{"id":296763,"date":"2017-02-27T12:28:46","date_gmt":"2017-02-27T11:28:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/?p=296763"},"modified":"2017-02-27T12:57:39","modified_gmt":"2017-02-27T11:57:39","slug":"organic-vs-industrial-chemical-dependent-agriculture-philosophies-practices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/editorials\/organic-vs-industrial-chemical-dependent-agriculture-philosophies-practices\/","title":{"rendered":"Corporate Power Reality Check: Organic vs Industrial Chemical-Dependent Agriculture – Philosophies and Practices"},"content":{"rendered":"

What follows is a summary of this article<\/a>, ‘A System of Food Production for Human Need, Not Corporate Greed’, and is a preamble to something that was recently forwarded to me by\u00a0Emeritus Professor Stuart B. Hill, Foundation Chair of Social Ecology, School of Education, Western Sydney University.<\/p>\n

In 2007, as part of a requested submission to the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD), Professor Hill submitted a very useful and concise table comparing the philosophies and practices of organic-based agriculture (including agroecology) and chemical-intensive, industrialised agriculture.<\/p>\n

I’ve taken the time to present Prof. Hill’s work here because, although it is 10 years old, it is a valuable reminder of the differences between the two models and why the world must step off the chemical treadmill and move towards a more organic-based system of farming.<\/p>\n

Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n

There has been an adverse trend in the food and agriculture sector in recent times with the control of seeds and chemical inputs being consolidated through\u00a0various proposed mergers<\/a>. Over the past couple of decades, there has already been a restriction of choice with the\u00a0squeezing out of competitor<\/a>s, resulting in\u00a0higher costs<\/a>\u00a0for farmers, who are\u00a0increasingly reliant on\u00a0corporate seeds (and their chemical inputs<\/a>)<\/u>.<\/p>\n

Big agribusiness players like Monsanto rely on\u00a0massive taxpayer<\/a>\u00a0handouts to keep their business models on track; highly profitable models that have immense\u00a0social, health and environmental costs<\/a>\u00a0to be paid for by the public. Across the globe\u00a0healthy, sustainable agriculture<\/a>\u00a0has been uprooted and transformed to suit the profit margins of transnational agribusiness concerns.\u00a0The major players in the global agribusiness sector fuel a\u00a0geo-politicised<\/a>, globalised system of food production that result in\u00a0numerous\u00a0negative outcomes for both farmers and consumers alike (listed\u00a0here<\/a>: 4th paragraph from the end).<\/p>\n

The extremely wealthy interests behind these corporations do their level best to displace or dismantle alternative models of production \u2013 whether agroecology, organic, public sector agriculture systems or anything that exists independently from them \u2013 and replace them with ones that serve their needs. Look no further than attempts attempts to\u00a0undermine indigenous edible oils processing<\/a>\u00a0in India, for instance. Look no further than the \u2018mustard seed crisis<\/a>\u2018 in India in 1998. Or look no further than how transnational biotech helped fuel and then benefit from the destruction of\u00a0Ethiopia\u2019s traditional agrarian economy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Whether it\u2019s on the back of US-backed coups (Ukraine<\/a>), military conflicts (Iraq<\/a>), \u2018structural adjustment\u2019 (Africa<\/a>) or slanted trade deals (India<\/a>), transnational agribusiness is driving a global agenda to suit its interests and eradicate impediments to profit.<\/p>\n

Increasing profit and shareholder dividends are the bottom line. And it doesn\u2019t matter how much devastation ensues or how unsustainable their business model is, \u2018crisis management\u2019 and \u2018innovation\u2019 fuel the\u00a0corporate-controlled treadmill<\/a>\u00a0they seek to impose.<\/p>\n

Despite the promise of the Green Revolution,\u00a0hundreds of millions<\/a>\u00a0still go to bed hungry, food has become\u00a0denutrified<\/a>, functioning rural economies have been\u00a0destroyed<\/a>, diseases have\u00a0spiked<\/a>\u00a0in correlation with the increase in use of pesticides and GMOs, soil has been\u00a0eroded or degraded<\/a>, diets are\u00a0less diverse<\/a>, global food security has been\u00a0undermined<\/a>\u00a0and access to food is\u00a0determined by<\/a>\u00a0manipulated international markets and speculation \u2013 not supply and demand.<\/p>\n

Food and agriculture have become wedded to power structures that have created food surplus and food deficit areas and have restructured indigenous agriculture across the world and tied it to an international system of trade based on export-oriented mono-cropping, commodity production for a manipulated and volatile international market and indebtedness to international financial institutions.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the problem is centred on a system of international capitalism that is driving a globalised model of\u00a0bad food and poor health<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0destruction<\/a>\u00a0of healthy, sustainable agriculture.<\/p>\n

Organic & Conventional Agriculture Compared by\u00a0Prof.<\/strong> Stuart B. Hill<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
CRITERIA OF COMPARISON<\/strong><\/td>\n\u2018ORGANIC\u2019 & ECOLOGY-INFORMED<\/strong><\/p>\n

FOOD SYSTEMS<\/strong><\/td>\n

CONVENTIONAL FOOD SYSTEMS<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Relationship with Nature<\/strong> (biodiversity, habitats, ecological processes etc)<\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n

