Comparison of Organic Farming and Conventional Farming

Whenever you go to a grocery store, they are always advertising organic fruits and vegetables. As you may know as a consumer already the difference between organic and non-organic is just farmers and other produce suppliers don’t use harmful herbicides. But what is the science behind the farming of these crops? Organic and Conventional farming is largely talked about because considering there is a worldwide transfer to the more organic side. There are many different systems and practices used in each method to bring you your fresh food each week. While organic farming is used to provide food for the world’s population without harming the environment, how well does it ultimately preform against the opposition?

Organic farming is farming without the use of chemicals. There are many different approaches using the organic farming technique. One would be “laying crop residue on the soil surface, build up nutrients over a longer period of time” (Gilbert, 2012). Using this technique will help bring in the nutrients the crops are lacking. However organic farming does affect the different yields in for the crops. A yield in farming is “the amount of a crop harvested per acre of land”. Yield is important because “farmers' incomes are based upon the amount of food they produce…if a farmer's crop yield is high, he (or she) is making more money”.

In the article, Gilbert quotes Seufert’s analysis which said, “organic farming does have a role to play because under some circumstances it does perform well” (Seufert 2012). In different types of fruits, like strawberries they only have 3% lower yield than conventional farming. As for oilseed crops, soybeans, they have a 11% lower yield. Even though they have a lower yield there is a way that farmers can boost the yield. This would create an opportunity to produce yields that are proportionate. One way would be “land-management practices, such as planting them in rotation with leguminous crops that fix nitrogen into the soil” (Seufert, 2012). This will help the farmers in different areas who maybe are struggling to bring money in from their crops.

Conventional farming is used when “farmers apply chemical fertilizers to fields while the crops are still growing…delivering key nutrients” (Gilbert, 2012). Conventional farming is used mostly on grains like wheat. When farmers used Organic farming on these types of crops the attempt didn’t go well. In the article, Gilbert states, “Organic agriculture performs particularly poorly for vegetables and some cereal crops such as wheat” (Gilbert, 2012). This really affects consumers because grains like wheat make up an immense amount of the population’s consumption. The reason behind this issue is because cereals and vegetables need sufficient amounts of nitrogen to grow, causing nitrogen storages in Organic farming.

Using these different farming techniques consumers and farmers are affected. Not only do farmers not get the money they need from these crops. The low yield percentage adds to this defeat. Farmers have to take in account the yield percentages on how much money they will make. This will end up causing a trickle-down-effect. If farmers aren’t able to take care of their farms anymore because they aren’t able to make enough money, they will have to shut down their farms. That would mean there is one less farm supplying produce to the stores. But if the yield is high for a particular crop there will be an increase in amount because there are more crops to grow at each acre of land. An increase in amount would mean more produce at the stores. Then us as consumers will be more likely to buy because of the large amount available now. A study published in Nature said if farming without the use of fertilizers could cause consequences because the yields are lower, and it will take longer. Causing the production of other techniques to produce the population’s food.

As the world starts to find more effective ways to produce food faster for our growing population, we have to analyze which techniques would work. Although Organic farming is healthier for our environment and does help some crops grow better, the grain-based crops and vegetables are what a majority of the population consumes. Farmers could use other organic techniques, to raise the yields it will take longer and produce a small amount of those necessary crops. When the world becomes creates more organic producing system, there are still many situations that need to be resolved to make Organic farming catch up with the growing population, and it all starts with the yield percentage.