Organic Farming: Can It Feed Us (Part 1)

VVH-TV News Special
Organic Farming: Can It Feed Us? Part 1

Karl Grossman Chief Investigative Reporter examines Organic Farming on Eastern Long Island.

What is organic farming?
Organic farming can be defined as an approach to agriculture where the aim is to create integrated, humane, environmentally and economically sustainable agricultural production systems. Maximum reliance is placed on locally or farm-derived renewable resources and the management of self-regulating ecological and biological processes and interactions in order to provide acceptable levels of crop, livestock and human nutrition, protection from pests and diseases, and an appropriate return to the human and other resources employed. Reliance on external inputs, whether chemical or organic, is reduced as far as possible. In many European countries, organic agriculture is known as ecological agriculture, reflecting this reliance on ecosystem management rather than external inputs.

The objective of sustainability lies at the heart of organic farming and is one of the major factors determining the acceptability or otherwise of specific production practices. The term 'sustainable' is used in its widest sense, to encompass not just conservation of non-renewable resources (soil, energy, minerals) but also issues of environmental, economic and social sustainability. The term 'organic' is best thought of as referring to the concept of the farm as an organism, in which all the component parts - the soil minerals, organic matter, micro-organisms, insects, plants, animals and humans - interact to create a coherent and stable whole.

The key characteristics of organic farming include:

protecting the long term fertility of soils by maintaining organic matter levels, encouraging soil biological activity, and careful mechanical intervention;

providing crop nutrients indirectly using relatively insoluble nutrient sources which are made available to the plant by the action of soil micro-organisms;

nitrogen self-sufficiency through the use of legumes and biological nitrogen fixation, as well as effective recycling of organic materials including crop residues and livestock manures;

weed, disease and pest control relying primarily on crop rotations, natural predators, diversity, organic manuring, resistant varieties and limited (preferably minimal) thermal, biological and chemical intervention;

the extensive management of livestock, paying full regard to their evolutionary adaptations, behavioural needs and animal welfare issues with respect to nutrition, housing, health, breeding and rearing;

careful attention to the impact of the farming system on the wider environment and the conservation of wildlife and natural habitats.

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Category:

News & Politics

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• Organic
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• VVH-TV
• Food
• Vegetables
• Health
• Cancer
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• Vitamins
• Fruits
• Schimizzi
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[DarboukaKid]

We can actually feed 12 billion of humans. The reason why there is people starving is that the large scale production makes prices go down, so producers throw their harvest. Another reason is that food is not equally divided. Organic farming can feed everyone.

[ncfwhitetigress]

Lawns are RETARDED. People should have organic veggie gardens.

[simysimss]

some sweet info here

[satinhooks]

My brother still farms, my brother still farms.

[satinhooks]

@ncfwhitetigress

Yeah, people don't even KNOW why they're supposed to have a lawn. A yard was to show you owned so much land to grow food on, you could afford to manicure the property directly surrounding your home.

[seosnatch]

I am so impressed with the detail and thoughtfulness of your work.

[julioshawtylean76]

@KingRyltar true

[KingRyltar]

Just remember, with GMO crops they wish to call Organic...No matter how much sugar you spoon onto a bowl full of cow crap, its still a bowl of cow crap.

GMO's and Monsanto is the worlds worst enemy!!! Fight to bring back the family farms, and take the food production, out of the hand of government crownie corporations.!!!

[eastariel]

FAMILY FARMS

At sunrise on their family farm their day's work has begun.

They feed the cow and milk her, and pat her little one.

They gather eggs from the chickens and fill their bowls with grain.

The happy sheep dog wags her tail, for she's never worn a chain.

[eastariel]

The eggs will go to the farmer's market later in the day.

They'll harvest all the garden fare that nature brought their way.

Their deep, rich soil with lush green growth will keep them working strong

with tending all their garden rows and farming all day long.

The market gives them rest and shade as buyers come along.

They greet the ones they see each week as friends they've known for long.

[eastariel]

This give and take of buy and sell makes the farmers proud

that the healthy food they bring to the market draws a grateful crowd.

Dear family farms, you're a national treasure, a tradition we must keep.

You grow the spirit of America strong, so we won't be corralled like sheep.

Those corporate bullies try to break you down, yet you stand so strong and tall.

We must stand up for the family farms and save them, one and all.

[FruitTrees4Life]

~*~During the Great Depression many people would have starved if it wasnt for fruit trees, there is no reason why we cant all work together and plant fruit trees, EVERY single Chruch in the world should have fruit trees on its property to help feed the less fortunate~*~ ~~~Plant Fruit Trees Worldwide in 2011~~~