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How Organic Farming came to be: Organic farming is not a new idea - quite the opposite; "conventional" farming has only really been in place for the last 50 years or so. Britain had spent much of WW2 seriously short of supplies and resolved to invest in agriculture to avoid such horrors as rationing. Increasing the yield of farmland meant subscribing to the new, all-powerful chemical fertilisers and insecticides. As with most new technology, the bandwagon effect outstripped the voices of caution. The results included the spread of "major insect-control breakthrough" DDT in the 1950s, which eventually worked its way up the food chain into humans. To make things worse, it was discovered to be almost entirely non-biodegradable, and some Australian farmers were told in the 1980s that their DDT-soaked fields would be unsuitable for pasture for at least thirty years. Meanwhile, though, there was a "lunatic fringe" throughout who insisted on doing things the old-fashioned way, avoiding such artificial aids to production, instead relying on ancient farming wisdom. These dangerous hippies are the now fashionable organic farmers. The furore in recent times over genetic engineering has been a valuable catalyst for organics, encouraging consumers to think about what we eat. Interestingly, the main reason given by shoppers for buying organic is not "I don't like GM" but "Organic is healthier." Back to the archive |
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