The Changing Face Of Organic Agriculture

Throughout human history, farmers had looked at agriculture as a partnership with the earth; a partnership that would allow humans to go beyond subsistence farming and allow for the development of large civilizations.

This partnership was celebrated in ritual and spiritual practices, and determined the rhythm of daily life.

Industrial Revolution: Anything But Green

This traditional approach to agriculture was challenged, and in most parts of the world overturned, with the advent of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, most of which were outgrowths of the modern weapons industry.

By the middle of the twentieth century, farmers were increasingly being urged to turn to the massive use of “inputs” such as nitrogen fertilizer and pesticides such as DDT.

The state universities increasingly became tied to manufacturers of these inputs (through research dollars awarded by the companies) and taught that use of manufactured inputs was the “modern” way to increase yields.

Mechanization of planting and harvest added to the transformation; encouraging monocropping and elimination of hedgerows, trees and other “nonproductive” features of the landscape to allow efficient utilization of huge tractors and combines.

This revolution was accompanied by a transformation in the way that humans viewed agriculture. Increasingly, agriculture became agribusiness.

Increasingly, the practices of agriculture mirrored an extractive industry, replacing the old concepts of stewardship and partnership. Increasingly discussions of pests and production took place using metaphors of war. Humans were to “tame,” “conquer” or “subdue” nature. Pests were the “enemy,” to be “vanquished.”

This transformation has been devastating. In Illinois it has taken a tenfold increase in chemical fertilizers over the last 20 years to produce a doubling of yield. Forty million tons of chemical fertilizers are applied to U.S. farmland each year.

While this has enriched the chemical companies it has destroyed the natural balance and ecosystem of the soil, weakening crops and making them more dependent on inputs, making farming dependent on chemical-based on petroleum (a nonrenewable resource), and polluting the water with nitrogen runoff because the nitrogen from these fertilizers is not bound to humus (decomposing organic matter) in the soil.

The soil is in effect being mined. And, as the structure and fertility of the soil is lost more irrigation is required to get water to the plants and to wash away poisonous salt deposits left by the fertilizers.

Each year in the U.S., four billion tons of soil is lost through these practices.

Family farms, unable to afford the huge outlays for chemicals and machinery have gone under. Local markets have been lost, as huge corporations have assumed control over the production and distribution of our food.

Generation after generation of pesticide, each touted in turn as a safe and definitive answer to the legions of pests, which flourished in the disrupted ecosystems, have proven over time to further disrupt the ecosystem and cause a host of health problems for humans and other creatures.

Organic Agriculture: Creating a New Paradigm

As organic farmers began challenging these practices, many of them, coming out of the culture of agricultural warfare, they initially looked to “natural” agents that could be marshaled in the battle.

There was an odd split-personality character to this early phase of organic farming.

While there was much discussion of composting and stewardship, the pages of magazines dedicated to organic farming and gardening were filled with discussions of natural pesticides; articles advocated importing ladybugs and other “beneficials” — the organic equivalent of mercenaries on the battlefield.

The movement was still mired in the pugilistic paradigm of chemical agriculture. When a crop failed the first thought was to look for an input that could turn the situation around — immediately.

And, it’s no wonder. These farmers had to make a living — this wasn’t simply an intellectual exercise.

As organic farmers gained wider experience, they showed themselves to be the stewards of the land they had hoped to become. They looked at, listened to and touched their land.

Their farming did not take place from the cab of an air-conditioned tractor ten feet above the furrows. They thought about what they saw and they shared their experiences.

The successful farmer, therefore, is first and foremost an observer; one who learns from the land.

When problems arise the successful organic farmer looks to see what is out of balance in the ecosystem being tended on the farm.

The successful organic farmer is the farmer who has returned to a partnership with nature.

You hear a lot of baloney these days about the “new millennium” but organic farmers have actually broken through to an understanding of their work that is millennial in scope.

This understanding is not simply an adoption of ancient ways but a fusion of new knowledge in the fields of biology, ecology, hydrology, etc., with the former understanding that our species must partner with nature not dominate it; and that the way to do that is to become a good observer, to look for the strength of nature to help you accomplish your goals and to share the knowledge with your fellows.

Many organic farmers starting out have some really tough years before their land starts to return to a condition of balance. But this is what organic farmers are doing, sometimes at great cost to themselves.

So we salute them, for the work that they do, for the land that they enrich, and for the lessons they can teach us. We urge you to support them by looking for their products when you shop.

And, to do a small part to further their ability to share their experiences, La Montanita Co-op and Rio Grande Community Farms will again this year make scholarships available to two New Mexico organic farmers to attend the National EcoFarm Conference.