further work was done by [[Lady Eve Balfour]] in the United Kingdom, and many others across the world.

There is some controversy on where the term "organic" as it applies to agriculture first derived. One side claims term 'organic agriculture' was coined by [[Walter James, 4th Baron Northbourne|Lord Northbourne]], an agriculturalist influenced by Steiner's biodynamic approach, in 1940. This side claims the term as meaning the farm should be viewed as a living organism and stems from Steiner's non scientific [[anthroposophy]].<ref name=Betteshanger>Paull, John (2011) [http://orgprints.org/19511/1/Paull2011BetteshangerJOS.pdf "The Betteshanger Summer School: Missing link between biodynamic agriculture and organic farming"], ''Journal of Organic Systems'', 2011, 6(2):13-26.</ref> The second claim is that "organic" derives from the work of early soil scientists that were developing what was then called "humus farming". Thus in this more scientific view the use of [[Soil organic matter|organic matter]] to improve the [[humus]] content of soils is the basis for the term and this view was popularized by Howard and Rodale. Since the early 1940s both camps have tended to merge.<ref>{{cite web|last=Nayler|first=Justin|title=Second Thoughts About Organic Agriculture|url=http://www.soilandhealth.org/01aglibrary/Second.Thoughts.pdf|publisher=Soil And Health Library|accessdate=11 May 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Diver|first=Steve|title=Controlled Microbial Composting and Humus Management: Luebke Compost|url=http://www.ibiblio.org/steved/Luebke/Luebke-compost2.html|accessdate=11 May 2014}}</ref>

Increasing environmental awareness in the general population in modern times has transformed the originally supply-driven organic movement to a demand-driven one. Premium prices and some government subsidies attracted farmers. In the developing world, many producers [[farm]] according to traditional methods which are comparable to organic farming but are not certified and may or may not include the latest scientific advancements in organic agriculture. In other cases, farmers in the developing world have converted to modern organic methods for economic reasons.<ref>Paull, John [http://orgprints.org/10949/01/10949.pdf "China's Organic Revolution"], Journal of Organic Systems (2007) 2 (1): 1-11.</ref>

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 Despite the broad usage of the term, there is widespread misunderstanding about what terms like "organic" and "[[USDA Organic]]" actually mean.
+The organic standard, being a legally defined and regulated body of rules, is largely a prohibitive standard, rather than a positive set of principles, which are difficult to formalize into rules. For this reason many [[beyond organic]] agricultural movements have been developed. Many have been [[Organic farming#criticisms|critical]] of the organic standards.
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 == History ==

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:49, 4 February 2015
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−	'''Organic farming''' is a [[farming principles\|farming principle]] which focuses on [[inputs]], specifically, it requires that inputs used in farming be generally [[organic]] chemicals derived from nature. The term is often used in contrast to ''[[conventional farming]]''which is marked by the use of many [[inorganic compounds]] such as synthetic [[nitrogenous fertilizer]]s, (like [[urea]] and [[ammonium nitrate]]) and [[inorganic compounds\|inorganic]] [[biocides]] like [[Roundup\|glyphosate]](glyphosate).	+	'''Organic farming''' is a [[farming principles\|farming principle]] which focuses on [[inputs]], specifically, it requires that inputs used in farming be generally [[organic]] chemicals derived from nature. The term is often used in contrast to ''[[conventional farming]]'' which is marked by the use of many [[inorganic compounds]] such as synthetic [[nitrogenous fertilizer]]s, (like [[urea]] and [[ammonium nitrate]]) and [[inorganic compounds\|inorganic]] [[biocides]] like [[Roundup\|glyphosate]](glyphosate).

	Despite the broad usage of the term, there is widespread misunderstanding about what terms like "organic" and "[[USDA Organic]]" actually mean.		Despite the broad usage of the term, there is widespread misunderstanding about what terms like "organic" and "[[USDA Organic]]" actually mean.

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:48, 4 February 2015
Line 1:		Line 1:
−	'''Organic farming''' is a [[farming principle]] which focuses on [[inputs]], specifically, it requires that inputs used in farming be generally [[organic]] chemicals derived from nature. The term is often used in contrast to ''[[conventional farming]]''which is marked by the use of many [[inorganic compounds]] such as synthetic [[nitrogenous fertilizer]]s, (like [[urea]] and [[ammonium nitrate]]) and [[inorganic compounds\|inorganic]] [[biocides]] like [[Roundup\|glyphosate]](glyphosate).	+	'''Organic farming''' is a [[farming principles\|farming principle]] which focuses on [[inputs]], specifically, it requires that inputs used in farming be generally [[organic]] chemicals derived from nature. The term is often used in contrast to ''[[conventional farming]]''which is marked by the use of many [[inorganic compounds]] such as synthetic [[nitrogenous fertilizer]]s, (like [[urea]] and [[ammonium nitrate]]) and [[inorganic compounds\|inorganic]] [[biocides]] like [[Roundup\|glyphosate]](glyphosate).

	Despite the broad usage of the term, there is widespread misunderstanding about what terms like "organic" and "[[USDA Organic]]" actually mean.		Despite the broad usage of the term, there is widespread misunderstanding about what terms like "organic" and "[[USDA Organic]]" actually mean.

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:48, 4 February 2015
Line 1:		Line 1:
		+	'''Organic farming''' is a [[farming principle]] which focuses on [[inputs]], specifically, it requires that inputs used in farming be generally [[organic]] chemicals derived from nature. The term is often used in contrast to ''[[conventional farming]]''which is marked by the use of many [[inorganic compounds]] such as synthetic [[nitrogenous fertilizer]]s, (like [[urea]] and [[ammonium nitrate]]) and [[inorganic compounds\|inorganic]] [[biocides]] like [[Roundup\|glyphosate]](glyphosate).
		+
		+	Despite the broad usage of the term, there is widespread misunderstanding about what terms like "organic" and "[[USDA Organic]]" actually mean.
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	== History ==		== History ==
	{{Main\|History of organic farming}}		{{Main\|History of organic farming}}