Resolution: In the United States, the benefits of increasing organic agriculture

outweigh the harms

Organic produce: Grown with natural fertilizers (manure, compost).

Conventionally-grown produce: Grown with synthetic or chemical fertilizers.
As per Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) states pesticide is any substance or mixture of
substances intended for preventing, destroying or controlling any pest, including vectors of
human or animal disease, unwanted species of plants or animals causing harm during or
otherwise interfering with the production, processing, storage, transport or marketing of food.

Benefits:
1) Less soil erosion:
The organically-farmed soil had significantly higher organic matter content, thicker
topsoil depth, higher polysaccharide content, lower modulus of rupture and less soil
erosion than the conventionally-farmed soil. This research has been done since 1948
and is reliable due to being carried out by professeurs that specialize in agriculture and
soil from universities of Maine and Washignton state University. In 2015 FAO reported
that soil erosion and carbon release are two of the most dangerous and severe threats.
Another source, journal Sustainability, said that loss of soil organic matter, minerals, and
nutrients to that list. These disturbing trends signal danger not only for the environment,
but they also predict less productive farmland, more expensive but less nutritious food,
and – within the next century – less food. Tilling the soil, states the USDA, is the
equivalent of an earthquake, hurricane, tornado, and forest fire occurring simultaneously
to the world of soil organisms. Simply stated, tillage is bad for the soil. Since it disrupts
the natural order and stable flora of the environment. 36 billion tons per year erode, it
erodes 10 times faster than replenishes. 3% is lost each year. Since 1970, according to
Stanford university, ⅓ of soil in the USA has been irreversibly lost. If we keep our ways
in 60 years we won't have soil to sustain and grow our food, that would create a
disastrous humanitarian crisis, across the whole country, inability to feed millions and
creating dependence on imports from foreign countries. As said above, organic farming
substantially reduces the rates of soil erosion due to use of better, more environmentally
friendly irrigation systems, therefore by increasing the use of organic farming we can
curb the disaster that is approaching us in the near future.
Conserving water:
Water is probably one of the most important resources for our civilization, currently
conventional farming uses 70% of all available drinking water and 40% of it is wasted
due to poor irrigation systems, it takes over 130,000 liters to irrigate an acre of farm land,
mostly due to efficient ways and poor allocation. Organic farming takes care of these
problems not only that it also keeps fresh water more clean, first of all Many of the core
practices of organic farming (and gardening) – including building soil organic matter,
planting cover crops, spreading organic mulches, and maintaining areas of perennial
plants and trees – help the soil absorb and retain water, reduce runoff, and help
recharge underground aquifers (the Rodale Institute reports that organic fields hold more
water during droughts, and that 15-20% more water seeps down to the aquifer under
 organic fields than does under conventional fields). The mentioned techniques also help
keep our water supplies clean by stopping that polluted runoff. Water is a scarce
resource that we humans use everyday, and to prolong the supply of water we are ought
to change our ways of using it, and the first step would be to change the industry that
uses the most water, 70% as mentioned above.

Less carbon footprint and uses less energy:

Research has shown that organic farms use 45 percent less energy, release 40
percent less carbon emissions, in the current day and age it is a must for humans to
reduce our carbon footprint if we want to prosper, U.S. agriculture emitted an estimated
698 million metric tons of carbon-dioxide, if we can reduce it by 40%, by using organic
farming, it would create possibly a change in our future, and decrease the rate of global
warming.

2) Organic farming doesn’t use pesticides that can cause health problems also they
don’t use Non-Therapeutic Antibiotics
Long term pesticide exposure has been linked to the development of Parkinson's
disease; asthma; depression and anxiety; attention deficit and hyperactivity
disorder (ADHD); and cancer, including leukemia and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
Fetuses, infants, growing children, pregnant and nursing mothers, and women of
childbearing age are most at risk for adverse health outcomes from exposure to
pesticides. Children are more at risk than adults because children eat more relative to
their body weight than adults eat. Exposures during vulnerable periods of development
can be particularly dangerous. These vulnerable periods include fetal development,
infancy, early childhood, and puberty. Fetuses are exposed to pesticides through the
mother's diet. Infants are exposed through breast milk. Acute poisoning is a persistent
problem among agricultural and occupational workers who handle pesticides and track
them into their homes where family members get exposed. People who live near
agricultural fields may be exposed by drift from aerial spraying.

Moreover organic farming can make use of substitutes for pesticides to battle
pests and they are 100% organic for example “Soft” chemicals: soap, stinging nettles,
and rhubarbs provide excellent alternatives to pesticides. They are much healthier
alternatives, they have little to no impact for the consumer and the person working with
them, a study by university of Florida found these special organic pesticides reduce the
risk of developing the symptoms we mentioned before by over 88%.

Moreover Non-Therapeutic Antibiotics used in conventional farming create

antibiotic resistance which is a growing danger, conventional farming uses loads of
antibiotics such as lincosamides, macrolides and pleuromutilins, often in some cases it
could even be unnecessary, viruses and other nasty creatures evolve to adapt to the
mass use of Antibiotics and create immunity against them, thus if the virus gets into a
human, it would be much harder to take care of the illness, since the virus is already
immune to the Antibiotics we currently have, in 2019 it killed over a million people in US.
 This number will keep on growing, with the accelerating use of Antibiotics in conventional
farming, more and more cases of antibiotic resistance will happen, therefore killing
millions in the future.

