Farming

Farming is a very efficient way of growing the sort of food people want to eat,  in very large amounts. Until early last century, all farming was based on sustainable methods because there was no choice. Today, people in poor countries continue this way of growing food because they cannot afford the machinery and chemicals needed for modern industrial farming. Industrial farming certainly makes loads of food but it damages the land, sea and air. There are alternatives such as organic farming which is sustainable. The problem with organic farming is that the farmers have to be much more skilled. They can’t rely on spraying and 'instant' fertilisers and have to plan their crops in a very different way. This means more people have jobs and this type of farming is nature-friendly... but organic food is more expensive. There is a huge argument about this at the moment. Modern industrial farmers say that only they can ‘feed the world’, preferably using genetically engineered crops.

The sustainable farmers say this is nonsense.
But sustainable farming has to be the future because industrial farming does so much damage to the world we all live in and the oil it depends on will run out.

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