Moving from Yesterday’s Agricultural Technology: Alternative Farming Systems in Perspective

Abstract

The 1983 magazine article was entitled ‘Updating Organic Farming: New Looks at Old Ways’. It began with these words: ‘There’s a fairly common belief in most agricultural circles today that farming without chemicals is horse-and-buggy technology — something that only starry-eyed “back-to-the-landers” do on little weed-infested patches of ground’. On the contrary, however, the author quickly noted that he and the magazine’s other editors, while preparing the article, had ‘talked to many farmers who are producing good crops on large acreages without using any pesticides or synthetic fertilizers’. The writer went on to point out that modern organic farmers are ‘good managers. They use modern equipment. Their fields are not overgrown with weeds or riddled by insects. Generally, their yields are somewhat below average for the area, but so are production costs’ (Kessler, 1983).