Organic Gardening and Farming
Agriculture has changed dramatically since the end of World War II. As a result of new technologies, mechanization, increased chemical use, specialization, and government policies, food and fiber productivity has soared. While some of these changes have led to positive effects, there have been significant costs: topsoil depletion, groundwater contamination, harmful pesticide residue, the decline of family farms, and increasing costs of production.To counterbalance these costs, there is a growing movement to grow plants organically.
On a local level, suburban homeowners and city dwellers are finding ways to plant their own food for personal consumption in plots that are not sprayed with chemicals or treated with synthetic fertilizers. City dwellers may team up to work a collective, organic garden on a vacant lot. Homeowners have the option to create mulch piles—a mixture of leaves and organic materials, vegetable leavings, egg shells, coffee grounds, etc.—that eventually become a rich soil, thanks to the breakdown of these elements by tiny organisms. This enriched soil becomes a fertile, clean foundation for a bountiful garden. The inevitable weeds that grow can be picked by hand.
On a larger level, emerging as an answer to some of these farming problems is a movement called "sustainable agriculture." Sustainability rests on the principle that we must meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
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