Talk:Organic movement

neutrality disputed
Since the "organic" movement does not have an exclusive means to sustainability, also a goal of conventional agriculture, the first statement needed to be re-worded. --Zeamays 15:05, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

from the article Organic movement broadly refers to the organizations and individuals involved worldwide in the promotion organic farming, which they believe to be a more sustainable mode of agriculture, and a general opposition to agribusiness. Its history goes back to the first half of the 20th century, when modern large-scale agricultural practices began to appear..

it just says what the movement claims not what is fact. i don't see what the problem is. i think you should take more time reading what is there or what other people said. if you don't have anything else to say here i will take the tag off. --trueblood 15:53, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

The tag should stay. The article is prejudiced throughout. The article should make it clear that there are many experts who disagree with their position and why. The organic movement has significant opposition, and the reader should be made aware throughout the article of why there is opposition. --Zeamays 16:19, 26 July 2006 (UTC) i don't agree, there is a criticism section in the food and farming articles. also i reread the article and frankly i fail to see the prejudice.--trueblood 16:40, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

Also, it is untrue that "modern large-scale agricultural practices began to appear" in the 20th century. The use of agricultural machinery, ammonium fertilizers and chemical pesticides on increasingly large plots were already in use in the latter 19th century. In the 20th century these practices, which had already appeared, began to accelerate. --Zeamays 19:06, 26 July 2006 (UTC) okay a factual error, could be corrected, although it is more or less the wording 'began to appear' that should be changed. but that is not an example for prejudice.--trueblood 20:37, 26 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Dear Mr. Trueblood: Thse are just a examples.  Another problem is that the article does not mention the well-documented connection between prominent early members British organic movement and the British Fascists   --Zeamays 02:47, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

i am going remove the tag if there no actual reasons to the contrary. please correct the error that you found (19 th century), bring evidence for the fascim connection and propose a change that takes that into account. if there are other problems, point them out if you like.

I am concerned that the document shows the Organic Movement as a begnin force, rather than the danger that it is. The banning of DDT has led directly to millions of deaths from malaria in Africa, which has been upheld by the Organic Movement. The objection to genetically modified crops in Europe has led to childhood blindness in 2nd world countries (Golden Rice) and will increase starvation through objections to newly developed waterproof rice. In my country the only people who are willing to work in organic fields are poorly paid Eastern Europeans, who themselves cannot afford to purchase the expensive end product to eat - surely an obvious trait of fascism if there ever was one. As such this middle class fad should be noted as such and not presented as a wholesome alternative. It smacks of anti-science, anti-reason and at the very least you should show a balanced approach to this. In the 1930's Germany did not turn into an aggressive country overnight, it was a series of small, apparently logical steps. This is one of them, "blut und boden", pure food for pure people.

indeed the article should present the movement neither as a benign nor as a dangerous movement. your are mixing potentially valid criticism with wild speculation. check out the wikipedia article on ddt to see that this is a complex issue without an easy answer as you seem to think.

the connection to 1930's germany is completely over my head, why don't you carry that to the article about biodynamics and anthroposphy and discuss with the people there, it seems that that is what you talking about.

alternatively why not point out where exactly in the article you are missing the balance? trueblood 12:30, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

OK, your point is well made and I agree that I could have articulated my concerns better. Here is my first: In 1962, Rachel Carson, a prominent scientist and naturalist, published Silent Spring, chronicling the effects of DDT and other pesticides on the environment. In fact she did not "chronicle" anything, according to the article in wikipedia on her book she made unscientific, unsubstantiated claims which led to the banning of DDT and millions of malaria deaths.

My second: Your article makes no mention that dispite the claims for sustainable growth, the methods used for Organic farming are no better than any other and the objections raised to Monsanto's till free farming methods are in fact propogating unecessary soil errosion, as one example. Organic Farming uses more diesel per hectare than modern farming methods through more frequent spraying and low speed labour carts for weeding.

My third: The article makes no mention of the inherent inefficiencies in Organic farming (estimated between 25%-35%) which in these times of mass starvation is surely an immoral practise, particularly as there is no evidence of any health benefit from organic food (from the Soil Association's own website).

I'm in the process of digging up a solid link between the NAZI movement and the Organic Movement, please keep this dispute open for a wee while longer.

OK, I think I have one. Using Wikipedia's own external reference an extract of the review for Philip Conford's book reads: However, in this first and authoritative history of twentieth century "green" culture, Philip Conford reveals that the early exponents of the organic movement actually belonged more to extreme right-wing, conservative groups, which were reacting to industrialization and the increasing threat to traditional country life, closely associated with socialist politics. Is that enough to get it highlighted or do I need to purchase the book and follow references?

what do you actually achieve. you want the article to say that organics has fascist roots and is murderous, immoral and inefficient? that is not gonna work.
 * the banning of ddt is surely something that is worth discussing, but rather in articles about ddt, rachel carson, malaria, take a pick. please don't just say, the ban causes millions to die, that is too simplistic. michael crichton says that too, but that does not make it a fact
 * no till farming should surely be discussed in the organic farming article, if you have references that say that organic farming uses more diesel than conventional farming bring that up there too (the reference)
 * as for the facist connection, it would be better to name names. are there internationally known soil association members that were right wing? the article names howard and lady balfour. if this about somebody obscure, than i think it would fit better into the article about the soil association. trueblood 20:57, 18 August 2006 (UTC)

As ever your comments are well articulated and clear. However my objection to Rachel Carson's book still stands - she did not "chronicle" anything, she made unsubstantiated statements and failed to provide any evidence which led directly to the banning of DDT. The banning of DDT has been a humanitarian disaster and should not go uncommented, as such I object to the use of the word "chronicle" which implies that some kind of rational process took place when she wrote the book.

