Thursday, September 20, 2007

The Origins of Organic

"While organic farming and products have been around since the beginning of farming we have just begun to return to our roots with an organic concept. The organic industry has begun to change in the last two decades, evolving into an industry that produces several produces with the organic label. Shampoo, soaps, food, and clothing can be considered organic depending upon how the products were created. Organic products are created when synthetic materials are no longer used. With organic farming synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, plant growth regulators, and livestock feed additives are largely excluded. How the industry has grown since the beginning of the twentieth century is important to understanding where we can go with organic production.

The organic movement began with agricultural scientists and farmers placing themselves against the industrialization of agriculture. In other words these individuals wanted to keep production of organic foods to provide healthier products for consumers. With the mechanical advances as well as biochemical advances farming began to change. The use of pesticides was easily spread through out the crops. DDT was also created to help reduce pests in the farming industry. The idea with growing technology was to keep producing as much food and products as possible to meet consumer demand. These pesticides were able to keep the crops from being ruined during an insect invasion as well as help the farming industry no longer lose money for a bad crop. The downsides are the pesticides themselves. We didn’t understand in the beginning that the pesticides could actually harm humans."


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