(farming method)
Food production without the use of chemical fertilisers, pesticides or other artificial chemicals.
Organic farming is a method of producing food that honours natural life cycles and minimizes human impact on the earth.
This is achieved by utilising crop rotation, biological pest control and animal and green manure, as well as avoiding the use of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers (Menkovska et al., 2017; Velmourougane, 2016).
Why Organic Farming is essential:
- Increases pollination rates in strawberries and watermelons (Andersson, 2012).
- Increases quality of soil and microbial activity outweighing conventional methods (Velmourougane, 2016).
- Increases nutritional value of foods. Organic fruits and vegetables have high concentrations of dry matter, vitamin C, minerals (iron, magnesium, phosphorus and zinc) and bioactive compounds (carotenoids and tocopherols).
- Low concentrations of nitrates (potential free radicals) (Brantsaeter et al., 2017).
Not only is organic farming providing harvests with more nutrition and minimal toxic components, it also is nurturing and restoring the earth.
References
Andersson, G., Rundlof, M. & Smith, H. (2017) Organic farming improves pollination success in strawberries. PLos ONE 7(2). https://www.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0031599
Brantsaeter, A. L., Ydersbond, T. A., Hoppin, J. A., Haugen, M. & Meltzer, H. M. (2017) Organic food in the diet: exposure and health implications. Annual Review Public Health, 2017, 301. https://www.doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-031816-044437
Menkovska, M., Levkov, V., Damjanovski, D., Gjorgovska, N., Knezevic, D., Nikolova, N. & Andreevska, D. (2017) Content of TDF, SDF and IDF in cereals grown by organic and conventional farming - a short report. Polish Journal of Food and Nutrition Science, 67(3), 242. https://www.doi.org/10.1515/pjfns-2016-0030
Velmourougane, K. (2016) Impact of organic and conventional systems of coffee farming on soil properties and culturable microbial diversity. Scientifica, 2016, 1. https://www.doi.org/10.1155/2016/3604026
