Organic Futures

The author of this comprehensive book spent 20 years on an organic smallholding and today runs an organic garden and orchard near Shrewsbury. Adrian Myers enables the reader to understand the full context and history of the organic movement. He begins with definitions of organic farming, arguing that we are not so much faced with a choice between going backwards or forwards, but rather between two alternative futures: 'one based on life-harming activities and the wish to dominate nature, the other based on life-sustaining activities and the recognition that we are part of nature.' He is quite right to assert that our changing attitude to nature is the crucial factor, also discussed in my review of Stephan Harding's book in the science section. Organic farming in practice means integrated biodiversity, feeding the soil not the plant, respecting the law of return (recycling) and respect for animals. This can be contrasted with the conventional approach based on the metaphor of control, warfare against nature and squeezing the maximum profit out of farming as an agro-industrial practice. The costs of this approach can be measured in soil degradation, pollution, the results of intensive animal rearing and the political concentration of economic power in large multinational companies. The principles of sustainable agriculture were first analysed by F. H. King in his book Farmers for 40 Centuries: Permanent Agriculture in China, Korea and Japan. Myers explains the thesis of this book, as well as the pioneering work of people like Sir Robert McCarrison, Sir Albert Howard, Rudolf Steiner, Lady Eve Balfour and others. Maintenance of the life of the soil is central to any organic vision, as Howard found on his research station in India. There is an intimate link between healthy soil, healthy plants, healthy animals and healthy human beings. Moving on to nutrition and food safety, Myers criticises the prejudice of Sir John Krebs when he was chair of the Food Standards Agency. He describes the results of research into pesticides in food, including a survey of non-organic baby food. The run-off effects of pesticides on water pollution are very considerable, with the capital cost of removing this from our water supply put at around £1 billion and operating costs at over £200 million a year. Then there are the effects of the use of antibiotics and the fact that there are no recorded cases of BSE or organic farms with closed herds. It seems that the controlling and profit-oriented approach of monoculture provokes a sharp response from nature. Instead of recognising that there is no battle between us and nature, we become convinced that high incidences of disease are a natural phenomenon and require increasing use of pesticides. A thorough analysis of genetically modified foods, including its scientific, economic and political aspects, is followed by chapter on the maintenance of soil fertility. Perhaps the central chapter concerns the history of Western attitudes to nature, which have moved from co-operation to control, and which now need to return to a more harmonious relationship. It becomes clear that the notion of human beings separate from nature emerges at the same time as the scientific revolution in the 17th century with the rise of the mechanistic metaphor and the influence of Bacon's philosophy of nature. Although there was a romantic reaction to the Enlightenment view, it is essential that we now transcend this vision of warfare against nature as it becomes clear that the price of progress is reflected not only in the quality of the environment but in that of human health. Myers goes on to consider the challenges ahead in terms of global warming, the energy crisis, population growth and transport. Few people are aware of recent advances in agro-ecology, showing extraordinary yields using small-scale traditional techniques by growing various crops together. Much of this work has been discussed by Jules Pretty from Essex University. It turns out that the results of the green revolution are not all they are cracked up to be and that we now need to address the issue of sustainability in view of the environmental costs of the conventional approach. The usual argument against an organic approach is that yields are insufficient, but this is not necessarily true. As in Stephan Harding's book, Myers calls for a reconciliation between science and spirituality, which amounts to the development of a new worldview where nature is no longer perceived as 'the other, the enemy, something to be overcome, exploited or improved.' Seeing ourselves as an integral part of nature will help us move from life-damaging forms of agriculture towards life-affirming practices, a crucial transition for the future not only of our environment but also of our health.