The Father of Organic Farming

An English botanist and an organic farming pioneer, Sir Albert Howard became a principal figure in the early organic movement. In the English-speaking world Howard viewed as the father of modern organic agriculture.  Howard worked in India as agricultural adviser and managed a government research farm. He observed and came to support traditional Indian farming practices over conventional agricultural science. He brought back to UK what he learned in India about agriculture and farming. He developed organic farming techniques, and spread his knowledge through the UK. He published many books about farming. An Agricultural Testament became one of his most famous works.

Sir Albert Howard is an important figure in today’s organic agriculture world. Every farmer knows and applies his principles into their own faming master piece.

Organic Farming

Organic fruits and vegetables sparks interest in many people. Growing organic foods is not an easy process; it requires a special and manual labor. Organic farms do no use any harmful pesticides or other chemicals that would be harmful human health and the environment. Most often, id a farmer decides to go organic they transform their farm 100% in order to avoid chemical spread. In order to obtain a USDA organic label, the farm must go through an annual certification process. On foods like fruits and vegetables, look for a small sticker version of the USDA Organic label or check the signage in your produce section for this seal. In order to pass the USDA inspections, farmers keep close records of all the activities that go on their farm and fields.   If it's a large farm, they usually end up hiring a person to do all the data management on the computer. 

Organic farming most of the time requires manual weed control. Farmers can't use chemicals on their plants so the weeding gets done by hand. It's time consuming and can get pretty expensive. 

Organic farms perform crop rotations in order to prevent soil depletion, maintains soil fertility, prevent disease, and control weeds. The ideas behind crop rotation never plant the same thing in the same place twice. 

International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements states, "Organic agriculture is a production system that sustains the health of soils, ecosystems and people. It relies on ecological processes, biodiversity and cycles adapted to local conditions, rather than the use of inputs with adverse effects. Organic agriculture combines tradition, innovation and science to benefit the shared environment and promote fair relationships and a good quality of life for all involved..".

The Mad Soy Disease

The "mad soy disease" strike Brazil due to Genetically Modified crops. According to the USDA Global Agricultural Information Network, 78 percent of Brazils soybean plants are GM. The scientists in the United States, identified more than 40 diseases linked to Genetically Modified plants. The GM crops spread the disease to the crops themselves, and to other near by planted crops. The disease delays the maturation of infected plants.  The plants remain green until they eventually rot in the field. The top leaves thin out, and the stems thicken and become deformed. The poison and highly toxic chemical in the GM plants, threatens human and animal health. 


“Significantly increase the severity of various plant diseases, impair plant defense to pathogens and diseases and immobilize soils plant nutrients rendering them unavailable for plant use”, says Don  Huber, recently retired scientist from Purdue University. Scientists are in the process developing a cure for the disease. So far they have not found a cure and disease will continue to spread across South America.  

One of the ways you can find out if your produce have been genetically modified.

Seven out of every 10 items on grocery stores shelves contain ingredients that have been genetically modified. Scientists are using new technology to transfer the genes of one species to another, and these altered foods are in the market stream. How do people know if the food they're buying has been genetically modified? Companies that produce genetically engineered seeds fight hard to keep the genetically modified label off the foods. Almost all fruits and vegetables in the grocery stores have identification sticker with numbers attached to the fruit. The code provides hidden information about the fruit.  Maria Gallagher reported in the Philadelphia Inquirer, the code printed on the sticker can tell a person if the fruit was genetically modified, organically grown or produced with chemical fertilizers, fungicides, or herbicides. 

The food grown with chemical inputs, the code on the sticker consists of four numbers. Organically grown fruit has a five-numeral code prefaced by the number 9. Genetically engineered (GM) fruit has a five-numeral code prefaced by the number 8.

The sticker labels attached to the fruits and vegetables at the grocery stores contains valuable information. The code on the label uncovers the truth about the food you buy. 

Monsanto

The Monsanto Company is the leading producer of genetically engineered seeds. Monsanto scientists became the first to genetically modify a plant cell in 1982. Five years later, Monsanto conducted the first field tests of genetically engineered crops. All the plants they modify cannot be resold or breed with other seeds because Monsanto own the original genetic makeup of the seed. Monsanto contaminates the organic crop with their modified seeds. They go around and sample the fields for GM plants. If they find any GM plants growing in the fields they then sue, saying they own the crop. Monsanto seeds contain highly toxic class of chemicals. Results of tests on mice and rats caused concern to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.  The EPA determined that treated plants are so dangerous to agricultural workers that they must wear special protective clothing when handling them.

In May 2010, Monsanto announced will be donating 60,000 seed sacks (475 tons) of hybrid corn seeds and vegetable seeds to Haitian farmers. They farmers called for a march to protest the corporation's presence in Haiti on June 4, for World Environment Day. 

People from all over the world developing an awareness of Monsanto Company. Poor countries like Haiti and India would rather starve than consume food from Monsanto Company. 

Genetically Modified Foods Hazards

Genetically modified foods raise many concerns among people all over the world.  European environmental organizations and public interest groups protested against GM foods for months. Recent controversial studies about the effects of genetically-modified corn pollen on monarch butterfly caterpillars brought the issue of genetic engineering to the U.S. In response, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration held three open meetings in Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Oakland, in order to establish a new regulatory procedure for government approval of GM foods.  

Last year a laboratory study showed that pollen from genetically modified corn caused high mortality rates in monarch butterfly caterpillars.

Some of the genes in GM technology are taken from a food that causes allergies in some people. Inserting that gene into another organism could cause the host organism to express that allergen as a trait. Several GM foods are modified using bacteria and viruses which can create an outbreak of new diseases. 

A recent article published in Lancet examined the effects of GM potatoes on the digestive tract in rats. The study discovered appreciable differences in the intestines of rats fed GM potatoes and rats fed unmodified potatoes. The gene introduced into the potatoes was a snowdrop flower lectin, which is known to be toxic to mammals.  

Genetically Modified foods create a controversy and concerns among people from all over the world.  When it come to food, most people want to make sure it won't  harm  human health and the environment. 

http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/gmfood/overview.php

Purpose of GMO

We live in the time where science and the modern day technology can develop things that seemed impossible and unrealistic in the earlier times.  The weather and climate no longer affects the crops.  Humans are now able to control the production of food by genetically modifying crops. The world population has topped 6 billion people and is predicted to double in the next 50 years.  The increasing population creates food supply challenges. Genetically modified foods original purpose was intended to be a solution for the food supply shortage.

GMO creates a pesticide resistance. Crop losses from insect pests can result in devastating financial loss for farmers and starvation in developing countries. 

The idea behind GMO is to provide an opportunity to feed the world. The quantity of genetically modified crops can be controlled because of the pest and herbicide resistance.  Unexpected frost can destroy plants. An antifreeze gene from cold water fish allows those plants to tolerate cold temperatures that normally would kill them. However, several countries do not want genetically modified foods due to health concerns.  This week, India rejected what would have been the country’s first genetically modified food crop, a transgenic eggplant. Indian government decided not to approve the crop because of possible negative impacts on human health and the environment.

Science can control the food that we eat today. Even though the idea of GMO can increase the food supply in the world, it might not be in the best interest for human health and environment.