Sustainability, and the Myth Organic is Better
Growing up on a working dirt farm in Michigan, I know a thing or two about agricultural farming. So I get a little up in arms when my friends tell me things like “The way corn is raised depletes the land in 7-10 years”. Bull-SH**.
My family has raised Corn, Wheat, and Oats on the same land for approaching 100 years. Farmers invest in the land they work, and aren’t going to adopt practices that result in them being out of business with baron land in 10 years.
City Grown College Kids who started PACT sustainable Underwear, underwear that uses “sustainable organic cotton”, are selling you a pile of that which stains your Underwear. I’m not saying that all underwear is equal in its environmental impact, but much like the Corn Myths, Cotton insustainability is also a myth. Cotton has been a staple of the south since America became independent. Many of the fields in the south have raised cotton for 200 years, and unlike Fishing grounds where stocks can be deleted if you harvest too much, Cotton reproduces because humans put it back.
Organic cotton takes vastly more petroleum, to raise, and because it is untreated for insects and disease often creates huge amounts of loss not only in the organic fields, but for fields from miles around. The results is an even larger impact on the ecosystem, because any of the negative effects of pesticides which would be reduced by the organic field has to be offset by the traditional fields.
Similarly I get a little up in arms about Cow myths. Everyone assumes that ALL cows are not raised in industrial Cattle farms where the cows are gorged on feed and aren’t allowed to move more than a few feet. Again most states don’t allow industrial animal farms. California where most of the proponents or Organic come from is one of the worst offenders of inhumane treatment of food animals.
Horticulture is a good thing. If everyone had a Victory Garden the planet would benefit, but it is not a method that works for the size of our population. In order to sustain the number of people on the planet we have to use science in agriculture to create disease resistant plants, and manage the PH of soil.
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-- Brandon Wirtz