Why Organic Agriculture

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There is more and more evidence that chemical based fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides are extremely harmful to our health. Conventional agriculture relies heavily on chemical fertilizers and toxic pesticides, which are harmful to human health, and which enter the food supply, penetrate water sources, harm the livestock, deplete the soil, devastate natural eco-systems, and contaminate the foods grown for the general public. In addition to which, there are over 7000 artificial and/or chemical preservatives and additives permitted in non-organic food including colorings, stabilizers, fillers, residual antibiotics, hydrogenated fats, etc. none of which are permitted in organic foods. Not only do whole communities become subject to the dangers of toxic agricultural chemicals, they seep into the food on which they are applied; and the foods grown for the general pubic become contaminated as well. In many places trees have stopped bearing fruit because the heavy use of pesticides has killed the pollinators – the bees and butterflies. In India as elsewhere, chemical fertilizers and pesticides have been aggressively promoted and heavily subsidized to keep the fertilizer companies afloat, without realizing the resulting devastation these chemical applications have wrought on the sustainability of agriculture. The most recent introduction of GM seeds and crops (genetically modified, also called GE, genetically engineered), which need to be purchased every year at a high cost, and need to be heavily sprayed with the killer pesticides that the same companies produce, evokes a strong response from health and environment conscious people all over the world. Many of India 's farmers have lost much of their ancestral farming knowledge and ancient seed varieties since the introduction of chemical based commercial agriculture and hybrid seeds. In many areas of India

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