Shelby Whitfield

Dr. Campbell
UWRT 1103
April 19, 2016
Margin Outline
I.

II.

III.

IV.

V.

Organic Food Production vs. Conventional Food Production

a. Organic food products have created a $39.1 billion industry (2015)
b. Scientists creating studies to test each one
c. What factors are involved in each process
Organic farming and how it works
a. Environmental benefits
i. Help improve biodiversity, health of soil and quality of water
b. The process of organic farming
i. Right soil at the right time
ii. Animal husbandry
iii. Natural pesticides
iv. Recycled organic wastes
v. Green manure + legumes
vi. Crop rotation
c. Microbial solution sprayed on crops
i. Lower costs for farmers
d. Is it worth it? (The price of organics)
Conventional farming
a. Negative environmental causes
i. Increase health risks
b. Mono-cropping
i. Heavy use of detrimental fertilizers
c. Pros of conventional farming
i. Costs are low
ii. More job opportunities
d. People arent looking at the health risks
i. Only looking at costs and job opportunities
GMOs
a. GMOs cannot be withdrawn from the earth
b. Causing super weeds + super bugs
c. Banned in a lot of countries
i. Not banned in America
ii. Americans starting to see the negative effects
d. Seen in 80% of conventionally grown produce
Overall opinion of organic vs. conventional
a. People only see the highlight reel rather than the behind-the-scenes
perspective

b. People need to re-evaluate their food choice when buying their groceries