Your question over what I want to achieve here is a good one (best shared over a pint or two) but briefly: I am alarmed at the glib acceptance of the "Oragnic Movement" as a force for good where it actively reduces food production, increases costs and excludes impovrished people from its end product while making use of minimum wage labour in its production. All this is done with the aim of making the food "healthier", for which the movement has been unable to provide a single shred of evidence. The "Organic Movement" has been active in the objection and public mis-information of genetically modified foods, which hold the key to global food production, again with no evidence to substantiate any of the claims made against GM production.

I have also read through the articles on the NAZI movement to act as a comparison of bias and it is clear that the articles present the sinister outcomes of the NAZI movement in detail, therefore I think it is important that this is done here, without bias. I also compare this article to the "Genetically Modified Food" and I note that while over 100 studies have concluded that there is no risk there is still a large amount of objection to GM foods discussed and detailed on that article. To my mind this shows a degree of bias where you will not articulate objections to the "Organic Movement". are you comparing organic agriculture with the nazis? whatever. if you have any serious proposals of what needs to be changed say so, otherwise i will take the npov off.trueblood 22:04, 25 August 2006 (UTC)


 * The neutrality is off in this one, the entire thing is written like an advertisement for the organic movement, what is more is that this entire article only has 2 refferences. I doubt that this should even be an article.Archwindows (talk) 18:38, 12 May 2011 (UTC)


 * The article includes many references and quotes, although only 2 are currently marked-up. It has been worked on for several years and contains good information for those interested in Organics. Where its neutrality is disputed that should be worked on. Please contribute and do not delete. Lisnabreeny (talk) 19:48, 26 May 2011 (UTC)

This article has citations needed everywhere. Whoever here is defending with so much typing why they think the article isn’t just advertising for non-scientific woo naturalism that hurts the environment while soothing the guilt of white liberals (I can say that as I am one), maybe use a fraction of that time to dig up some references to back up the expansive claims made in the article? Laced8 (talk) 03:06, 24 October 2021 (UTC)

The Article is Outdated
In describing the Organic Movement, this article is quite outdated. While organic growing was initially primarily (if not solely) about growing without synthetics, the Organic Movement is now a much broader social/political movement. Originally it was aimed at avoiding possibly unhealthful synthetic substances, but it now incorporates philosophies of sustainability, social justice, global equality and even anti-technology attitudes in general.

As an example of the anti-technology attitude, when hydroponic growers in Australia attempted to gain Organic certification for their produce - which was grown in accordance with all of the organic standards of the time - the Australian certified body changed the definition of Organic to only include food grown "in soil" and then refusted certification based on the new definition.

The mondern incarnation of this movement need to be given due weight in this article. LowKey (talk) 02:39, 5 September 2008 (UTC)

People section moved here
I've moved the following section to the talk page because it currently contains only one entry, from the late 2007s about a legal precedent. Though the section is cited, having it as the only person mentioned in the section is undue weight, and it is unclear of the impact this lawsuit has had on the overall movement. If it is to be kept in the article at all, I suggest it be reduced to a 1 sentence mention in the timeline. Dialectric (talk) 05:02, 29 May 2015 (UTC) People

Atina Diffley and her husband ran an organic farm in Minnesota, through which the Minnesota Pipeline was originally planned to run. In 2007, Diffley, together with Paula Maccabee, a St. Paul environmental justice attorney, negotiated with the owners of the pipeline, the Minnesota Pipeline Company (MPL), as a result of which MPL agreed to route the pipeline around the farm and more generally "to implement what they believe was the first organic agriculture mitigation plan in the country applicable to pipeline infrastructure." The organic mitigation plan became a model for others around the U.S. Difley went on to write a memoir, Turn Here Sweet Corn,  which won the Minnesota Book Award for Memoir in 2013. The Diffleys sold their farm in 2008 and as of 2012 Attina Diffley worked as a writer, consultant, and teacher.


 * agreed. thanks. Jytdog (talk) 05:22, 29 May 2015 (UTC)

Removed Quote
Organics have come to represent a safe house in a disturbing world where food quality and safety are constantly under siege” (Blythman). This quote is drawn from Blythman, J. (2005). The Trouble with Organics. Academic Search Complete, 35(6), 24-25 (http://www.theecologist.org/blogs_and_comments/commentators/other_comments/268632/the_trouble_with_organics.html), and while it could be incorporated into a larger perceptions section, the quote only addresses one of a number of perceptions of organic food. given its focus on food, the quote would be better suited to inclusion in organic food if used anywhere.Dialectric (talk) 14:43, 1 June 2015 (UTC)

External links modified
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External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to 1 one external link on Organic movement. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090801124722/http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23725592-details/article.do to http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23725592-details/article.do

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steming from protest against soil sterility efforts in Germany
Has anyone else heard that the origins of the natural food movement stemmed from the introduction of the idea of trying to sterilize soil with terrible heavy metals? I believe in Germany, they tried sterilizing the soil... thinking that was a good idea... with something like arsenic. People then woke up that this may not be a good idea and maybe we should eat food the way it was traditionally grown. Can anyone find a reference regarding this? 24.254.15.93 (talk) 20:33, 26 September 2016 (UTC)

Page Rating
Does anyone know why the article does not have a rating? I checked on the Wikipedia article page and it says nothing about unrated articles. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Cheyenne411 (talk • contribs) 03:38, 3 November 2017 (UTC)