Organic

Organic is another one of those terms that most people today haven't a clue as to what it means. Originally, the term 'Organic' was synonymous with 'mechanic', but was used more as an adjective as the word 'organical' synonymous with 'mechanical'. The term evolved to express its current general meaning from its use to describe biological appendages, such as 'the eyes were the organ of sight' which at that time meant that the eyes were the mechanism of sight. In fact the musical instrument we know as the 'organ' meant primarily that it was a mechanical instrument. All this information and more can be found in the book "Keywords" by Raymond Williams.

Today, the term 'organic' has taken on a new, politically forced meaning that defines food and cosmetics as having been produced without the use of chemical inputs or transgenetic engineering. This is actually a naive, but consistent meaning with the original. Let me explain:

In modern (postmodern?) agriculture, everything is based upon linear (and limited) inputs. Fossil fuels are the main input in agriculture and supply everything from the fuel to power the tractors that: plow the fields, till the fields, fertilize the fields, plant the seeds, spray the pesticides - which are produced from fossil fuels, harvest the crops and preliminarily process the food. Fossil fuels are again used to transport the crops to the main processors and from the main processors to the distributors. The distributors use fossil fuels to transport the finished goods to the retail outlets. Fossil fuels are again used by the majority of the consumers to transport the food from the retailer to their main location of consumption.

And thats not all. There are other inputs besides fossil fuels in (post)modern agriculture. There are the fertilizers. A main fertilizer, which consumes immense quantities of energy is ammonia, which is split off from the nitrogen in the air using the Haber process, and combined with hydrogen, which is split off from water. Both processes use immense quantities of electricity which comes most often from coal - a fossil fuel.

In addition, there are mineral inputs, often originating in countries with insufficient agricultural output to even feed their own people. Nutrients such as phosphorus, potassium, sulfur and magnesium and so forth... The thing about all these inputs is that agriculture is no longer a self sustaining system, it is a linear process that requires immense quantities of limited inputs.

In other words, agriculture is unsustainable, that is, we can only feed ourselves now while supplies of inputs last and billions of people will starve in the relatively near future. And those who will starve the most severely will be those who live in the fossil fuel dependent nations.

Doom and gloom for sure, but that is why people are opting for 'organic' food. Not because it is healthier, contains more nutrients, much less pesticide residue and is based on food stuff we evolved to eat (and due to many concerned people investing in 'Organic' over the past 30 years - good tasting too), but because it is a step in the direction toward a mechanical or systematic form of agriculture, one that treats the natural world as a mechanical system rather than a processing facility. Do we make this choice to treat nature as a system consciously, or do we base our decision on those other benefits?

Organic is not a word that means 'pure' or 'healthy' or 'science free'. In fact, organic agriculture is much more science intensive than post modern agriculture, which is based upon a standardized set of operating procedures, just like any other factory. Organic agriculture is based upon understanding how an agricultural ecosystem works and managing the system to emphasize its strengths, rather than make some foolish attempt to dominate the system and bend it to the will of humanity.

Philosophically, conventional agriculture is completely backward. Human beings function in a moral capacity, consciously mitigating our behaviour such that we treat others as ends and not simply means to our own ends. Conventional agriculture expects nature to behave morally and then dispenses punishments when nature functions mechanically, which is how nature functions. Funny how we treat people as if we should behave mechanically and nature as if it should behave morally. Can we be any more wrong?

Organic agriculture is not a magic bullet for human stupidity, but it is a step in the right direction for those of us who desire to live in a sensible and moral state. Organic food is still highly dependent upon fossil fuels, but at least the true organic farmers are concerned to reduce those inputs and work towards a sustainable form of food production before the planet runs out of fossil fuels. The term 'Locally grown' is cropping up more and more - no pun intended.

Many of the other inputs such as pesticides and fertilizers are science and system-strategy based and are focused upon using the energy inherent in the biotic systems of nature rather than inputing energy gleaned from fossil fuels. Organic depends more on using our minds rather than the muscle of fossil fuels. Farms are incidentally one of the likely places to find wind power machines, demonstrating that farmers are concerned about energy inputs. Agriculture is one of the more energy intensive of human activities and because of this dependence it is a serious concern for civil societies to run out of fuel.

The Roman empire collapsed as a direct consequence of the loss of its North African grain production states to the Vandals. It never recovered after that and the Goths and other smaller tribes in the area overran the empire, which could no longer sustain huge armies or invest manpower in great works. This is the same thing that will happen to the current world if it insists upon ignoring sustainable forms of energy, and sustainable forms of agriculture.

Organic food is the direction of focus for those of us who do not wish to see civilization collapse again.

Peace