By Brooke Hatfield
University of
Georgia
Organic farming is on the rise in the United States, and it
could
change the way U.S. farmers tend to their soil.
“With an organic farm, we have a whole-farm approach,” said
Luanne Lohr, associate professor of agricultural and applied
economics with the University of Georgia.
“You don’t choose one practice and apply it,” she said. “You
have
to come up with a combination of things you can do that work for
your particular farm ecology.”
Organic farming is defined as an ecology-conscious system that
strives to minimize the use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides
and other chemicals.
For a vegetable crop to be “certified organic,” a state or
private certification organization accredited by the U.S.
Department of Agriculture must vouch for it.
According to the USDA, sales of organic fruits and vegetables
increased from $181 million in 1990 to $2.2 billion in 2000.
Sales of organic livestock and milk are also increasing.
Lohr said this is due partly to consumer support, citing a
20-percent annual growth in retail sales for each of the past 12
years.
Large companies like Pillsbury and Heinz have entered the
organic
market as well. This not only makes shoppers more aware but puts
more organic food into mass-market grocery stores.
More information for farmers on converting
regular farmland to organic farms and on the regulations on
growing organic crops is also available .
Health reasons
Many people choose to go organic for health reasons, Lohr said.
But the benefits of fruits and vegetables grown without
synthetic
chemicals could extend beyond the consumer.
“One can expect to have better overall farmer health with
reduced
exposure to chemicals,” Lohr said.
Organic farming can help the environment. “(With conventional
farming) there are greater water-quality concerns, both for
drinking water and for (water used in) recreation,” she said.
As organic farming expands its foothold in agriculture, more
limits are being placed on chemicals used on all farms.
“The Environmental Protection Agency is now reviewing all
organophosphate insecticides,” Lohr said. “Many uses are
becoming
more restrictive, particularly in fruits and vegetables that
will
be consumed raw.”
Starting a farm
Getting an organic farm up and running can take more time than
starting a regular farm.
“Choosing an organic method requires some practice,” Lohr said.
“It requires a slow pace to get established. It requires that
the
farmer to know a lot about his own property and farm ecology.
Most farmers know that information, but maybe they aren’t
applying it yet.”
An organic farming community helps ease the
transition.
“Organic farmers tend to share information very freely and are
more likely to network,” Lohr said. “About 98 percent of organic
farmers get information from other farmers about practices to
try
on their own farms.”
Future of organic
Organic farming is growing. “Farmers are looking for
alternatives,” Lohr said.
This increase may help conventional farmers. “It isn’t
necessarily true that only organic farmers benefit from organic
methods,” Lohr said.
“Aside from some methods that are experimental on farms,” she
said, “(about a dozen organic) methods can be applied on a farm
that does use chemicals as a way to reduce chemical use.”
The Southern Organic Horticultural Workshop will be in
Statesboro, Ga., Feb. 21-22. It will include a roundtable
discussion and isn’t restricted to organic farmers.
The workshop will be followed Feb. 23-24 by the Georgia Organic
annual conference, also in Statesboro. For more information, go
to www.georgiaorganics.org
. For information on late registration, contact George Boyhan at
gboyhan@uga.edu.
