What Is The Organic Revolution?
There are proven methods that farmers can use worldwide to sustain profits, address hunger and malnutrition, and renew ecological health.
To feed the world in the most effective manner, a vast movement of scientists, development experts, farming associations and environmentalists is calling for a new emphasis on sustainable agriculture. This is an extreme opposite from current practices.
”The Green Movement”
New research shows that the latest ecological approaches to organic agriculture offer affordable, readily usable ways to increase yields and access to nutritional foods in Third World countries. The organic method, applied to agriculture, can feed the world and may be the only way we can solve the growing problem of hunger in these places.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) states that its extensive research ”challenges the popular myth that organic agriculture cannot increase agricultural productivity.” In an analysis of 114 farming projects in 24 African countries, the UNEP reported that organic, or near-organic, practices resulted in a yield increase of more than 100 percent.
Just imagine what we can do as gardeners in our own backyards, to offset the increases in food prices. Those of us lucky enough to own some land can also feed our livestock with more nutritional food, which in return will provide more nutrition for us. Also, nothing is wasted, as the manure is returned to the soil in the form of compost, and the bones can be buried to breakdown slowly over time. This is truly thinking green. We at Dr. Earth use only components that would otherwise be wasted, such as fish, kelp, cotton, alfalfa, chicken feathers and comparable ingredients. And with our infusion of TruBiotic®, we truly bring life to the soil.
Rejuvenate and protect soil and environmental health
The organic revolution, using integrated farming practices such as nitrogen rich cover crops, organic fertilizer, and the practice of returning everything back to the land, not only improves yields but also keeps the soil alive and improves environmental health. Yield data alone makes the best argument to go organic. Organic practices are building the soil with life, reducing CO2, keeping our waterways clean, and returning greater profits to the farmer. Since these practices build soil structure, they also increase drought and flood resistance as well as making plants more adaptable to climate changes.
Every time we buy and grow organic foods we are helping farmers become more profitable, thus bringing down the prices of all organic foods, such as produce, meats, juices and all associated products. This is a collective effort that we as consumers, farmers, and gardeners should adopt to make a real impact on the environment and our health.
Millions of people undernourished
Numerous independent studies claim the commodity-oriented organic revolution has not fed, and cannot feed, the world sustainably. Nine hundred twenty-three million people are seriously undernourished, and 25,000 people die every day from starvation. The Rodale Institute cites a major 2008 study which assessed results from 286 farms in 57 countries, finding that small farmers increased their crop yields by an average of 79 percent by using environmentally sustainable techniques, including organic farming and crop rotation. Organic soils have better physical structure, which helps prevent erosion. They are also more permeable, which increases healthier growth, increasing the availability of nutrients necessary for crop productivity.
Global warming
Organic soils sequester carbon in soil from carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, making organic farming the most available strategy to fight global warming. The research and data prove that organic farming practices should be established. They are commercially successful and applicable to any scale operation, from our own backyards and small family market farms to large scale farms consisting of thousands of acres. Organic methods can be adapted to virtually any location, make best use of local inputs, and creatively transform carbon waste streams into valuable products.
We are all in this changing climate together. If all of us make changes, we can drastically slow global warming and leave our Earth clean and well diversified for future generations.
