Selection 29 Summary

In his article Environmental, Energetic and Economic Comparisons of Organic and Conventional Farming Systems, David Pimentel talks about organic farming and its sustainability. He states that industrial agriculture is have adverse effects on the environment. these effects include groundwater contamination, destruction of fisheries and soil erosion. He then says that using integrated pest management and organic farming practices can reduce the damage agriculture has on the environment. government programs have showed that a switch to organic farming practices does not mean a loss in productivity. He then shares the finding of a from a soil study site conducted by the Rodale institute where they used different farming methods and compared there productivity. they found that the yields varied depending to the crops regions and technologies employed. It was found that the organic farming methods had environmental benefits such as less soil erosion,reduced chemical inputs and improved biodiversity. he then explains the benefits of organic farming in greater detail. Greater biomass increases the amount of biodiversity so there are more critters in the soil which dig holes allowing more water to percolate through which in turn recharges the ground water. Increased biodiversity also crop diseases. Organic farming uses less chemicals derived from fossil fuels which reduces the amount of CO2 released into the atmosphere. Organic farming have less yields at first because of low nitrogen levels, but after a couple years of legume fixing plants and use of animal manure the problem is greatly reduced.He the discussed the challenges organic farming faces. the two main problem is nitrogen deficiency and weeds. One solution is legume cover crop but this will not work in all regions. weeds and pest can be dealt with by rotating crops and using integrated pest management. Conventional farming could benefit from the adoption of organic techniques such as extended crop rotation, off season cover crops, increased levels of soil organic matter and employment of natural biodiversity.