Organic Vs Conventional Farming

Superior Essays
Farming refers to the activity of someone growing plants or crops from the ground. However, did you know there are different methods of farming? Today, two types of farming practices are used in agriculture, and they are organic and conventional farming. These two farming methods have been under constant debate, says New York Times journalist, Kenneth Chang (2012). For those that support organic farming, they believe that the using of natural fertilizers and no pesticides and genetically modified organisms (GMOs) maintains the health of the environment and its people by exposing less harmful chemicals in the air, ground, and crops (Environmental Benefits, 2014; Procopio, 2013). On the other hand, advocates of conventional farming believe that …show more content…
Pesticides are man-made substances that are developed in labs to fight and kill insects that could harm plants, says, Naturopathic Doctor, Lauren Procopio from the Natural Medicine of Seattle (2013). In conventional farming, these chemicals are drizzled on plants to repel insects from eating them. It is like an invisible shield surrounding the plant, making sure the bugs are dead or gone. The strategy is great for farmers who do not want to lose money on crops infested with bugs, but they should consider the aftereffects. Nation of Change journalist, Lisa Garber, pointed out a few of those aftereffects in her article, “7 Nasty and Crazy Effects of Pesticides.” She discovered that pesticides, when sprayed onto produce, could lead to many health problems in humans when they consume or inhale it. Her list identifies some of the diseases that are linked to pesticides: cancer, autism, obesity, diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, infertility, and birth defects (Garber, 2012). Around three million cases involving pesticide exposure happen every year, says Katarina Lah, author of the article, “Effects of Pesticides on Human Health” (2011). Garber only pointed out a few of those cases. Other medical problems include memory less, muscle weakness, visual impairment, and other neurological health issues (Lah, 2011). Diseases like these make pesticides a risky and deadly technique when applied to

Related Documents

  • Decent Essays

    Outline About Parathion

    • 383 Words
    • 2 Pages

    I. Introduction a. Background information parathion and use of pesticides in the 1950-1960s b. Information about the environmental movement that happened after the book was published THESIS: In the excerpt from Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, she states that the use of spraying pesticides is not worth the damage done because of the poison's widespread damage to nature and farmers' ignorance to the dangerous effects parathion has on humans and their worker's lives. II. Body Paragraph 1 a. Carson describes parathion's widespread danger by presenting much of wildlife that was killed as a result of spraying the poison's damage as innocent and describing other deaths as an attempt to change the audience's view to have sympathy for these unintended deaths that do…

    • 383 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The agricultural/food industry has been in many argument about how animals and crops are being raised and killed to feed the american people. Michael Pollan uses his selection “An Animal’s Place” to defend his right to eat as he pleases. While, Blake Hurst uses his article “The Omnivore’s Delusion” to shield post-modern farming techniques from a mass of uneducated critics. Now, read as these two duke it out against their opponents to see if they can live as they want. Michael Pollan, a writer/activist, fights for his right to animals as he sees fit.…

    • 1352 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Rachel Carson in her article “The Obligation to Endure” argues the impact that pesticides/insecticides had upon the environment and the human health risks that were caused because of the harmful pesticides/insecticides. Carson made some interesting points which led me to think about how man is actually destroying the earth, with the help of science because of the harmful chemicals that are being used in pesticides. Society fails to realize that the pesticides being used are actually killing other animals and human species through the contaminations in it, that’s made by man on earth because we humans and the animals eat those crops. The quote, “The central problem of our age has therefore become the contamination of man’s total with substances…

    • 608 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Neonics Research Paper

    • 1733 Words
    • 7 Pages

    As the farmers are spraying the pesticide, it can drift and corrupt unintended land mass. Once the plants take in the…

    • 1733 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    I think the pro of using pesticides is of course that it allows less crops being lost to insects, which yields more food. So, pesticides allow us to produce more food, which in turn then cuts the overall cost of the food. The big con of using pesticides is what else are these chemical affecting and what they might be doing to our bodies. The run off water from the agricultural farms can contaminate our groundwater, and the video showed the results of the infertility issues of workers from their various pesticide exposure. My son did a social studies project a few years ago that showed how it is believed that pesticides called neonicotinoids which are applied to crops seeds are killing honeybees, which is causing less pollination and therefore…

