The sociological and political consequences of industrial agriculture may seem benign when compared to the environmental and medical repercussions of global usage of chemically induced agriculture. Pesticides, fertilisers, and herbicides used in modern farming are toxic for human consumption, as a plethora of documented cases have demonstrated unintended loss of human life or degradation of human body after exposure to these chemicals, writes Sachal Abbassi

The often repeated cliché, ‘you are what you eat’, couldn’t be more true today. While nutritionists spend an elaborate amount of time emphasising on how important eating macro and micronutrients is, they often tend to neglect the dangers of consuming today’s agricultural produce. The farming sector isn’t how it was a century ago.

Providing food to an exponentially growing human population has come at a grave cost of changing agricultural production practices. Agricultural practices, which took more than 8,000 years of experience and trial and error to take form, now face extinction because of chemically induced industrial agriculture.

This modern-day large-scale industrial agriculture was first founded during the 1940s which marked the beginning of the infamous, ‘green revolution’, when an American scientist, Norman Ernest Borlaug, developed high-yielding wheat production techniques which substantially increased agricultural output. His farming techniques were subsequently introduced in Pakistan during Ayub Khan’s regime in the 1950s which was termed as the ‘decade of progress’ and Pakistan’s very own ‘green revolution’, due to unprecedented gains in wheat produce.

Productivity gains from industrial farming encouraged the use of agricultural techniques such as the use of synthetic pesticides, herbicides and fertilisers, genetically modified crops and hormones. It also paved way for capitalism to colonise farming which was consequently assessed in terms of agricultural economic efficiency. For a millennia, a sacred and communal bond existed between farmers and their cultivated land but the introduction of industrial agriculture altered the existing social structures and geopolitics in the farming sector. Unfortunately in Pakistan, it legitimised and strengthened the edifice of feudalism and large land ownership in a democratic society.

Yet, sociological and political consequences of industrial agriculture may seem benign when one compares it to the environmental and medical repercussions of global usage of chemically induced agriculture. Pesticides, fertilisers, and herbicides used in modern farming are toxic for human consumption, as a plethora of documented cases have demonstrated unintended loss of human life or degradation of human body after exposure to these chemicals.

In fact, the US used chemical pesticides as a weapon of choice against the Vietnamese during the war and exposure of these chemicals to the US forces alone led to devastating medical consequences. As these chemicals are not biodegradable, once these synthetic pesticides and herbicides find their way into the environment, they absorb into every species in the food chain. As a result, humans when consuming vegetables, fruits, meat, poultry or even wild animals, are at a risk of consuming synthetic chemicals in pesticides, fertilisers, antibiotics, toxicity in genetically modified crops and growth hormones, amongst others.

The use of fertilisers and other synthetic chemicals also adversely affects biodiversity of a region, as pesticides are poisonous to many living beings and genetically modified crops lead to a transfer of genes which tends to be overly destructive to indigenous geobiology of a region. Chemicals are also changing the natural chemical balance of our planet and with rising mercury levels in seawater, seafood which may not even be farmed is also becoming hazardous for human consumption. Ironically, the intended long-term effect of ridding pests from the eco-system is not achieved as they tend to adapt to the, ‘advancing technology’ of pesticides.

It is for reasons concerning environmental and medical degradation that many people are questioning the approach of modern agriculture and are opting for biodynamic, sustainable and organic agriculture. Sustainable and organic agriculture has emerged as a science in its own right, yet unlike the philosophy of modern mechanist and reductionist science, it is a far more post-modern and integrative form of science. Its principles are based on enlightened self-interest, by taking into consideration the sustainable well-being of humans and their habitat (planet Earth).

As such, organic farming shuns the use of all synthetic chemicals, genetic modification, and hormones, and instead the agricultural system integrates regional methods of traditional farming with best practice and most suitable organic modern farming techniques for a specific ecology. It also restricts the use of biological pesticides and herbicides from an organic source. It also discourages use of modern monoculture farming and synthetic fertilisers which deprives the soil of its natural nutrients. Instead, it makes use of crop rotation, green manure and compost to add essential nutrients to soil, which makes it more fertile and sustainable. At a social level, organic farming advocates a more equitable and inclusive approach to agriculture, as opposed to exploitative practices of modern farming.

Indeed, the success of organic farming and its produce is well noted throughout the world. According to the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture, the global organic market has grown to US$59.1 billion, from a mere US$15.1 billion in 1999. Organic agricultural land, per capita consumption and producers of organically grown agricultural products have all increased drastically in the last 10 years. Its success demonstrates not only more awareness of consumption of modern agricultural produce, but also the willingness of people to pay more for good health — it is argued that organic food tastes better, is more nutritious and lacks the risk of chemical and hormonal contamination.

Any large-scale transition towards organic farming has to be demand-led, with the governments playing the role of monitoring organic standards which a farmer may choose to adhere to. Given the hazards of consuming synthetically induced agriculture and the current state of the Earth’s environment and climate change, it is inevitable that conversion to large-scale organic farming will occur.

The only question is whether it would be too late to make the change. Our current agricultural practices are unsustainable, and we are slowly denuding our soil of its productive capacity. Adding more synthetic chemicals is not the solution, but the problem. If our current way of farming is not changed, our future generations will blame us for depriving them of the slightest chance of survival, and we will be responsible for the death of billions of our descendants.