Background 1 and 2 content

· BEFORE WE BEGIN 1- Introduction to organics - what the word means,

Keywords :

Organic -

or·gan·ic (ôr-găn'ĭk)

adj.

Of, relating to, or derived from living organisms: organic matter.

Organic products (food, fiber, clothing)

prod·uct (prŏd'əkt)

n.

“Produced according to certain production standards, meaning they are grown withough the use of conventional pesticides, artificial fertilizers, human waste and sewage sludge and that they were processed without ionizing radiation or food additives.”

Used as in :

Organic products must test negative on the following :

- use of antibiotics

- synthetic hormones

- genetic modification

- cloning

- irradiation

- sewage sludge

- preservatives

- artificial ingredients

Organic farming

Farm.ing

n.

Viewing your farm or garden as a single living and breathing Organism – where every element and basic component – the farmer, the consumer, the soil, the plants, the insects, the birds and the water all come together to form a coherent unit that is self regulating and stable and thrives by relying on minimal external inputs. It’s a practice of feeding the soil and nurturing the earth and its gifts to us.

Used as in :

Organic farming is big talk on the grape vines in the present times. It’s the new way to produce food, spices, clothes, paper: a whole new life up for grabs on the market for people who can afford it. Sadly, no one knows enough about the current lifestyle that we lead to know why we need make any changes.

BEFORE WE BEGIN 2- The principles of Organic Farming - monoculture and its adverse effects, when the shift happened to the current ways of farming, and the green revolution story and when it began in India – The famines.

The currently popular method of food production :

Monoculture

mon·o·cul·ture (mŏn'ə-kŭl'chər)

n.

A single, homogeneous culture without diversity or dissension. It refers to culturing or growing a single species or crop/ plant repeatedly on the same piece of land.Much like a car factory, only dealing with food. This practice uses about as much petroleum and oil as most car factories in the world combined.

Used as in:

1. To be identified as a product of monoculture it must test negative for being responsible for the following:

- Preservation of soil fertility

- Increase in variety of food

- Decrease in agricultural pollution

- Reduce in fossil fuel waste

- Supporting locally produced food

- Supporting the small farmers.

2. “Our entire agricultural system is built on cheap oil, as a consequence out agricultural sector actually is contributing more green house gases than our transportation sector – and in the mean time its creating monocultures that are vulnerable to national security threats – that are also now vulnerable to sky high food prices OR crashes in food prices, huge swings in commodity prices and are partly responsible for the explosion in out healthcare costs. Because they are contributing to type – 2 diabetes, obesity and heart disease…”

- Barrack Obama, President of USA.