Conventional Farming Is Better Than Organic Farming: Argumentative Essay

Introduction

With the current world population at 7.3 billion people and increasing every year. We need to take into consideration how we are going to feed everybody in the world while protecting our environment. Contrary to popular belief, organic farming is not up to the task on both issues. This is where conventional agriculture comes in. Conventional farming will be able to support the increased demand of a more significant population while simultaneously being better for the environment than organic farming.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

The USDA defines organic farming as the use of renewable, natural, and biological sources to grow and produce food (USDA.gov). The farming system has gained popularity throughout the years; thanks to the misleading marketing tactics used to sell organic food. There is a misleading belief that organic food is more nutritious than conventionally grown food (USDA). On the other hand, Appropedia refers to conventional farming as a farming system that includes the use of synthetic chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides and other continual inputs, genetically modified organisms, Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, heavy irrigation, intensive tillage and concentrated monoculture production (Appropedia). Unlike organic farming, conventional farming has received a bad reputation. While it does have its downsides, the benefits far outweigh the risks.

The beginning of conventional farming can be attributed to the Green revolution. It started in Mexico in the 1940's led by Norman Borlaug. He developed new varieties of wheat that were high yielding and resistant to disease. This new variety with the help of fertilizer and machinery was able to lift Mexico out of relying on imports to being an exporter of wheat. This way of farming soon caught on in other countries. Most notably was India where they were almost in a famine. Thanks to Norman Borlaug and the Ford Foundation for their contribution to avert the famine.

A big downside to organic farming are the prices. They can range anywhere from 7% to a staggering 80% price premium over conventional food (Food Africa). Putting it over the most consumers price range. Conventional food has lower prices, and the people that can most benefit are low income families and developing countries. According to Feeding America (A non-profit organization), 41 million people struggle with hunger in the United States, including 13 million children. According to hunger and poverty facts, 5.4 million seniors struggled to afford enough to eat in 2015. A total of 815 million people around the world have to struggle with hunger An unfortunate statistic that organic farming isn't up to solve the task. Its higher product prices are attributed to the smaller operations and more labor-intensive techniques that are applied in organic farming processes.

Conventional farming on the other hand enjoys lower prices due to its bigger yields. On average 25% higher yields than organic farms (Britney). Taking into consideration newer technologies that organic farming will be excluded from the gap can widen even more. While any advancement in organic farming can be freely practiced and applied to conventional the other way is sadly not allowed unless approved by the USDA. This issue is fundamental because it undermines organic farming battle for being the greener alternative. The low cost of food production is attributed to the refined methods that the conventional farming techniques have gone through over the years in a bid to produce maximum output at the minimum economic input. This also translates to the lower cost of feeding many people.

Various studies have examined factors that relate to land use, crop yields, energy and pesticides used in both organic and conventional farming practices. According to Barker, a meta-analysis of 164 scientific papers has concluded that the modern conventional farming techniques have an advantage over natural farming in various vital aspects such as the production land required and the volume of crops made.

Organic farming the management of organic farming primarily relies on the development of biological diversity in the farms in a bid to maintain or replenish the soil fertility. In this case, the organic farmers use synthetic fertilizers or pesticides. The farmers also rely on crop rotation which involves growing of a series of a variety of crops over the same space and in sequential seasons to prevent a buildup of pests and pathogens that take place when species are continuously cropped. Moreover, it's a farming system that incorporates mechanical cultivation and animal manures to maintain the soil fertility and productivity. However, conventional farming applies the fundamental safety laws to maximize their output such as the use of chemicals to kill pests, synthetics and genetically-modified organisms. This makes the production of farm products faster and easier hence making it possible to produce enough for the entire population, thereby substantially decreasing hunger globally.

One of the most compelling and prevalent arguments that are in favor of conventional farming is their high yield production. According to Forbes, 2014 comparison data from numerous organic farmers and the USDA indicate that 84% of the instances studied showed that organic farms record lower yields as compared to conventional farms. However, more of this achievement can be attributed to the high use of more effective herbicides by conventional farms that result in high-yield returns and genetically modified variants. This high yield production encourages conventional farms to grow more food within a smaller area. This provides another more significant advantage over organic farming. According to Forbes, 109 million more acres of farmland would be required to produce the same amount of food if all America's food were to be grown thorough organic farming. This would provide a cumbersome task for organic farming since proper and effective implementation would require extensive re-adjustment of the country's current agricultural layout.

The Father of Modern Green Revolution (Norman Borlaug), argued that organic farming can cater for a minimal consumer market cap and the result would be the destruction of the world's ecosystems in a bid to expand the cropland. This would provide a negative impact on the environment. Conventional farming, therefore, remains the most appropriate farming technique that will enable more food production under limited farming space. According to the International Efficient Agriculture Solutions and Standards Association (IEASSA), a research conducted by the Danish Environmental Protection Agency found that the organic farms that produced potatoes, sugar beet and seed grass were producing less than half of the total output produced by conventional farms within the same area. Organic agriculture is likely to impact negatively on the surrounding biodiversity and soil organic carbon at large spatial scales (Backer). These adverse impacts can be attributed to the greater land clearance that is needed under organic agriculture and because of carbon stocks and biodiversity decrease at an immense rate with the conversion from their natural habitats.

Conventional farming involves the application of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in their farming process. These organisms may be animals, plants or microorganisms such as parasites, bacteria, and fungi. Despite the negative publicity around them, these GMOs tend to create higher-yield and hardier crops that result in low-cost and high agricultural production environment, all of which are contrary to organic farming output characteristics. A myriad of studies shows that the GMOs are not measurably detrimental to consumer's health. A Stamford study of 2012 indicated that avoiding GMOs would result in no significant health benefits. They did find high traces of pesticides in farm produce originating from conventional farming practices, but the levels remained below the legal safety limits.

Conclusion

The European Food Safety Authority describes a GMO as "An organism whose genetic composition has been altered in a manner that it does not take place naturally via fertilization or natural recombination." Matt Cheung conducted another research on the bacterial composition between organic and convectional farm products. The study showed consumers are likely to be sickened from either farm products and there existed no significant difference between conventional and organic dairy products. Despite the variation in bacterial composition, with convectional farm produce recording higher than organic, results showed that infections arose from consumption of food from a variety of sources that include both organic and conventional. This means that despite their use of pesticides in their farming process, conventional farming should be encouraged since it provides more benefits not only regarding production costs and quantity but also to the environment at large. Moreover, the pesticides used have little impact on the consumers and make the farm products more sturdy, hard and high-yield as opposed to organic plants.

References

Barker, Tim. "Conventional Agriculture Holds Multiple Ecological Advantages Over Organic, Analysis Shows | Genetic Literacy Project." Genetic Literacy Project. N.p., 2017. Web. 3 May 2018.

Briney, Amanda. "All You Wanted To Know About The Green Revolution." ThoughtCo. N.p., 2018. Web. 3 May 2018.

Cheung, Matt. "Organic Vs. Conventional: A Bacterial Comparison | Food Safety News." Food Safety News. N.p., 2010. Web. 3 May 2018.

"Hunger And Poverty Facts." Feeding America. N.p., 2018. Web. 3 May 2018.

"Organic Production/Organic Food: Information Access Tools | Alternative Farming Systems Information Center| NAL | USDA." Nal.usda.gov. N.p., 2018. Web. 3 May 2018.

"The Dirt On Conventional Vs. Organic Farming - MINI PAK'r." MINI PAK'R. N.p., 2018. Web. 3 May 2018.