A CLOSER LOOK

Before we attempt to address this vicious cycle, two key factors should be considered: the natural world and human activity.

Nature can be thought of as:

• SELF SUFFICIENT and SUSTAINABLE
  When left alone, nature is a perfect example of self-sufficiency and sustainability. This is mainly due to circularity, which is so characteristic of all life cycles.
• DIVERSE
  There is no uniform pattern across natural processes. On the contrary, locally dependent environmental factors are accountable for the rich variety within and among different ecosystems.
• INTERCONNECTED and INTERACTIVE
  There are no watertight compartments in natural ecosystems. It is not an overstatement to claim that “everything connects to everything else”.
• PLENTIFUL
  Nature can be ultimately credited as the primary source of the great variety of raw materials employed in the production of foodstuff.
• COMPREHENSIVE
  In the sense that Nature hosts the whole spectrum of human activity besides nutrition—an ecosystem in the broader sense of the term.

Human activities, on the other hand, are:

• DEPENDENT on nature for the acquisition of raw materials for the production of foodstuff (there is no such thing as absolutely artificial food).
• EVER DEMANDING in resources, in response to an ever-increasing global population and a correspondent upscaling of living standards.
• COMPETITIVE about all sorts of resources (i.e. space, water supplies, fossil fuels, raw materials, etc.).
• DYNAMIC in terms of scientific and technological progress, which is based on globally applicable knowledge, and dependent upon uniform data, principles, and in accord with the sovereign paradigm, and
• INCREASINGLY INTERACTIVE and dependent upon dense human aggregation, evidenced by the unprecedented urbanization on a global scale, and the ongoing abandonment of rural activities, indispensable as the latter is for primary production via direct use of natural resources.

The last century has witnessed the imposition of human demands upon nature, prioritizing the growing need for food and shelter at the expense of the environment and natural resources. We believe that the inherent discrepancy between diversity, interconnection, and sustainability, so characteristic of the natural processes, and the toxic mixture of human insatiability matched with ignorance and lack of environmental empathy, has been the overwhelming force responsible for this outcome.

We also believe that the way out of this deadlock lies in departing from mainstream preconceptions and correspondent practices in the agrofood business and readdressing the problem of food supply in nature-friendly terms, along the lines set forth by the Organic Farming movement and especially institutions such as IFOAM in their statement about the 4 Organic Farming Principles. These are:

Principle of Health
Organic agriculture should sustain and enhance the health of soil, plant, animal, human and the planet as one and indivisible whole.

Principle of Ecology
Organic agriculture should be based on living ecological systems and cycles, work with them, emulate them and help sustain them.

Principle of Fairness
Organic agriculture should build on relationships that ensure fairness to our common environment and life opportunities.

Principle of Care
Organic agriculture should be managed in a precautionary and responsible manner to protect the health and well-being of current and future generations and their environment.

The key to understanding the modus operandi of natural processes is soil health. Soil is considered healthy if – besides the presence of adequate inorganic basic and trace elements to cater for the plants’ basic nutritional needs – it hosts adequate microorganism populations of all grades to keep the microbial food chain uninterrupted. Plant health and vitality is greatly dependent upon the metabolites of symbiotic microorganisms that reside in the rhizosphere, and whose abundance and vigor is the sine qua non for the well-being of plants. Soil devoid of strong microorganism populations is considered poor, and therefore cannot be trusted to successfully support the plethora of plant lifeforms.

Microorganisms can be dealt with exclusively within the context of Organic Farming under the scope of which “… plants should preferably be fed through the soil eco-system and not through soluble fertilizers added to the soil. The essential elements of the organic plant production management system are soil fertility management, … recycling organic materials and cultivation techniques …”. (Regulation (EC) 834/2007)

In older traditional holdings, this objective was achieved by the fact that the life cycles of plants were inextricably complemented and completed by parallel animal husbandry. Inspired by this synergy, and using it as a theoretical axiom, the European legislation, has in recent decades, repeatedly proposed strategies based on the principle that “livestock production is fundamental to the organization of agricultural production on organic holdings in so far as it provides the necessary organic matter and nutrients for cultivated land and accordingly contributes towards soil improvement and the development of sustainable agriculture”.

Plants and animals are the two complementary facets of the integrated life cycles of nature, ensuring – through their synergy – sustainability and self-sufficiency. The symbiotic co-existence of these two lifeforms is a necessary and sufficient condition for the perpetuation of the processes of life. This is achieved on the principle that the inputs to the metabolic process of the plants derive from the outputs of the relative metabolic process of the animals and vice versa. In turn, this ensures circular perpetuation. Animals and plants are inextricably bound in symbiotic relationships.

In the old days, and based on experience alone, this objective has been met with integrated farming holdings or, more commonly in rural areas, where the coexistence of autonomous farming units and correspondent livestock holdings had the necessary proximity to ensure overall self-sufficiency through exchanges. However, in recent years, due to the intensification of production, the technical division of labour, and the specialization and sectorization of many of these activities, this ideal of organic farming has progressively become unattainable.

Nowadays, with the booming growth seen in the market of organic products, there has been escalating pressure on the side of the equation that concerns livestock. One of the reasons leading to this condition is that the intensification of production is bound by the lack of adequate available grassland for livestock breeding according to organic standards (i.e., sufficiency of specific open space acreage per capita) resulting in ever increasing populations of barn-housed animals, which are generally subjected to particularly stressful living conditions. Apart from high-standards livestock growing units that take special care regarding hygienic conditions – which are by far the exception to the rule – common practice livestock accommodation for extended periods of time in confined spaces, generally exerts considerable stress on animals with severe consequences on their health. The state of permanent livestock confined living, even in the best organized livestock facilities, is not considered an acceptable substitute for life in natural settings. That is why the European legislation excludes permanently barn-housed animals from its provisions. It is commonplace – although not outspoken – that the usual ways of dealing with health problems in barn-housed livestock include extended use of antibiotics. This fact alone is a dark side in the demand for animal participation in biological cycles.