Synonyms and Related Terms
Introduction
Organic food is produced without the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. Four further exclusions in organic production are: genetically modified organisms (GMOs), irradiation, prophylactic antibiotics, and engineered nanoparticles. These six exclusions differentiate organic agriculture from chemical agriculture.
Agriculture and food harvesting and production date back millennia, and until about a century ago that history is de facto organic. The Industrial Revolution ushered in an era of novel production strategies. Agriculture was not immune to new views of industrialization and reductionism. Advances in chemistry enabled some implementation of such views.
Early in the diffusion of chemical farming practices, the Austrian mystic Rudolf Steiner (1865–1924) called for a differentiated agriculture free of these new synthetic chemical inputs (Paull 2011a; Steiner 1924). The...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
ACNielsen. (2005). Functional foods & organics: A global AC Nielsen online survey on consumer behaviour and attitudes. ACNielsen.
GfK. (2017). Decision factors on what to eat or drink: Global GfK survey (October 2017). London: GfK (Growth from Knowledge).
Joyce, B. (2016). Help us win the war on pests and weeds. Canberra: Media Release, Department of Agriculture and Water Resources. 1 September.
Northbourne, L. (1940). Look to the land. London: Dent.
Paull, J. (2011a). Attending the first organic agriculture course: Rudolf Steiner’s agriculture course at Koberwitz, 1924. European Journal of Social Sciences, 21(1), 64–70.
Paull, J. (2011b). The Betteshanger summer school: Missing link between biodynamic agriculture and organic farming. Journal of Organic Systems, 6(2), 13–26.
Paull, J. (2011c). Biodynamic agriculture: The journey from Koberwitz to the World, 1924–1938. Journal of Organic Systems, 6(1), 27–41.
Paull, J. (2013). The Rachel Carson letters and the making of silent spring. Sage Open, 3(July-September), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244013494861.
Paull, J. (2014). Lord Northbourne, the man who invented organic farming, a biography. Journal of Organic Systems, 9(1), 31–53.
Paull, J. (2017). Four new strategies to grow the organic agriculture sector. Agrofor International Journal, 2(3), 61–70.
Pfeiffer, E. (1938). Bio-dynamic farming and gardening: Soil fertility renewal and preservation. (F. Heckel, Trans.). New York: Anthroposophic Press.
Riddle, J. A. (1868). Sterility is laid, Prof. Ville’s new system of agriculture. Manchester, NH: Charles F. Livingston.
Seada, T., Mohamed, R., Fletscher, T., Abouleish, H., & Abouleish-Boes, M. (2016). The future of agriculture in Egypt: Comparative full cost accounting study of organic and conventional food production systems in Egypt. Cairo: Heliopolis University for Sustainable Development.
Steiner, R. (1924). Landwirtschaftlicher Kursus gehalten zu Koberwitz 7. bis 16. Juni 1924. Dornach: Herausgegeben von der naturwissenschaftlichen Sektion am Goetheanum.
Willer, H., & Lernoud, J. (Eds.). (2017). The world of organic agriculture: Statistics and emerging trends 2017. Frick/Bonn: Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL)/IFOAM-Organics International.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this entry
Cite this entry
Paull, J. (2018). Organic Food and Agriculture. In: Thompson, P., Kaplan, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Food and Agricultural Ethics. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6167-4_632-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6167-4_632-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-6167-4
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-6167-4
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Religion and PhilosophyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Humanities