Why Organic?

Is there any point in this trend for organic food?

This lens is a brief look at the reasons for growing food by organic methods.

Organic food is not new.
Before the 19th century most foods were organic. Organic cultivation systems were in use throughout China and India, Japan and Korea as much as 4000 years ago. In Japan people were being provided for by a fraction of a hectare per head. This was a form of agriculture which was both organic and intensive.

How did they do it? By recycling and composting virtually everything.

In the west, by contrast we have never really had an organic movement until the advent of chemical farming. There were some known ways of promoting fertility, such as using sewage on fields and rotating crops to keep down pests.

About the time of the first chemical fertilisers, pioneers such as Sir Albert Howard were studying oriental food production methods and experimenting with them for use back home in England.

People sometimes think that organic horticulture is just horticulture minus the modern science. Nothing could be further from the truth. Modern organic farming is firmly based on science; the science of the soil and its organisms.

Organic horticulture and agriculture create the right conditions for healthy, vibrant crops. They do this by feeding the soil which in turn feeds the plant.

This is in contrast to chemical farming, where the main aim is to feed the plant directly with NPK fertilisers. The soil is mainly used just for support and as a reservoir of moisture.

As the years go by there is less and less organic matter in the soil. Soil organisms which should help the plant to grow gradually die off. This is disasterous for surrounding wildlife. Declining fertility leaves the farmer ever more dependent upon the chemist for the plants' food sources.

Organic farming cleverly mimics nature, using composting and other techniques to deliver rich nutrient sources to the soil and its myriad inhabitants.

The constant breakdown and absorption of organic matter leads to a rich, powerful soil, full of the building blocks of healthy plant life. We all benefit: the birds and other wildlife, beneficial insect species and of course, us.

Wildlife gets to enjoy the natural environment.

We get nutritious food brimming with vitamins and minerals for ourselves and our children.

Organic horticulture is nothing new.

Before the 19th century in western nations, most cultivation was loosely "organic" but organic horticulture was not very developed.

Crop rotations were introduced to British farms by the Saxons. Farmers often simply left fields fallow to restore fertility. Then, as the population increased, 3 crop rotations became common.

Clover (a nitrogen-fixing legume) was introduced as a crop to increase fertility. Potatoes and turnips also became common crops which were rotated. The "Norfolk" four crop rotation became widely used by the 19th century. Over 4 years wheat, turnips, barley and clover were grown in turn. No fallow period was necessary because the clover increased fertility.

Sometimes sewage was used on fields to promote fertility. Night soil was collected from cess pits in London during the 18th Century and was and sold for use on farms.

Picure: frogs and toads are affected by modern farming practices, especially nitrates and pesticides.

Fossilised bird guano (dung) was used by farmers in the 19th century as a way of raising fertility. Huge amounts were shipped from South America but eventually demand outstripped supply. Around the turn of the 20th century cheaper chemical alternatives were starting to appear.

Nowadays oil is the most important source of the chemicals used in synthetic fertilisers. Clearly, with oil demands increasing and the supply diminishing, this is not sustainable.

Many experts believe that oil production is now - in 2009 - at around its peak and is already starting the long descent towards far lower production levels. We clearly need to find far more sustainable ways of ensuring future fertility.

Modern organic farming is one piece of the jigsaw.