The modern world, with its highly developed technologies and increasing population of the planet, issues global challenges for humanity. One of the problems that have emerged full-blown is the global problem of nutrition. It is obvious that any customer wants to consume high quality, health, and fresh food free from any genetically modified organisms.
It is the universal truth that the health of a person depends upon the food he consumes. At the same time, no one can deny the fact that without modern technologies in the sphere of agriculture, it is impossible to satisfy the global demand in food products. There are different approaches to this problem. There exist adherents of the organic food concept, who believe that food should be produced by means of traditional methods free from fertilizes or pesticides. There are also proponents of industrial food technologies, who review the issue from a broader perspective. They assert that it is impossible to deny the fact of the industrialization in agriculture. For this essay, the following theses have been chosen:
- the organic food concept has definite benefits for a consumer as well as for a grower;
- there is a difference between organic food and real food;
- the real food concept is not able to solve the global food problem.
One of the steadfast advocates of organic food growing is Eliot Coleman. Describing all benefits of organic farming for human health and environmental protection, Coleman asserts that such a term as organic has already outlived its usefulness. The main Coleman’s idea is that a conception of a mass marketing contradicts the organic food approach. He is convinced that in order to make products produced by food giants competitive, demands for a quality of food to be labeled as organic have been underestimated. In his opinion, the notion of organic food does not mean its supreme quality anymore as it was several years ago. Now he proposes to use such a term as authentic or real food.
By implementing this notion, he aims to emphasize the main differences between fresh, ripe, and nourishing food produced by growers and food that is now called organic. He also maintains claims for the real food production that are inadmissible for the food giants. The typical representative of the opposing vision of this problem is Robert Paarlberg. He is convinced that the adherents of organic or real food act from respectable motives. However, they do not understand the food problem on a global scale. He is sure that the debates concerning the nature of real food are a prerogative of the pampered West. It is actual for those countries, citizens of which do not suffer from hunger.
He criticizes the adherents of the organic food theory asserting that all their ideas are inadaptable on a global scale. As a typical case of incapability of this system, he exemplifies African countries. He asserts that rural regions of Africa have such a system based on subsistence production. Agricultural products produced in these regions satisfy the requirements of real food farming. They are fresh because the absence of a ramified system of roads makes it impossible for their long transportation. They are healthy because of the lack of highly developed technologies prevents the usage of nitrogen fertilizers or pesticides in their production. At the same time, most people in Africa live below the poverty line.
Paarlberg is convinced that only the implementation of the industrial food technologies in accordance with western patterns may save the situation. Moreover, he puts in doubt an ecological advantage of real food farming. According to Coleman’s opinion, only natural manures should be used in the process of food production. Paarlberg proves that on global scales, there will be needed huge territories for this manure production. It will cause deforestation and other negative effects.