Organic farming is now a major growth industry in Australia, but what goes through your head when you see, hear or think about organic food?
Former organic farmer, Mike Parish, is now the Owner of Healthy Life Dubbo - he explains the concept behind organic farming and its benefits.
There are many and varied perceptions about organic products:
You’re a snob or elitist if you eat organic food
Organic food is expensive
Organic animals are raised humanely
No chemical fertilisers or toxic chemicals have been used
There is no difference between conventional food and organic food
Organic food has a higher nutritional content than conventional food
Regardless of your perception, 100 years ago all our food was ‘organic’ and that was the normal state of our food system. Our great grandparents only ate ‘organic food’ although they just called it food. The concept of ‘organic food’ is how food was produced for thousands of years before artificial fertilisers and toxic chemicals started being used in the 1900’s.
Chemical use in agricultural production has increased substantially over the last 40 - 50 years. When I was young, I remember there were three or four chemicals used on the farm I grew up on. Some 30 years later while managing a large mixed farming property, I went around the sheds and counted more than 40 different chemicals we were using on that farm. That shocked me and I realised all the problems we were treating were getting worse, not better.
Benefits of converting to organic farming
The next property I managed, I converted to an organic farm. This involved stopping the use of all chemical fertilisers, herbicides, fungicides, pesticides, all chemical parasite control and vaccines. To my surprise we had no animal health issues and we maintained a very productive level - in fact, we were in the top 20% of cattle producers. I realised we didn’t really need all these chemicals to produce food.
Prior to chemicals, farming practices had always been ‘organic’, complete with plenty of bacteria and fungi in the soil to deliver essential nutrients to the plants. When we use chemical fertilisers and toxic chemicals they destroy this soil biology, making us reliant on a chemical system. The more the biology is destroyed, the greater need for chemical fertilisers and sprays, resulting in more chemical residues in our food.
In my view, organic farming is not only about stopping the use of chemical products - it is moving back to a biological farming system where nature produces the nutrients, rather than a chemical company producing a toxic or synthetic form.
It’s all about the soil
Plant and soil biology have evolved together over millions of years in a symbiotic relationship. Plants, through photosynthesis, produce carbon compounds and a large proportion of these are put back into the soil to feed the soil biology. The soil biology then delivers essential nutrients to the plants, such as minerals and water.
I had an ex-CSIRO scientist stay with me recently - he has done decades of research showing how much plants depend on healthy soil microbiology. One experiment was to put some plants in zinc deficient soil that had a high diversity of soil fungi. Tests of the plants showed a higher level of zinc than what soil tests were showing.
Another experiment involved placing plants in high aluminium soil - aluminium is a heavy metal that is toxic to humans and plants. It also had a high diversity of soil fungi and tests showed very small levels of aluminium in the plants.
If we use chemical fertilisers, herbicides, pesticides and fungicides, we damage the soil biology and upset this crucial symbiotic relationship between soil biology and plants.
When there is little or no soil biology, plant root systems act like straws and draw up whatever is water-soluble, including chemical fertilisers such as NPK (Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium), heavy metals and any toxic chemical residues that are in the soil. Plants end up with only a handful of minerals, instead of the 80-plus minerals and trace minerals they need to function properly and produce nutrient dense food.
Look for organically certified foods
If you are looking for organic integrity, you need to select products that are organically certified. There are a few in Australia and they have some of the strictest criteria in the world. Look for any of these symbols (on the left) on food packaging identifying the product as being certified organic. There are also many international certification bodies. So don’t just take the word ‘organic’ to mean it is organic, look for certification.
In conclusion, there are so many different perceptions about organic food, some are right and some are misleading. As I have said, organics should be about food that is grown in nature’s image, in highly active biological soil. This is the only way plants and animals will get the full spectrum of nutrients required for them to be healthy, enabling us to be healthy too.
Regardless of your perception, 100 years ago all our food was ‘organic’ and that was the normal state of our food system. Our great grandparents only ate ‘organic food’ although they just called it food. The concept of ‘organic food’ is how food was produced for thousands of years before artificial fertilisers and toxic chemicals started being used in the 1900’s.
Source: healthylife.net
0 komentari:
Objavi komentar