GCSE Geography | Organic Farming vs Agribusiness (Resource Management - UK Overview 3)

There is concern about the UK’s dependency on food imports and the need for greater food security, and in recent years we have seen an increase in two types of farming in the UK that are trying to address this. But they take very different approaches to food production!

Organic farming

Organic produce is grown without the use of chemicals – so no fertilisers or pesticides, and can include meat, fruit and vegetables. Instead of using chemicals, farmers use natural predators to control pests, e.g. blackflies are eaten by ladybirds, which means their pest control methods do not harm the environment or local natural habitats. They also use machines to pull out weeds rather than spraying weedkiller onto the land. In addition, manure and compost is used to add nutrients to crops instead of chemical fertilisers, so there is no issue of chemical run-off in local waterways, and they practise crop rotation meaning that the soil is less likely to become exhausted, so there is less need for fertilisers anyway. Finally, many farmed animals are given hormones to stimulate growth - but this doesn't happen to livestock that has been organically reared.

Organic produce has become increasingly popular over the last couple of decades as consumers try to make responsible food choices, both in terms of their own health and that of the environment. Many people believe that organic food is healthier as it natural and non-processed, and doesn't use chemicals. As a result we can now buy organic food in farm shops, at local farmers markets and can even have it delivered to our homes via fruit and vegetable box schemes. However, over three-quarters of organic food is actually sold in UK supermarkets.

But, the biggest drawback of organic food is the cost - the lack of chemicals means that organic food has high labour costs and a lower yield, making it more expensive overall.

Agribusiness

On the complete flip side to this is agribusiness – this is intensive farming which maximises the amount of goods produced by using modern technology (such as huge farm machinery, expensive irrigation systems and better seeds) and chemical fertilisers and pesticides. These farms are run as huge commercial businesses, and the farms are also physically much bigger - often by combining smaller farms and removing hedgerows to increase the size of fields.

Agribusiness is a much more integrated system of farming - 'from farm to fork' is common and describes the system where these huge businesses own all the components of food production - the farms themselves, but also the factories where the food is processed, the transport companies, and even the stores where the produce is being sold. This makes farming much more efficient and able to produce huge yields at a relatively low cost per unit. This increased production of food is good for UK food security.

However, these intensive systems have a number of drawbacks, for example, the increased mechanisation had led to a huge decline in the number of jobs in farming, removing hedgerows to increase field size has affected habitats, and run-off from fertilisers and pesticides has contaminated waterways, destroying marine life.