Blog 4 - - - Section 29

Organic vs. Conventional farming

Understanding the benefits of both organic and conventional farming, for both the land and the quality of the end product. Conventional farming can have residual chemicals but higher yield, whereas Organic farming is competitive, but requires fallowing, cutting down on the surface area used each year for production. The search is for a combination of the tow, giving the maximum benefit in the end.
Conventional farming techniques with chemicals benefit and hamper the economy. They are found in water supplies, people, and plants. The over use of chemicals, in today’s practices, creates major problems for the environment and people. Overworked fields have increased runoff and soil erosion, allowing more water, unfiltered, to reach water systems. This effect is creating billions of dollars in the healthcare system and environmental repair/management.
Organic farming has been proven to reduce the need for chemicals and produce almost the same yield initially. Safer practices are available and are gaining in popularity. Such techniques as proper crop rotation and planting procedures allow fields to retain their minerals and control weed growth without the use of residual chemicals.
When comparing Conventional farming and Organic farming, it is found that Conventional farming has higher inputs and outputs initially when the soil is fresh, but begins to deteriorate as chemicals and overuse of the begin to take their effects. The soil erosion, depletion of nutrients, and lower water absorption all add up of the years, making Organic farming to become the favour for end amount of biomass to sell.
Organic farming uses other natural ways of dealing with problems throughout the grow season. By planting per-crops and coverage crops, the fields remain protected from drought and pests. It give the land a rich biomass, constant with large amounts of nutrients, giving the natural method a long term advantage over the use of chemicals.
Organic farming uses no chemicals that require spreading, reducing the overall amount of CO2 released during this operation normally, and also putting more money back into the farmer’s pocket. Even thought Organic farming end results for production may fall below Conventional farming, The organic product fetches a much higher price at market, allowing the farmer to produce less and make more money.
Organic farming isn’t perfect, two major problems faces are nitrate deficiency, and weed competition, but this is based to the topography of the region. These problems can be controlled with good farming practice, such as crop rotation and off season crop cover, keeping the biomass and nitrates where they belong, in the soil.
The main point of Organic farming has been used for thousands of years and is a proven technique for many cultures. Some benefits continue to be soil organic matter, control of water and leeching, less fossil energy used, equal output with less input compared to Conventional techniques, larger profits from less product, recycling of water products, and very sustainable.


This article bring to light the actual effects of current farming practices, in a way that is past the bashing of chemical use, and focus on the impacts of more sustainable practice, that have longer lasting production rates and better quality of produce. The experiments done throughout this article were interesting and gave merit to the points being raised. Organic farming will make a strong come back as the effects of chemicals become more apparent and continued high buy prices for organic crops continue to rise.