Weeds compete with desirable plants for light, water, and nutrients. Insects, bacteria, fungi, viruses,
and other creatures eat the leaves, stems, seeds, and fruits of those same desirable plants. Weeds
and pests have always been among the greatest challenges for gardeners and farmers, and for
most of human history, the only way to deal with them was to use simple,
nonchemical methods – hoeing or hand pulling of weeds, for example,
removing the eggs, larvae or adults of crop-destroying insects, or pulling
up plants that were obviously sick with some kind of disease.
Over time, particularly in the 19th century, a number of compounds were
developed or discovered naturally occurring in plants and animals that
served to kill insects, fungi, and other living things. Though there was
some awareness of the toxicity of these compounds to humans (many of
the substances used were based on arsenic and other poisons), they still
seemed like a godsend and were widely used in agriculture.
In the 20th century, more sophisticated understanding of chemistry and
biology (together with a huge research push, including the effort to make
poisonous gases for use in World War I and World War II) led to the development of much more potent chemicals, including the first herbicides,
or compounds that kill plants. As with the simpler chemicals that came
before them, these new compounds – now known collectively as “pesticides” – were eagerly embraced by farmers and gardeners. In addition to better controlling insects and diseases, they offered
the promise of simplifying weed management, which is some of the most difficult work of growing
food. Together with the breeding of new crop varieties and the widespread use of so-called
“synthetic” fertilizers (which are made through the petroleum-based capture of nitrogen from the atmosphere and the extraction of other nutrients through mining of the earth’s crust), pesticides led to
the “Green Revolution” of the latter half of the 20th century, a time of dramatically increased global
food production. This huge increase in food production has helped to feed a global population that
went from under two billion in the year 1900 to more than six billion in the year 2000.
As time has passed, however, pesticides and synthetic fertilizers have been shown to have a number of unintended consequences. Pesticides can (and, it has been shown, often do) kill or harm organisms other than the target pest, and may remain on our food and in the environment for many
years before being broken down into harmless chemicals. Many insects, plants, and other organisms have also become resistant to widely used pesticides, resulting in a neverending arms race between pests and pesticide manufacturers. Both pesticides and fertilizers can end up in ground water
and surface water, killing fish, causing algal blooms, and otherwise damaging important habitat.
Synthetic fertilizers have also encouraged a simplistic concept of soil fertility – the idea that plants
need only be provided with nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium -- at the expense of long-term soil
health.
For these and other reasons, large numbers of farmers, food processing companies, and consumers
have moved and are moving toward a model of agricultural production known as “organic.” The
term “organic” has both informal and formal meanings. To many food consumers today, it refers to something more-or-less vaguely “natural” (grown without
pesticides, for example) that’s somehow better (or less bad) for the environment
and your health than something that isn’t organic.
The formal definition of “organic” does have a lot in common with this idea, but
there’s more to it than simply the absence of synthetic pesticides. To organic
farmers, food processing companies, scientists, and government regulators, the
term “organic” refers specifically to food production that follows the rules of the
United States Department of Agriculture’s National Organic Program, or NOP.
NOP provides very specific guidelines about both chemicals and practices that
are allowed in the production and processing of foods that end up being certified
as organic by the USDA and other certifying agencies. It’s worth noting that the
NOP does allow the use of some substances – including pesticides – that are
toxic to humans and/or other organisms, but which are believed to be less harmful to human health and the environment than analogous chemicals used in socalled “conventional” agriculture. One example of such a substance is pyrethrin-based insecticides, which are derived from flowers (especially chrysanthemums). While pyrethrins are toxic to humans, they break down quickly in the environment into
harmless compounds.
Other formal aspects of “organicness” have to do with the use of food additives and preservatives,
for example, and with how animals are treated, rather than with what chemicals are used in food
production. To determine whether or not a particular compound or practice is or is not considered
organic under the NOP, which tells you what synthetic substances you may and may
not use in an organic farm, garden, or food processing setting.
It is perhaps worth noting that some farmers, food consumers, and others do not like the NOP very
much – they feel it does not go far enough in specifying an environmentally and socially responsible
set of practices for agriculture and the food industry (the NOP says little, for example, about how agricultural workers should be housed, paid, or otherwise treated, such that they can still be exploited
in organic food production and processing just as they have long been in the conventional system).
However, the NOP is an evolving program and it may in the future tighten regulations about what is
permitted in the production of “organic” foods. For now, the NOP represents a substantial step away
from the mainstream food system of the last 50 or so years.
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