As the world as a whole is experiencing an increase in food production, overall demand for food has remained constant in developed countries because of low population growth and saturation of the market for most products. The most rapid growth in demand has been for organic food, including non-GMO food. Some consumers in developed countries are questioning the health risks in consuming biotech food produced through heavy application of chemicals as well as the long-term adverse environmental impacts for agriculture.

Organic Farming

Organic agriculture is farming that depends on the use of naturally occurring substances while prohibiting or strictly limiting synthetic substances, such as herbicides, pesticides, and growth hormones. Worldwide, the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture classified 58 million hectares (150 million acres), or 1 percent of farmland, as organic in 2016. Australia was the leader, with 27 million hectares, or 47 percent of the worldwide total. Argentina accounted for 5 percent of the worldwide total, China 4 percent, and the United States 3 percent. USDA economists reported that organic food sales spiked from $3 billion in 1997 to an estimated $50 billion in 2016. Organic food accounted for 5 percent of food purchases in the United States in 2016, compared with less than 1 percent in 1997.

Organic Farmland Worldwide

Organic Fruit and Vegetables

County Antrim, United Kingdom.

Organic farming is sensitive to the complexities of biological and economic interdependencies between crops and livestock. Growing crops and raising livestock is integrated as much as possible at the level of the individual farm. This integration reflects a return to the historical practice of mixed crop and livestock farming, in which growing crops and raising animals were regarded as complementary activities on the farm. This was the common practice for centuries, until the mid-1900s, when technology, government policy, and economics encouraged farmers to become more specialized.

In organic farming, crops are grown without application of herbicides and pesticides to control weeds. GMO seeds are not used. In organic farming, animals consume crops grown on the farm and are not confined to small pens. The moral and ethical debate over animal welfare is particularly intense regarding confined livestock production systems. Confining livestock leads to surface water and groundwater pollution, particularly where the density of animals is high. If animals are not confined, manure can contribute to soil fertility.

In organic farming, antibiotics are administered to animals only for therapeutic purposes. Many conventional livestock farms have fed animals antibiotics to foster weight gain. The European Union has banned the use of antibiotics in livestock for reasons other than medical. The United States has permitted the practice, but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has ordered the practice to be phased out.

Both organic and conventional foods are now raised globally for export to the United States, but increasingly, a wide range of foods are also produced and consumed locally. In the Debate It! feature, you can explore consumers' reasons for choosing to eat locally—or globally.

Sustainable Land Management

In the U.S. Midwest, farm fields are more likely to be damaged by too much precipitation than by drought. Heavy rains can wash away the protective layer of high-quality top soil and deposit it in bodies of water. After harvesting, conventional farming clears away crop residue, such as corn stalks. The soil is churned up or tilled before the next year’s seeds are planted. This practice loosens the soil particles, making them susceptible to being washed away by rain or blown away by wind.

Conservation tillage is a method of soil cultivation that reduces soil erosion and runoff. Under conservation tillage, some or all of the previous harvest is left on the fields through the winter. No tillage, as the name implies, leaves all of the soil undisturbed, and the entire residue of the previous year’s harvest is left untouched on the fields. Ridge tillage is a system of planting crops on ridge tops. Crops are planted on 10- to 20-centimeter (4- to 8-inch) ridges that are formed during cultivation or after harvest. A crop is planted on the same ridges, in the same rows, year after year.

Conservation Tillage

Soybean field, Iowa.

Pause & Reflect 9.4.5

Does your family go out of its way to get local or organic food? Why or why not?