 <\/p>\n

To be respected, worked with (as whole, integrated & interrelated systems), & supported<\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n

Selection, control & ownership of \u2018parts\u2019 that are (primarily) regarded as being valuable economically<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Primary Goals\/Roles in Society<\/strong> (actual versus professed focus)<\/td>\n <\/p>\n

Nourishment & support of human wellbeing<\/p>\n

(& avoidance of\u00a0 toxic impacts)<\/p>\n

Restoration, build-up, conservation & maintenance (sustainability) of: agroecosystems (especially soil), rest of nature, gene-pool, & knowledge & skills of farmers\u00a0 – for present & future generations<\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n

Productivity\/yield<\/p>\n

Profit\/money<\/p>\n

\u2018Political\u2019 power (local to global)<\/p>\n

Other professed goals invariably compromised by one or more of the above ones \u2013 hence the numerous impacts & disbenefits for people & environments<\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Other Priorities & Concerns<\/strong><\/td>\nIntra- & trans-generational equity & social justice<\/p>\n

Meaningful & fulfilling work & lifestyles<\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n

 <\/p>\n

Growth<\/p>\n

Market share<\/p>\n

Control (much of this having [largely sub-conscious] psychological, compensatory & substitutive functions)<\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Primary Inputs<\/strong><\/td>\nKnowledge (especially ecology) & skills (especially agroecosystem design and management)<\/p>\n

Diverse bio-ecological inputs, serving multiple beneficial roles & functions<\/td>\n

 <\/p>\n

Imported\/purchased seed & stock (increasingly hybrid, from narrowing gene-pools & genetically engineered), synthetic fertilizers, pesticides (including herbicides & anti-microbials) & growth stimulants<\/p>\n

Technologies, & design & management to achieve control & maximise productivity<\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Technological Supports<\/strong><\/td>\nElegant, contextually & ecosystem-matched, supportive, human-scale appropriate technologies; used in support of primary goals & values: solar, renewable, repairable, improvable (etc)<\/p>\n

Designed & used to support & maintain wellbeing-enabling ecosystem processes<\/p>\n

Full range of alternative technologies available for when needed<\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n

Large, powerful, expensive, decontextual, fossil-fuel dependent, often disruptive & impacting technologies<\/p>\n

Designed to force change & control, without reference to their effects on benign ecosystem processes<\/p>\n

Partly (largely subconsciously) purchased & used for their compensatory (power symbolism), psychological roles<\/p>\n

Few alternatives when faced with failures<\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Agroecosystem Design<\/strong><\/td>\n <\/p>\n

Complex in bio-ecology, space & time: mixed farms, multi-species, multiple cropping & polyculture agroecosystems, with inclusion of concern for adjacent areas & non-commercial species<\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n

Bare-soil, row-crop monocultures & simple rotations, from a narrowing gene-pool<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Pests<\/strong> (including weeds & diseases)<\/td>\n <\/p>\n

Regarded first as indicators of agroecosystem maldesign & mismanagement (& therefore requiring response in these areas)<\/p>\n

Systems designed to be \u2018healthy\u2019 & pest-proof, with controls used as interim & emergency measures, & selected & used in ways that minimise negative impacts, as specific as possible & based on natural processes & materials (where possible produced on-farm or locally)<\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n

Regarded as \u2018enemies\u2019 to be eliminated & controlled, economically, with purchased synthetic so-called pesticides (actually \u2018biocides\u2019, because of their innate non-specificity: cannot design specific poisons against economic entities) \u2013 increasingly from companies that also supply the seed<\/p>\n

(as a \u2018package\u2019, eg, glyphosate-resistant seed)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Sustainability<\/strong><\/td>\nOver time, becoming increasingly ecologically sustainable, with gains & improvements in knowledge & skills, & in quality of the resource base & enablement of ecosystem functioning<\/td>\n <\/p>\n

Over time becoming increasingly unsustainable, with declining quality of resource base, including losses of biodiversity & gene-pool, soil fertility & structure, increases in pests, weeds & diseases (particularly those resistant to pesticides, herbicides & antibiotics) & increasing dependence on inputs\u00a0 that are non-renewable & that have harmful side-effects & other negative characteristics<\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Future Prospects<\/strong><\/td>\nWill spread & improve over time in effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability & resilience, & in achieving its prioritised goals & support of our \u2018higher\u2019 values<\/p>\n

Capable of being supportive of our ongoing psychosocial evolution as a species<\/td>\n

 <\/p>\n

Will recede & decline over time & become less effective, less efficient, & more unsustainable and vulnerable, as its disbenefits are internalised & its resource base is used up (& becomes more & more expensive), & as our species evolves psychosocially towards lifestyles & institutions based on \u2018higher\u2019 values (than monetary ones), and so increasingly rejects such narrowly conceived approaches<\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

Colin Todhunter is an independent writer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What follows is a summary of this article, ‘A System of Food Production for Human Need, Not Corporate Greed’, and is a preamble to something that was recently forwarded to me by\u00a0Emeritus Professor Stuart B. Hill, Foundation Chair of Social Ecology, School of Education, Western Sydney University. In 2007, as part of a requested submission […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1214,"featured_media":296769,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[461],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-296763","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-editorials"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1214"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296763\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}