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Difference Between Conventional And Organic Farming

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Difference Between Conventional And Organic Farming
Organic Farming vs. Conventional Farming

There are various reasons of why organic farming is more sustainable than conventional agriculture. Concisely, the most important reasons can be explained as under.

If we grow food organically, it benefits the soil, water cycles and biodiversity. The author T. Singh (2004) writes that the Green Revolution technology “has been very successful in achieving spectacular results in food grain production during the last three decades. However, signs of fatigue in the natural resources have already emerged and have unleashed various agro-ecological problems. It has badly damaged the natural resource base of the country”. Organic agriculture, by contrast, improves soil fertility and its properties, such as
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A global-level comparative analysis of different studies revealed that organic farms have 30% greater species diversity than conventional farms and 50% more beneficial insects such as bees (Niggli 2010). On a whole, ecosystem linkages are strengthened and its healthy functioning is promoted through sustainable agriculture. It also helps to maintains natural ecosystem services like nutrient cycling, pollination, and pest regulation.

Sustainable agriculture makes an important contribution to climate change mitigation and adaptation, and reduces the consumption of fossil fuel to a great extent. The main contributors to the global greenhouse gas emissions are agriculture and diet: In the 1990s, about 15% have been because of agricultural land use (Cole et al. 1997). Most of the global nitrous oxide emissions and around two thirds of methane emissions originate from agriculture (Kotschi and Müller-Sämann 2004).
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Rao et al. 2005; Prabu 2009). It also lessens the risk of chemical residues in food products, which is a matter of concern in India, as it remains among the countries with the highest levels of toxic residues in food in the world (Chander 1997). The Indian Council of Medical Research conducted a study in 1996 which revealed that 51% of all food analysed was contaminated with pesticide residues and that 20% was above tolerable levels (cited in Lohr and Dittrich 2007). Organic products have been found to be nutritionally superior, containing more vitamins and micronutrients than non-organic products grown under the same conditions, besides reducing the adverse effects of exposure to synthetic pesticides (Niggli et al.

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