The Rise and Fall of Chemical Agriculture

摘要

In the last issue I defined quite a few of the terms used in organic gardening and farming. This time I want to discuss the history of the movement, and what motivated the pioneers of organic farming to choose the path they took. Before the twentiethcentury, what we now call organic farming or gardening was the only way people farmed and gardened. There were no modern chemical pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers—or fossil-fueled farm equipment. If a society destroyed its agricultural land through unsustainable farming practices, it didn't survive long.