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== History == {{Main|History of organic farming}} [[Agriculture]] was practiced for thousands of years without the use of artificial chemicals. [[Artificial fertilizer]]s were first developed during the mid-19th century. These [[Fertilizer#History|early fertilizers]] were cheap, powerful, and easy to transport in bulk. Similar advances occurred in chemical [[pesticide]]s in the 1940s, leading to the decade being referred to as the "pesticide era".<ref name=Horne2>{{cite book|last=Horne|first=Paul Anthony|title=Integrated pest management for crops and pastures|year=2008|publisher=CSIRO Publishing|isbn=978-0-643-09257-0|page=2|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=dhO4HAQbNU8C|page=2}}}}</ref> These new agricultural techniques, while beneficial in the short-term, had serious longer-term side-effects, such as [[soil compaction]], [[soil erosion|erosion]], and declines in overall [[soil fertility]], along with health concerns about toxic chemicals entering the food supply.<ref name=Stinner2007>{{Cite book |year=2007 |last=Stinner, D.H |chapter=The Science of Organic Farming |editor=William Lockeretz |title=Organic Farming: An International History |publisher=Oxfordshire, UK & Cambridge, Massachusetts: CAB International (CABI) |chapter-url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=25QnL3-njZQC%22Organic}} |access-date=30 April 2013|isbn=978-1-84593-289-3}}</ref>{{rp|10}} In the late 1800s and early 1900s, [[soil biology]] scientists began to seek ways to remedy these side effects while still maintaining higher production. In 1921 the founder and pioneer of the organic movement, [[Sir Albert Howard|Albert Howard]], and his wife [[Gabrielle Howard]]<ref name="CP_2001">{{cite book |last1=Conford |first1=P. |title=The Origins of the Organic Movement. |date=2001 |publisher=Floris Books |location=Glasgow, Great Britain}}</ref><ref name="GTF_1999">{{cite book |last1=Gieryn |first1=T.F. |title=Cultural Boundaries of Science: Credibility on the Line. |url=https://archive.org/details/culturalboundari0000gier |url-access=registration |date=1999 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago, Il. |pages=[https://archive.org/details/culturalboundari0000gier/page/233 233]β335 }}</ref><ref name="JH_2007">Joseph Heckman, [http://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/a-history-of-organic-farming-transitions-from-sir-albert-howards-war-in-the-soil-to-the-usda-national-organic-program/ A History of Organic Farming: Transitions from Sir Albert Howard's War in the Soil to the USDA National Organic Program]</ref> accomplished [[botanist]]s, founded an Institute of Plant Industry to improve traditional farming methods in India. Among other things, they brought improved implements and improved animal husbandry methods from their scientific training; then by incorporating aspects of Indian traditional methods, developed protocols for the rotation of crops, erosion prevention techniques, and the systematic use of composts and manures.<ref>Yeshwant D. Wad, [http://journeytoforever.org/farm_library/howard_memorial.html The Work At Indore]</ref> Stimulated by these experiences of traditional farming, when Albert Howard returned to Britain in the early 1930s<ref>Gabrielle Howard had died while the Howards were still in India.</ref> he began to promulgate a system of organic agriculture.<ref name=vogt>{{cite book |title=Organic Farming: An International History |editor=Lockeretz W |publisher=CABI Publishing |year=2007 |pages=9β30 |isbn=9780851998336 |author=Vogt G |chapter=Chapter 1: The Origins of Organic Farming}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Lotter | first1 = D.W. | year = 2003 | title = Organic agriculture | url = http://www.donlotter.net/lotter_organicag.pdf | journal = Journal of Sustainable Agriculture | volume = 21 | issue = 4 | pages = 59β128 | doi = 10.1300/J064v21n04_06 | bibcode = 2003JSusA..21d..59L | s2cid = 216090323 | access-date = 2 February 2013 | archive-date = 9 August 2017 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170809192338/http://donlotter.net/lotter_organicag.pdf | url-status = dead }}</ref><ref name=Kirchmann>{{cite book|last1=Kirchmann|first1=Holger|last2=Bergstrom|first2=Lars|title=Organic Crop Production - Ambitions and Limitations|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=B6tBN1dyC9oC&pg=PR2}}|date=16 December 2008|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=978-1-4020-9316-6|pages=2β}}</ref> In 1924 [[Rudolf Steiner]] gave a series of eight lectures on agriculture with a focus on influences of the moon, planets, non-physical beings and elemental forces.<ref>Paull, John (2013) [http://orgprints.org/22491/17/22491.pdf "Koberwitz (Kobierzyce); In the footsteps of Rudolf Steiner'"], Journal of Bio-Dynamics Tasmania, 109 (Autumn), pp. 7-11.</ref><ref>Paull, John (2013) [http://orgprints.org/22976/27/22976.pdf "Breslau (WrocΕaw): In the footsteps of Rudolf Steiner"], Journal of Bio- Dynamics Tasmania, 110:10-15.</ref> They were held in response to a request by adherent farmers who noticed degraded soil conditions and a deterioration in the health and quality of crops and livestock resulting from the use of chemical fertilizers.<ref name="Introduction">Diver (1999), [http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/biodynamic.html#intro "Introduction"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110526054008/http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/biodynamic.html#intro |date=26 May 2011 }}.</ref> The lectures were published in November 1924; the first English translation appeared in 1928 as ''The Agriculture Course''.