2. The Beginning
• In 1939, Lord Northbourne, coined the
term organic farming in his book Look to
the Land.
• His conception was "the farm as an
organism"
• Describes an ecologically-balanced
approach to farming—in contrast to
chemical farming

3. The concept
• Processed organic food usually contains
only organic (95% approx.) ingredients.
• Must be free of artificial food additives.
• Processed with fewer artificial methods,
materials and conditions, such as
chemical ripening, food irradiation, and
genetically modified ingredients.

4. Activities against
• Chemical ripening involves the use of
chemicals to either slow or quicken the ripening
process of fruits and vegetables.
• Food irradiation is the process of exposing
food to ionizing radiation to destroy
microorganisms.
• Genetically modified organism (GMO) is an
organism whose genetic material has been
altered using genetic engineering techniques

5. Default system
• Early consumers interested in organic
food would look for non-chemically
treated, fresh or minimally processed
food.
• Buy directly from growers: "Know your
farmer, know your food" was the motto.

6. Back to basics
• As demand for organic foods continued to
increase, high volume sales through mass
outlets such as supermarkets.
• Many large corporate farms currently have
an organic division.
• As of April 2008, organic food accounts for
1–2% of food sales worldwide.

7. The impact
Organic farming is less damaging for :
• Do not consume or release synthetic pesticides
into the environment—some of which have the
potential to harm soil, water and local terrestrial
and aquatic wildlife.
• Sustains diverse ecosystems, i.e., populations of
plants and insects, as well as animals.
• Produce less waste, e.g. packaging materials for
chemicals.

8. Yield factor
• Organic farms on average produce 80%,
ie 20% less of the yield produced by
conventional agriculture.
Note : the materials needed for organic
farming are more accessible to farmers in
some developing countries.

9. Energy efficiency
• More energy efficient because they do not
use chemically synthesized fertilizers.

10. Harmful residue
• Pesticides have become associated with
acute health problems such as abdominal
pain, dizziness, headaches, nausea,
vomiting, skin and eye problems,
respiratory problems, memory disorders,
dermatologic conditions, cancer,
depression, neurologic deficits and birth
defects.

11. Nutritional facts
• Higher levels of nutritionally desirable
compounds (e.g. vitamins / antioxidants)
• Lower levels of nutritionally undesirable
compounds such as heavy metals,
pesticide residues, etc.

12. Cost factor
• Organic products typically cost 10 to 40%
more than similar conventionally produced
products.
• Processed in smaller scale, and may need
to be milled or processed separately.

13. Global Growth
• The world organic market has been
growing by 20% a year since early 1990.
• Future growth estimates more than 10%
annually.

14. Few Thoughts
• All our human values go out of our hands
if the only goal is to produce always more
and faster and cheaper – unethically.
• Non-organic food only appears to be
cheaper, but it costs us our health, our
farmland, our eco-systems and taxes to
pay for the disasters that chemical farming
create.

15. Modern trend
In today’s world where people are being
more and more careful about what they
eat, they are also concerned about
where this food comes from.

16. A touch with Nature …
… You Are What You Eat

17. THANK YOU
an
Anish Banerjee
initiative