Comments by "EebstertheGreat" (@EebstertheGreat) on "What 'organic' or 'antibiotic free' don't tell you" video.

  1. The more land you have to plough for your farm, the more wild grassland or forest is destroyed. That's directly harming the environment. Moreover, organic farms have to use more water than conventional farms. They are less sustainable in almost every relevant way. Sustainability is not a goal of the certified organic program, despite claims to the contrary. Rather, it focuses on not using synthetic materials, GMOs, hormones, antibiotics, or growth regulators. Those are not sensible things to be avoiding in general. In particular, synthetic pesticides are used in lesser and less toxic quantities than organic pesticides, and GMOs require less pesticides and herbicides and produce higher yields. The issue of antibiotics was sort of addressed here, but the bigger point is that organically-farmed animals must be allowed to die if they get sick, which clearly harms sustainability. There are some organic practices that probably are beneficial. The use of covering crops for rotation has some positive effect on carbon sequestration and nutrient cycling (except nitrogen). Some organically-raised crops use less total energy and fewer pesticides per unit produced (though this doesn't seem to be true for all crops, and some organic pesticides may be more toxic). The use of hormones in raising beef has led to some public health concerns (though these are still poorly understood). It's possible that some of these practices should be adopted more broadly. But there is no reason to jump onto a label that combines a bunch of arbitrarily chosen standards, most of which are actively harmful to both the farmer and the environment.
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