COMPARATIVE ESSAY

Organic Agriculture vs. Industrial Agriculture

Today, we live in a world where certain types of economic activities, such as food
production, are very necessary for the nutrition and quality of life of all people
around the world. There are, therefore, multiple ways to obtain this food resource,
among which are cattle and small species (chickens, pigs, guinea pigs, goats,
etc.), fishing, and the most important, through which large quantities of food are
obtained, agriculture. Agricultural practice has evolved significantly since its
expansion with the Green Revolution between the 1960s and 1980s, which ran
parallel to the Industrial Revolution. Before that time, food production through this
practice was carried out in a purely humane manner with the help of animal traction
with buffaloes and some horses. The industrial revolution brought with it new
machinery, which made work much easier and at the same time optimised it, so
that large quantities of food could be produced through extensive agriculture, with
the help of certain chemical components capable of killing pests and providing
abnormal nutrition to the crops grown at that time. This was very beneficial,
because the population worldwide was having serious problems of nutrition
because there was not enough production to meet the demand that was being
generated, so many people suffered from hunger to the point of having a
considerable number of deaths from this situation. However, today agricultural
practices take a different direction, trying to make a change for practices that do
not depend on the use of substances that can be harmful to the environment and
to people and animals.
Agriculture was greatly influenced by the arrival of many new systems that offered
rapid development, through which the demand for food could be met; it is with the
green revolution that industrial agriculture, also called large-scale agriculture, was
born. This type of practice is very commonly used by large companies and
industries, and is based on the implementation of large crop plantations, and the
use of agrochemicals such as pesticides and fertilizers, as well as the genetic
modification of plantations to make them immune to certain types of pesticides, as
well as certain pests, which would be beneficial to the crop and the producer in the
first place.
This type of practice has its advantages. In the first instance, the crops are much
more productive, therefore there is more food in less time; it helps to strengthen
the economic growth of the regions or countries where the practice of cultivation,
genetic modifications and agrochemicals are responsible for the product to be of a
better quality as far as the market is concerned. However, this practice is quite
criticized, as there are many social, public health and environmental repercussions.
Agrochemicals are toxic substances, which remain in the plant, in the soil and in
the air when they are applied to the crop, causing significant contamination at the
time of use, often generating genetic deformation and health problems for those
responsible for carrying out their spread, and posing a danger to the communities
surrounding the crops. In addition, the machinery used for the optimization of the
processes works with engines, which when in constant use, consume large
amounts of fuel, which releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere such as
CO2, sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides, depending on the type of fuel used. Even
the genetic modifications in these crops, called transgenics, are harmful to the
health of the final consumers, since it has been proven that they can become
carcinogenic, with serious repercussions on health. In addition, the expansion of
the agricultural frontier through the felling of forests and protected areas is a
problem that has been occurring in many producing countries, being more visible in
Latin America, where the Amazon rainforest is located, in addition to a large
number of moors and reserve areas.
On the other hand, there is organic agriculture, which was born as an alternative to
combat and remove the practice of industrial agriculture, because it uses practices
that do not use agrochemicals such as pesticides or fertilizers that can affect the
health of soil, air or people who are engaged in the production of crops, as well as
protecting the health and food security of those who consume the product.
However, despite being a low cost and environmentally friendly practice, is not
much taken into account, it is difficult to ensure a return on investment because it is
not optimal production, in addition to the permaculture techniques are not
sufficiently known to enable its full implementation.
Seeing the two types of practice, we can say that industrial agriculture is more
productive than organic agriculture, can generate more product in less time. There
is more economic profitability in industrial agriculture, because many more
companies are involved in the process such as machinery suppliers, agrochemical
suppliers, laboratories for genetic modification (like Monsanto Biotechnology).
However, the environmental repercussions are too many, which would not be the
case with organic agriculture, because it is more environmentally friendly by
reducing the production of greenhouse gases, promoting biodiversity, moisture
retention, and care of soil, water and air.