What is organic agriculture?

Answer 1

The National Organic Standards Board, within the US Department of Agriculture, is the source for the official definition of organic agriculture. That definition emphasizes the health and productivity levels of soil, plants, people, and animals. It sees achievement of those levels by attention to environmental balance. An environment will not be or stay balanced if pesticides, hormones, genetically modified organisms, food additives and colorings, commercial fertilizers, or antibiotics are used. For such approaches do not look at the particular problem within the wider, environmental context. Instead, organic approaches focus on biological, cultural and mechanical practices. So problems always involve looking at what is going on above and below ground. So the first reaction may be to check such cultivation practices as watering amounts and times. Or it may be to do a soil analysis. For example, yellowed leaves may result from nitrogen-deficient soil. Or they may result from aphids. So a second reaction may be to round up such beneficial insects as ladybug beetles.