The Hydroponic Threat to Organic Food

http://www.independentsciencenews.org/health/the-hydroponic-threat-to-organic-food/
Date Written:  2019-06-24
Publisher:  Independent Science News
Year Published:  2019
Resource Type:  Article
Cx Number:  CX23737

The US Department of Agriculture is approving methods as "Certified Organic" which are contrary to the principles of organic, sustainable agriculture. This is done mostly to comply with the demands of large agribusiness companies.

Abstract: 
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Excerpt:

Organic farming is based on protecting and enhancing this web of life. By cultivating the diversity of life, we create a stable ecosystem in the soil. Diseases or pestilence are symptoms of a loss of balance. So the organic farmer’s first job is to enhance the diversity of life in the soil community. This is done by providing materials and techniques to help build a soil carbon sponge....

The organic movement has long believed that food grown in a healthy soil is the foundation of human health. In recent years it has become clear that agriculture is also deeply involved in the climate crisis, both as the problem and as the solution. Conventional agriculture contributes directly to the destruction of the living soil, leading to the spread of deserts and the warming of the planet. We have the skills and understanding to farm without chemicals in a way that will build a soil carbon sponge that can cool our warming planet. Our impediment to achieving this is social and political, not technical.