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Paull |first=John |year=2011 |url=http://www.jsrp.ro/content/JSRP-Nr3_PAULL |title=The secrets of Koberwitz: the diffusion of Rudolf Steiner's agriculture course and the founding of biodynamic agriculture |journal=Journal of Social Research & Policy |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=19β29 |access-date=6 March 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160308223858/http://www.jsrp.ro/content/JSRP-Nr3_PAULL |archive-date=8 March 2016}}</ref> In July 1939, [[Ehrenfried Pfeiffer]], the author of the standard work on [[biodynamic agriculture]] (''Bio-Dynamic Farming and Gardening''),<ref name=Paull2011>{{cite journal |author=Paull, John |year=2011 |title=Biodynamic Agriculture: The Journey from Koberwitz to the World, 1924-1938|url=http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:304a24bf-3961-4798-b13c-9e0a1e2aa339|journal=Journal of Organic Systems |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=27β41}}</ref> came to the UK at the invitation of [[Walter James, 4th Baron Northbourne]] as a presenter at the [[Betteshanger]] Summer School and Conference on Biodynamic Farming at Northbourne's farm in Kent.<ref name=Betteshanger>Paull, John (2011) [http://orgprints.org/19511/1/Paull2011BetteshangerJOS.pdf "The Betteshanger Summer School: Missing link between biodynamic agriculture and organic farming"], Journal of Organic Systems, 6(2):13-26.</ref> One of the chief purposes of the conference was to bring together the proponents of various approaches to organic agriculture in order that they might cooperate within a larger movement. Howard attended the conference, where he met Pfeiffer.<ref>Ehrenfried E. Pfeiffer, [http://journeytoforever.org/farm_library/howard_memorial.html Sir Albert Howard's Deed for Science]</ref> In the following year, Northbourne published his manifesto of organic farming, ''Look to the Land'', in which he coined the term "organic farming". The Betteshanger conference has been described as the 'missing link' between biodynamic agriculture and other forms of organic farming.<ref name=Betteshanger/> In 1940, Howard published his ''[[An Agricultural Testament]]''. In this book he adopted [[Walter James, 4th Baron Northbourne|Northbourne's]] terminology of "organic farming".<ref name=Paull>Paull, John (2006) [http://orgprints.org/10138/1/10138.pdf The Farm as Organism: The Foundational Idea of Organic Agriculture] Elementals ~ Journal of Bio-Dynamics Tasmania 83:14β18</ref> Howard's work spread widely, and he became known as the "father of organic farming" for his work in applying scientific knowledge and principles to various traditional and natural methods.<ref name=Stinner2007/>{{rp|45}} In the United States [[J. I. Rodale]], who was keenly interested both in Howard's ideas and in biodynamics,<ref name="JH_2007"/> founded in the 1940s both a working organic farm for trials and experimentation, [[The Rodale Institute]], and [[Rodale, Inc.]], in [[Emmaus, Pennsylvania]], to teach and advocate organic methods to the wider public. These became important influences on the spread of organic agriculture. Further work was done by [[Lady Eve Balfour]] (the [[Haughley Experiment]]) in the United Kingdom, and many other places across the world. The term "eco-agriculture" was coined in 1970 by [[Charles Walters, Jr.|Charles Walters]], founder of ''Acres Magazine'', to describe agriculture which does not use "man-made molecules of toxic rescue chemistry", effectively another name for organic agriculture.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.acresusa.com/eco-agriculture/ |title=What is Eco-Agriculture? |publisher=Acres, USA |access-date=15 October 2019 |archive-date=23 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180423102152/https://www.acresusa.com/eco-agriculture |url-status=dead }}</ref> Increasing environmental awareness in the general population in modern times has transformed the originally supply-driven organic movement to a demand-driven one. Premium prices and some government subsidies attracted farmers. In the developing world, many producers farm according to traditional methods that are comparable to organic farming, but not certified, and that may not include the latest scientific advancements in organic agriculture. In other cases, farmers in the developing world have converted to modern organic methods for economic reasons.<ref>Paull, John [http://orgprints.org/10949/01/10949.pdf "China's Organic Revolution"], Journal of Organic Systems (2007) 2 (1): 1-11.</ref> ===Terminology=== The use of "organic" popularized by Howard and Rodale refers more narrowly to the use of [[Soil organic matter|organic matter]] derived from plant compost and animal manures to improve the [[humus]] content of soils, grounded in the work of early soil scientists who developed what was then called "humus farming". Since the early 1940s the two camps have tended to merge.<ref>{{cite web|last=Nayler|first=Justin|title=Second Thoughts About Organic Agriculture|url=http://www.soilandhealth.org/01aglibrary/Second.Thoughts.pdf|publisher=Soil And Health Library|access-date=11 May 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140801061226/http://www.soilandhealth.org/01aglibrary/Second.Thoughts.pdf|archive-date=1 August 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Diver|first=Steve|title=Controlled Microbial Composting and Humus Management: Luebke Compost|url=http://www.ibiblio.org/steved/Luebke/Luebke-compost2.html|access-date=11 May 2014}}</ref> Biodynamic agriculturists, on the other hand, used the term "organic" to indicate that a farm should be viewed as a living organism,<ref name=Kirchmann/>{{rp|17β19}}<ref name=Betteshanger/> in the sense of the following quotation: {{blockquote|1=An organic farm, properly speaking, is not one that uses certain methods and substances and avoids others; it is a farm whose structure is formed in imitation of the structure of a natural system that has the integrity, the independence and the benign dependence of an organism | 2=[[Wendell Berry]], "The Gift of Good Land"}} They based their work on Steiner's spiritually-oriented alternative [[biodynamic agriculture]] which includes various esoteric concepts.
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