    • 369 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Carson talks about the danger of pesticides, insisting that we use caution because we do not know what the long term effects of the pesticides are. Since earth has a very interconnected food web when one part of the web gets impacted it affects the world on a large scale(paragraph 23). For example if you poison the little mice that run around then the predators that prey on them then it would poison the predators, since humans are among the top of the food chain we end up possibly being able to become in contact with the…

    • 693 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Pesticides can do many things that make human’s lives easier. They can kill unwanted bugs, which are called insecticides, they can kill unwanted plants, which are called herbicides, and they can kill fungi, which are called fungicides. There are many more pesticides out there as well, each with a different job. These pesticides are meant to help make human lives better, but do these pesticides really make our lives better? In Silent Spring, written by Rachel Carson, pesticides are examined and shown how pesticides cause environmental issues far worse, than the pests humans are trying to kill.…

    • 1152 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This thorough list of cons provides a refutation to those, such as farmers, that claim pesticides are worth the cons. Including several statements supporting the same argument by different people allows Carrington to tacitly repeat and emphasize his claim. Carrington achieves his purpose of advancing the argument for restriction of pesticides through presenting the harmful extent of neonicotinoids’ toxicity, as well as demonstrating that his argument is…

    • 514 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Long term effects can occur after little exposure in the environment or by eating or drinking food and water. Some studies by the national cancer institute discovered that American farmers have a lot higher population percentage of cancer. Chemical pesticides use kills bees which pollinate a lot of the plants and worms which keep the soil healthy and naturally limit pest populations. The Chemicals actually weaken the plants roots and immune system, the thing that the farmers are trying to protect. That is like shooting yourself in the foot.…

    • 420 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Water Pollution In Canada

    • 321 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The toxicants from pesticides have a significant effect on the ecosystems which leads to negatively impacting humans and their well-being. The damages on the ecosystems because of the pesticide runoff in water bodies is interconnected with the health of humans. This interconnection…

    • 321 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    It has been said that each time we eat organic fruits and vegetables, we are restoring the wildlife in the world (Dauncey). When we grow food without pesticides we are helping so many organisms, from the butterflies to the beavers. Without pesticides, there are no chemicals running into the water supply, which in turn saves lives. The soil is healthier without runoff from pesticides, and the bugs in the soil can do their job to keep your crops healthy. In 2001, a study in the United States found that organic agricultural fields had higher nutrients levels than inorganic agricultural fields (Dauncey).…

    • 1042 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Pros And Cons Of DDT

    • 1029 Words
    • 5 Pages

    DDT, a white tasteless and almost odorless crystalline solid, is an organochlorine contact insecticide that kills by acting as a nerve poison. DDT is categorized by the WHO as Class II "moderately hazardous". DDT was first synthesized in 1874; it was first used as pesticide in 1937 and for epidemic prevention in the US Army during the Second World War (Eriksson & Talts 2000). Its insecticidal properties were first discovered by Paul Müller in 1939, and it acts on the nervous system through modulation of voltage sensitive sodium channels. This modulation is known to cause the characteristic symptom called “DDT jitters”, which can be best described as the repetitive discharge in the nerve that leads to whole body tremors as a result of increased…

    • 1029 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Why Is Child Labor Wrong

    • 1136 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In an article in the Washington Post, a boy “was working on a row of sweet potatoes when a shower of liquid sprayed over from the next field. On his break he discovered pesticides had soaked his pants, damaging [his] phone’s screen. ”(Alexandre Hall) If the pesticides can damage a phone imagine what they can do to a person's skin, eyes or how it can affect breathing. Children work in this pesticides for hours a day.…

    • 1136 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It kills bees, harms people, and contaminates our water. Pesticides can turn our world upside down. The Evaporation of Bees Pesticides kill bees which wastes farmers money because some farmers rely on bees for crops. Bees may be something that farmers rely upon and without bees the farmers’ crops can’t grow.…

    • 509 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    For example, soil, water, air and climate change, and ecological services are all benefits that factory farmers will never have ("Organic Agriculture"). Soil improves the formation and structure of the land and creates a more stable system. Therefore, nutrient and energy cycling is increased and the soil for nutrients and water are enhanced. Pollution of chemically enhanced fertilizers and pesticides in water is a major problem in the industrial farming system. The use of these products are prohibited in organic farming.…

    • 818 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays