Organic farming: A historical perspective

Abstract

Organic farming has been among the most popular concepts for more than three decades. Despite being a rapidly growing sector, certified organic agriculture occupies only less than 1 percent of lands and 1-2 percent of food sales in the world. Evaluating the development of organic farming movement from a historical perspective will be more explanatory to understand what organic farming is and which direction it is evolving. The history of organic farming can be investigated in three different stages. The beginning of organic movement traced back to the early settlement of farming era. Early attempts in this stage have been reviewed into two main activity lines as studies on soil fertility and activities as a reaction of industrial agriculture. The second stages have been coined as the institutionalization and commercialization period that includes the growth period of this movement in different lines. The last stage was named as the period of from commercialization to conventionalization-bifurcation, covering a period from growth stage to present. When evaluating all development in the agro-food chain related to strict safety control, a strong rapprochement tendency seems inevitable between farming alternatives, including organic farming.