Research Blog
As the industry continues to grow in every field, our planet tends to suffer the cost. Although we may not be able to see it, large factory farms that now supply the gross majority of our food nationwide comes at a cost. Compared to the ideal local organic farms that would treat the Earth the best, factory farms use pesticides, herbicides, and soil boosters that affect the planet a lot more than we realize. These large industrial farms are also usually located far away from the cities and large urban areas they supply. This makes transportation a high cost not only on our declining amount of fossil fuels, but also on the planet, which suffers immensely from the burning of fossil fuels. Local organic farms should be preeminent rather than the large industrial farms that supply the majority of the food today.
Although the organic symbol doesn't necessarily mean that the products are local ones, growing organic still has a positive effect on the environment when compared to non-organic farming. Factory farms that operate outside of the organic classification use environmentally unfriendly pesticides, herbicides, and soil boosters in order to maintain their produce, and make sure that it can be grown effectively every year. These herbicides and pesticides don’t differentiate between good plants and insects, such as tomatoes and bees, and bad plants and insects, like invasive weed species and longhorn beetles. As we genetically modify our planets to be herbicide resistant, we begin to spray more herbicides that have effects as they spread outside the fields on many important plants that are natural to these areas. Another effect is that once some plants begin to recede from the increased use of herbicides, invasive species such as the Canada thistle tend to take their place and spread quicker, sometimes limiting plants that grow in less aggressively (Dangers of Genetic Engineering in Agriculture 1). Dan Thompson, who has worked at his parent’s local organic family farm in Middlesex Vermont his entire life, sees no need for pesticides while farming. “Plants have been growing for millenniums without needing pesticides and chemicals. They don't need them now. It's important to us that people know exactly what is in the food they eat, and that they know that if they buy from us, there isn't going to be anything else in it,” Thompson says. Dan's family has been growing and selling organic produce for over fifteen years without ever needing the assistance of these chemical concoctions and it pays off for the environment.
Organic techniques such as those used by the organic farm Earthbound “obviate the use of more than a quarter of a million pounds of toxic chemical pesticides and almost 8.5 million pounds of synthetic fertilizers” (Shapin 2). The flow off can be extremely harmful to the environment, as well as important bodies of water as proved in the mid-east area of the United States. For instance, the EPA finds that once nitrogen based synthetic fertilizers are found in drinking water they can have potentially fatal health risks such as blue baby syndrome, gastric cancer, miscarriages, and lymphoma. These nitrogen boosters also affect the reproductive ability of fish that live in affected waters, and of livestock grow and reproduction which and also lead to fatality (Jonas etal 3). Nitrogen boosting, chemical doping, and soaking of plants is not a sustainable way to farm. The major point being is that when you do semi-permanent or permanent damage, it is only going to take more to sustain, which eventually becomes unreasonable.
What many people don't realize is that these pesticides and nitrogen boosting fertilizers harm the environment and don't just disappear overnight. Recently we've seen that fertilizer, which we usually consider one of the more environmentally friendly parts of these larger farms when compared to their chemical habits, have been over filling the soil with nitrogen. This nitrogen eventually flows down the Mississippi River which begins all the way up in the very northern most United States and flows all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico where it drains into the ocean. When all of that nitrogen flows down the basin and eventually hits the Gulf of Mexico, it causes what we know as a dead zone. Dead zones are essentially bodies of water with the same attributes as the Dead Sea in Europe. Nitrogen flows down the basin in the early spring before the soil can be rooted by the next year’s crop, and into the ocean at the mouth of the Mississippi. The nitrogen then over feeds a rapidly growing algae that puts oxygen into the water, which then runs out of nitrogen and dies. Once the algae die off, the excess oxygen is eaten up quickly by the microscopic organisms that eat the dead algae. Then, with the majority of the important algae dead, the water's oxygen level drops. Fish essentially drown in the now oxygen deprived water. This probably may not seem as widespread as it is, but “[The] Mississippi River basin covers forty percent of the continental United States and is the largest producer of corn and soybean in the world (Ramanujan 1).” Because of this, getting farms in this area to reduce their nitrogen fertilizer use seems nearly impossible because of the immense size of the area, and the density of corporate farms in that area. The Gulf dead zone is just the start of the environmental damage that these large scale farms are causing with their environmentally unfriendly farming procedures.
Organic alone is not a solution to cleanse the environment. When you're traveling long distances in order to deliver food there is ultimately a large cost in the fueling of the delivery vehicles. By buying food from local farmers you can be sure that you’re not only supporting your neighbors, but that you’re cutting down on carbon emissions due to the transporting of produce.
Growing locally also benefits the local community in many ways. Locally grown food helps to keep money amongst the people rather than feeding it to executives who head the large industrial farms. Dan Thompson summed up the benefits of the local aspect of farming by saying, “The community is an important aspect to what we do. When someone buys produce at the grocery store, chances are they have no idea where it came from. When someone buys from us, they know it came from just down the road. They're our neighbors and they know they can trust us (Daniel Thompson).” The local aspect when farming locally is no longer disconnected like it is when you produce food for thousands of people. You can't really care about all of them the way you care about friends and neighbors in your local town. When you're buying your food from someone you trust who you know is eating the same food that you’re eating and really cares about the food they're growing. It's a different feeling. He later concluded that “Local farming helps local economies. When someone buys produce at a farmers' market, the money is going right in the pocket of the farmer that grew it. The money then may be spent at another vendor's stand, and the money stays in the community rather than ending up at some large mass produce company (Daniel Thompson).”
Factory farming is not sustainable and is a major factor in the pollution of the planet. The only argument for factory farming is that local organic farming does not solve the global food crisis. However, before we worry about a global crisis for food, maybe we should think about the greater long-term effects. Factory farming is far from solving the crisis, and as much as it seems like an important issue for the future, the crisis will only be worse if we continue farming this way.
Local organic farming is the natural way to get food and is the only sustainable way for food to be produced. By buying local organic produce we can help to support our local communities while cutting down on the environmental harm that we ultimately cause to our planet. If change doesn’t take place soon conditions could continue to deteriorate and the harm that we do to our food and our Earth will continue to do harm back to us. These fatalities that have begun to emerge could soon be an epidemic of damaged foods and contaminated land and water.
Bibliography
Jonas, Jill, Audrey Eldrich, and Neil Dubrovsky. "Nitrogen and Phosphorus Pollution Series." Enviormental Protection Agency, 29 Mar. 2011. Web. 2 May 2011. <http://water.epa.gov/learn/training/wacademy/upload/2011_03_29_slides.pdf>
Kimbrell, Andrew. Fatal Harvest : the Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture. Washington, 2002.
Ramanujan, Krishna. "Dead Zones in Gulf Caused, in Part, by Farm Drainage." Physorg.com. 24 Nov. 2010. Web. 19 Apr. 2011.
Shapin, Steven. "Organic Food and Farming Has Drawbacks." Gale Opposing Viewpoints in Context. 15 May 2006. Web. 2 Apr. 2011.
Thompson, Daniel. Telephone interview. 18 Apr. 2011.
"Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont." NOFA Vermont. Web. 30 Mar. 2011.
"2010 Statistics on Certified Organic Agriculture in Vermont." Http://nofavt.org. 31 Dec. 2010. Web. 30 Mar. 2011.
"Dangers of Genetic Engineering in Agriculture." Dangers of Genetic Engineering Campaign for Mandatory Labeling of Genetically Engineered Food. Web. 02 May 2011.
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