The Pros and Cons of Organic Farming | Ecology and Environment | Biology | FuseSchool
Vložit
- čas přidán 27. 07. 2024
- The Pros and Cons of Organic Farming | Ecology and Environment | Biology | FuseSchool
In this video • What is Organic Farmin... we looked at the key principles of organic farming - the use of more natural alternatives instead of chemical fertilisers, herbicides and pesticides or feed additives for livestock. This all sounds great, but there is more to the story.
Organic farming isn’t all good. The yields are lower because more produce is damaged by pests, and carefully selected chemical pesticides cannot be used. With an ever-growing world population, we have limited land to feed everyone from. So should we therefore just focus on maximising yields?
Or to get the same yields, more land would need to be farmed. Where would this surplus land come from - cutting down our remaining forests and rainforests? This would be far worse for the environment both in terms of climate change and biodiversity.
A study in the UK found that a litre of organic milk requires 80% more land than conventional milk to produce. That’s a lot more land, and makes you wonder whether organic foods are a luxury the world just cannot afford to provide.
Interestingly, it has been found that some organic farming methods require more water than non-organic alternatives; a huge problem as droughts become more regular and water more scarce.
Organic is not necessarily better for the environment either. Organic dairy farms do actually produce more methane per cow than conventional farms because of the diet of the cattle: organic cows apparently burp twice as much as conventional cows!! As methane is a greenhouse gas, this does not bode well for global warming.
You also need to consider the airmiles of your produce… in the UK most of the organic food is imported, so if there is a conventionally farmed alternative from a local source then it may be better for the environment to opt for that product.
Scientists are still fiercely debating whether conventional or organic farming has a larger environmental footprint; so I am not expecting you to have a clear opinion either!
It is actually a big misconception that organic farms cannot use any pesticides; they can because without them, the crop yields would be much too low for the farm to be sustained. Organic farmers can use both synthetic and natural kinds of pesticides, but some of the regular pesticide chemicals are banned on organic farms. As fewer chemicals are used, there is less risk of chemicals remaining on the food, which can only be a good thing for consumers.
Scientists are still debating the pros and cons of organic farming in comparison to conventional farming, and there is plenty of information you can read online. The tricky part is that most articles are very biased so don’t be swayed by the first article you read.
The principles of organic farming are obviously very good for the environment, but in reality yields matter. There is a balance to be found between looking after our soils and environment, and so employing organic strategies such as crop rotations, but having a limited amount of agricultural land and an ever-growing population.
Many conventional farmers employ organic strategies to do their best for the soil structure and local biodiversity, but make use of chemicals in the lowest levels possible whilst still maintaining yields.
SUPPORT US ON PATREON
/ fuseschool
SUBSCRIBE to the FuseSchool CZcams channel for many more educational videos. Our teachers and animators come together to make fun & easy-to-understand videos in Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Maths & ICT.
VISIT us at www.fuseschool.org, where all of our videos are carefully organised into topics and specific orders, and to see what else we have on offer. Comment, like and share with other learners. You can both ask and answer questions, and teachers will get back to you.
These videos can be used in a flipped classroom model or as a revision aid.
Find all of our Chemistry videos here: • CHEMISTRY
Find all of our Biology videos here: • BIOLOGY
Find all of our Physics videos here: • PHYSICS
Find all of our Maths videos here: • MATHS
Instagram: / fuseschool
Facebook: / fuseschool
Twitter: / fuseschool
Access a deeper Learning Experience in the FuseSchool platform and app: www.fuseschool.org
Follow us: / fuseschool
Befriend us: / fuseschool
This is an Open Educational Resource. If you would like to use the video, please contact us: info@fuseschool.org
It would be great if you could publish an updated version of this video. The topic is really relevant!! Please, let me know if you have any further information. THANKS :D
Noted 😉
We need to encourage people to grow their own foods don’t always rely on the government to provide everything for you
ok boomer
your IQ is below room temperature
Everyone doesn't have the time and money and land to do so
I rlly like this video! it teaches u a lot
Watching this after Sri Lankan government ban on every chemical fertilizer and pest control products. Also ban importing all products related to these categories. Now farmers have to use organic products. Also if you do it correctly with a good knowledge and deep understanding about all these points you can produce same amount of crops too. 😉😉
I agree with this video in general. Also, we do waste a lot of food (especially in America), but another problem is food perishability. Transporting food is costly and the food doesn't always taste the best because its not fresh. Organic farming is great, but its only a small tiny percentage of the total food picture. Most agriculturalists would agree that widespread organic is not feasible to feed the world (at least not yet). We have a lot of people and the vast majority of ag is conventional.
