Compare and contrast intensive and organic farming methods Essay - AQA Biology - A-level

AQA A-level Biology Essay on the differences, including impacts, between Intensive farming and organic farming.

Covers ;
Why is organic farming not able to sustain the growing food demands?
What are the differences between impacts of organic farming and intensive farming?

• Efficiency of Energy transfer
• Nutrient cycles
• Species diversity
• Antibiotics

3147 word essay.

Introduction =
Organic farming involves an agricultural system that uses ecologically based pest controls and biological fertilizers derived largely from animal and plant wastes and nitrogen-fixing cover crops. Modern organic farming was developed as a response to the environmental harm caused by the use of chemical pesticides and synthetic fertilizers in conventional or intensive agriculture. Intensive farming is a system of cultivation using large amounts of labor and capital relative to land area, this labor and capital is required in the application of fertilizers, insecticides, fungicides and herbicides along with the acquisition and maintenance of machinery used for planting, cultivating and harvesting. This form of agriculture can have detrimental effects on the environment however it is needed to produce enough food to keep up with the growing demand.

Over the last century the global population has quadrupled from 1.8 billion in 1915 to 7.3 billion people. It is estimated that by 2050 this will have further increased to around 9.7 billion people. And so, this population growth, along with rising incomes in developing countries (causing dietary changes such as more protein and meat consumption) is increasing global food demand drastically. It is predicted that food demand will increase by anywhere between 59% and 98% by 2050, this will shape agricultural practices greatly. Intensive farming has therefore become the main method of food production as intensive farmers utilize less farm inputs and less land per unit of food yielded making it more efficient, there is a greater profit made by the farmer. This is because intensive farming maximizes the yield on a small area of land compared to conventional farming methods which require large areas of land.