3) Fertilizers and pesticides used in conventional farming can harm the flora
and fauna
Algae booms (Dead zones)
Excess nitrogen and phosphorus cause an overgrowth of algae in a short period of time,
also called algae blooms. The overgrowth of algae consumes oxygen and blocks
sunlight from underwater plants. When the algae eventually dies, the oxygen in the
water is consumed. The lack of oxygen makes it impossible for aquatic life to survive.
The largest dead zone in the United States – about 6,500 square miles – is in the Gulf of
Mexico and occurs every summer as a result of nutrient pollution from the nearby
conventional farms. Organic farming eliminates this problems since the synthetic ways of
promoting growth in conventional farming is substituted for a more environmentally
friendly alternative.

Bees
Beekeepers across the United States lost 45.5% of their managed honey bee colonies
from April 2020 to April 2021,the primary suspects behind this are pesticides, especially
those used in industrial agriculture, and destructive pests that invade hives and spread
disease. Neonicotinoids are a group of pesticides common in the agriculture industry.
Neonicotinoids are used in the production of corn, crops, as well as wheat, soy, and
cotton. They alter bee behavior, limiting their ability to harvest nectar, and weaken bees’
immune systems, leaving them more vulnerable to pests and parasites. Bees are much
more crucial than many people think. Over one third of the food we eat relies on
pollination by bees, either directly or indirectly. Many fruits, nuts, and vegetables require
pollination by bees in order to yield fruit, and without pollinators these crops could all but
disappear from grocery store shelves. Bees also contribute over 20 billion to the US
agriculture industry by pollinating all kinds of crops. If the bees went extinct, and at the
current rate it seems like it will happen in the near future, it would destroy the delicate
balance of the Earth's ecosystem and affect global food supplies. Human nutrition would
have massive changes, many crops would just go extinct if the bees do not pollinate
them.

Harms of increasing organic agriculture:

1) Organic food is proven to be less stable and have lower food yields
organic food has lower production yields, basically less food is produced per acre of
land, it’s a mass issue considering that over 14 million people in USA are food insecure,
a study made by Holger Kirchmann states that over all crops, organic yields were 35%
 lower, one of the main reasons are the strict rules in organic farming, not allowing
farmers to use synthetic fertilizers on their crops, which are found to be less efficient.
Also organic fertilizers are more expensive, making it harder for individual farmers that
do not have the financial resources to afford them. According to USDA, 96% of farms in
the USA are family farms and they are not financially capable to afford to use organic
fertilizers on a large scale.

Moreover organic farming is also proved to be less stable, organic agriculture per unit
yield is 15% less stable, USA already has over 10 million people which are food
insecure, now imagine if there is a supply shortage due to instability, prices will increase,
thus leading to more food insecurity or even mass starvation in the worst scenario.
nature.com/articles/

2) Organic farming increases prices put on consumers, by not using pesticides and
herbicides, organic farming is usually more labor-intensive, and the cost of organic feeds
is higher too. The added cost gets passed on to the consumer, so organic foods tend to
be more expensive. As said above there is 10 million people which are food insecure
and many more which are on the line of becoming food insecure. If prices increase due
to organic farming imagine how hard it will be for these people to feed themselves and
their families. It will cause a massive economic failure and a socio-economic crisis. An
organic farmer who uses land previously conventionally farmed has to wait for three
years before labeling his produce as organic. US law states that to qualify as organic, a
crop must be produced on land which has not been exposed to synthetic fertilizers,
pesticides, and herbicides for three years before harvest. This means start-up costs can
be higher for organic farmers. According to a study of 17 organic products their prices
might be 8-82% more expensive compared to their non-organic counterparts. With a
median increase of 45%, there is no way an average household will be able to afford this
lifestyle.
3) Organic farming is more labour intensive making it more inefficient Organic farming
is hard work and requires more human physical labor than conventional farming. The
larger the area to be cultivated, the more laborers are needed. They have to be
accommodated, fed, and provided with a certain level of health care.These workers also
have to be organized and supervised to maintain organic farming standards. They must
control pests, diseases, and weeds with physical processes as they can’t use chemicals.
By being less efficient, productive capacity decreases, with the exponential population
growth we have, this inefficiency and decreased production would make it very difficult to
provide and distribute the food to everyone. The misallocation of resources creates a
market failure that can harm thousands if not millions of people. According to reuters
organic farming is 48% less energy and resource efficient than conventional farming.

4) Easily goes bad, compared to non-organic food, organic produce has the possibility of
going off a lot quicker. This is due to the fact that it does not contain any form of
preservatives, for example organic vegetables and milk products last 60% less then.
 This means that due to shorter life-span the food would be harder to transport to the
markets.

Possible rebattles:
Con in 40 years we're gonna have 50% of organic agriculture. Slowly reduce inorganic farming.

Counter argument harms 1 - just redistribute more efficiently. The fact that 40% is wasted
annually won't change.

Antibiotic resistance - 1270000 people dead (more than HIV deaths)

Organic food doesn't hold any benefit over inorganic.

Increasing yield in organic farming:

Planting multiple different crops at the same time (polyculture) and planting a sequence of crops
(crop rotation) on an organic farm cut the difference in yield in half. Some crops such as oats,
tomatoes and apples there were no differences in yield between organic and industrial farming
at all.

Moreover the US produces much more food than needed, 30-40% of food is wasted, thus just
by better allocation and redistribution of food, much more people would be food secure and this
yield gap problem wouldn’t matter, since the US already produces more than needed.

An analysis of two hundred and ninety-two studies that assessed the efficiency of organic and
conventional farms showed that organic farms could produce enough food to sustain the global
population. They could potentially feed an even larger population without increasing the amount
of available agricultural land. A twenty-year study conducted by Cornell University in
Pennsylvania in the US found that the productivity of organic fields was similar to conventional
fields and at the same time caused less environmental pollution and reductions in the use of
fossil fuels.