We agree - food waste (by consumers and in transport) is a huge problem. If we could save just 1/4 of the wasted food, it would feed 800 million hungry people.
I know not everyone cares about what I think. I wanted to learn more, I have been reading a book on farming, thicker than my old novels. I believe we should find a realistic strategies for farming and higher yields as well as encouraging herb gardens and at home vegetable gardens if possible. I think farmers should have more PPE.
Hi. What great books have u found? I have been reading about Mr. Fukuoka's amd Hallison's...
you are right, I dont care
Really nice video ... Thanks for information.
Most welcome! Glad you liked it!
stop focusing on diary and meat! focus on a plant based diet and this video would actually mean something
Dustin Keele you get your diaries from cows?!?!
...
It help me with my work
Glad it helped!
@@fuseschool yh thaks i subcribe and like and the bell
That's great! Thanks a lot!
Wong Hydroponics Kit brought me hear
Very good video and I like it a lot
Thank you! Glad you like it!
Can organic agriculture be linked to a trend of the moment rather than to a real goal of increasing sustainability? #livetree #fairweb #organicprosandcons
that's mean, organic farming is better
Just reduce mass meat consumption and there you have the fertile land you were looking for!
no, we'd have to use that land to make alternative sources of protein, which can often be worse than cows
@@skalex055 nope not at all
Hi from nirbhay
Where is here.
Stop using cows, talk about fruits and vegetables
Valentin SaintLearner it’s a science lesson not philosophy and ethics
Yes people it's been enought time and knowledge alredy we all know wtf is happening and we don't f'ing need it
Exactly! Most people want to know about farming organic plant crops not farming cows. You can keep them in cages their whole life if you choose... I’m focused on the farming using natural renewable resources rather than depleting chemical resources with conventional fertilizers/cancer causing pesticides. It is pure myth that conventional agriculture gets better yields; this curve is due to monocultures as well as lack of study on organic fertilization programs targeting maximum yield.
Narrow narrative, there other more aspects to be considered.
ac2ally we waste more food than what we consume,,, thats the problem and not the percentage of organic farming produced..... did u travel the whole world for u to say that there will be lack of agricultural land if we fully adapt organic farming? industrial way of farming are just for the people who want to be more rich,,, and organic way of farming is for those who want to live simplicity,,, thats it....
Yes, we agree that food waste is a huge problem particularly in the developed world.
Approximately 1/3 of the food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted every year. If one quarter of this waste could be saved, we would have enough food to feed over 800 million hungry people in the world. We're in full agreement that food waste should be the number 1 focus for all governments worldwide.
Organic farming - as the video says, there are positives and negatives (as with everything). So we just tried to show a balance of both sides. We want to help people to understand that good things could also have a trade off somehow - which organic farming does have.
you sound like somebody who's convinced about something before hearing the arguments for and against and then proceeds to ignore the arguments against. It's stupid to say that one would need to travel the world to say something about it, that's why we have experts and scientific studies. It's even more stupid to describe the problem as "good simple people VS bad riche people", as if capitalists aren't taking advantage of this organic-food trend (if they didn't create it in the first place).
Before chosing a side you should learn about the problem.
Roj Jor I don’t agree but we certainly need to focus more on sustainability
Very well put. Totally agree!
🤣
i can hear the triggered vegans from miles away
This is such a misleading video. Doubly unfortunate that the whole focus is on providing MORE animal products. How is this 'education'? It's just an advertisement for GMO.
Stop eat meat!!! '
Do you know where the nearest KFC is?
Do you know where the nearest Mc Donald's is?
@@nililajuli270 yes,under your tummy.
@@Blade.5786 yes,under your tummy.