Organic farming

Hi, everyone. What I'm going to talk about today is organic farming. Let's first look at what organic
farming is. It can be defined as one or more systems of production which don't use synthetic
fertilizers, manmade pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics or livestock feed additives to grow crops and
raise animals. Virtually all organic farmers prefer to use renewable resources and recycling to give
what conventional farmers might consider waste back to the soil of Mother Nature. From this, we can
see organic farming is a sustainable production system, which is one of its advantages. Organic
farmers use numerous techniques to promote the quality of life of plants and animals within existing
ecosystems and minimize pollution that occurs with all conventional farming practices. Another
benefit is that with the increase in consumer demand for a healthier, more nutritionally balanced
product, the sales of organically produced food are promoted. According to the research, it has
become the fastest growing sector of agriculture and has shown an annual increase of at least 20%
during the last six years. What's more, both chemical fertilizers and synthetic pesticides consume
nonrenewable resources such as oil and coal. But the development of organic farming can lower the
demand for these fertilizers and pesticides, so it is conducive to the conservation of essential
energy. At the same time, it also can reduce industrial pollution caused by the production of these
chemical substances. Organic farming differs greatly from the traditional one in a number of ways.
Let's discuss it from the perspective of agricultural biodiversity. Firstly, for instance, earthworms are
an important indicator of soil fertility. Studies have shown that the density and species number of
earthworms in organically managed soils are three times as high as those in conventional fields.
Moreover, the biodiversity in organic farming can also be in the number of insects, which is twice as
many as those in traditional farms. This might be highly related to the fact that organic vegetables
are grown without any human-made pesticides, making these vegetables more likely to be
damaged. The other main difference between organic and traditional farming lies in crop yields. One
of the biggest concerns of organic farmers organic farms, though possibly well adapted for certain
local environments, produce less food per unit of land. For example, organic vegetables like
tomatoes and potatoes yielded 40% less than conventional ones. In addition, research has also
found the number of weeds produced in winter is about 90% at present, which is decreased by 10%
than before. However, lower crop yields in organic farming are still inevitable at the moment anyway.
Organic farming is a new direction for agricultural development. These days, a variety of organic
products are cultivated not only for humans but also for animals. For example, organic grass is
commonly used in organic farms to feed cows because of the nonuse of synthetic fertilizers or
pesticides. It can protect cows from diseases brought by large-scale breeding, thus ensuring the
quality of raw milk. But an interesting phenomenon is that its production has remained constant
these years, which is quite unique compared with other types of crops. Research on organic farming
has covered various aspects and involved many countries. According to one study, organic farming
was proposed in India in the early 1960s when it was faced with acute shortages of food grains due
to the ever-increasing population and natural disasters. Although it could not be applied successfully
at first, as farmers had been familiar with conventional instructions, proponents of organic farming
claimed that organic agriculture emphasized biodiversity and effective soil management could
enhance the capacity to mitigate and even reverse the effects of climate change. So India needed
organic farming along with modern scientific agriculture. The study shows that in 2006, India became
the country with the largest number of organic products and the production of crops kept growing
year on year. Another international review about organic farming presents. In the first part, the
people today have become increasingly interested in organic food and this opinion is quite the same
as that of other articles. But what impressed me most was the volume of the investigation the author
did in different countries. He conducted a survey in 99 countries, of which 66 are convinced that
organic farming is beneficial to animals, while eight hold the opposite opinion and the remaining 25
say it is inconclusive. Therefore, the last part of the review is mainly talking about whether organic
farming brings positive effects to animals. We can see there are different views about the
advantages of organic farming. Some may think it can provide more nutritious and healthier food.
Others may say it can protect the natural environment and benefit wildlife. However, as far as I'm
concerned, it's you, the ones who buy organic products that will decide what they can bring to you
because market demand determines everything. Okay, that's all I want to say. Now, let's open it up
for discussion.

Questions 1-7
Complete the notes below.
Write ONE WORD AND/ OR A NUMBER for each answer.
Organic Farming
Advantages

 Organic farming is 1 định nghĩa

Answer: sustainable
 It can boost the 2 of organic food products công dụng
Answer: sales
 It can save necessary 3 for producing pesticides and fertilisers tiết kiệm dì đó trong việc
sản xuất thuốc trừ sâu và phân bón => maybe một nguyên liệu
Answer: energy

Comparison with traditional Farming

 4 Which double in number may attack organic vegetables. Maybe một phương pháp
Answer: insects
 Production of organic vegetables such as tomatoes and 5 is 40% lower. 1 loại vegetables
Answer: potatoes
  Winter weed production is 6 lower than it used to be. Một đặc tính
Answer: 10%
 Production of organic products for animals including organic 7 keeps the same. Một thành
phần, maybe một chất
Answer: grass

Questions 8-10
Choose the correct letter, A, B or C
8. What happened to organic farming in India? Một sự kiện ở Ấn độ
A Yields increased
B Farmers were reluctant to accept it.
C farmers could apply it successfully by following instructions. Can not
Answer: A
9. Conclusion in international organic farming review focuses on đối tượng
A whether people are interested in organic farming
B comparing different methods of organic farming in different countries
C whether organic farming is beneficial to wildlife
Answer: C
10. According to speaker, what is the main advantages of organic farming? Lợi ích chính
A it depends on consumers.
B it can produce food of more nutritional value.
C it can protect the enviroment.
Answer: A