What is Organic Farming

What is Organic Farming?All farmers face the same basic challenges: providing adequate nourishment for their crops, controlling weeds, and protecting their plants from disease and pest infestations. As organic farmers, they use natural or more earth-friendly alternatives to the chemical herbicides, fumigants, synthetic fertilizers, and highly toxic insecticides used in conventional agriculture to solve these problems.Understanding how nature works instead of relying on chemicalsA common misconception about organic farming is that it lacks sophistication, or science. Some people think that organic farmers just put seeds in the ground and let nature take its course. Nothing could be farther from the truth!Organic farmers rely heavily on a complex understanding of ecology and soil science. Modern organic farming techniques are used in concert with traditional methods of crop rotations to ensure fertility and weed and pest control.At Organic Farm, they know that when they farm, they interact intimately with many creatures and ecological microsystems from the tiny bacteria and fungi in healthy soil, to larger soil organisms, beneficial insects, and other animals with whom we share the planet.Organic farmers realize that their farming practices the way they protect their fields from pests, the way they nourish the soil all have a long-term impact on the health of our planet and the health of those who enjoy their harvest.Although the methods they use to farm organically tend to be more labor intensive and costly in the short run, they believe that these methods avoid serious and ultimately more costly long-term problems. Groundwater pollution, soil erosion, loss of biodiversity, and human health problems caused by chemical residues are serious effects of conventional agriculture. Even though organic produce may cost a bit more in the grocery store, we believe that when the long-term costs associated with these problems are factored in, the organic choice is the healthiest and, ultimately, least costly option.Questions on the article:1. Organic farming _.A. means less work and cheaper costs to growing cropsB. means less work and more expensive costs to growing cropsC. means more work and cheaper costs to growing cropsD. means more work and more expensive costs to growing crops2. Organic farmers use _ to improve their crops.A. crop rotations and nourishment of the soilB. crop rotations and fertilizersC. fertilizers to nourish the soil and herbicidesD. seeds for planting and let nature3. What three things do organic farmers and regular farmers both have to do to produce good food?4. Name three problems with conventional (or regular) agriculture.5. Organic farmers are concerned with _.A. the health of our planetB. the health of people who eat their foodC. the animals who are on this planetD. all of the aboveANSWERS:1. D2. A3. Provide enough nourishment for their crops, control the weeds and protect their plants from dise