Question

(a) How do organic farmers control pests? Give two examples.
(b) State the difference in their approach from that of conventional pest control methods.

Answer 1

a) Organic farmers control pests by one of the following ways:

i) Avoiding the pest- Farmers can avoid pests by moving the crop to a new location. For example, potato industry in San Louis valley of Colorado is surrounded by mountains which protect the plants from aphids.

ii) Finding genetic resistance- Farmers find new resistant varieties from seed banks. Potatoes can be genetically engineered to protect them from blight disease using wild varieties.

b) The difference in the approach of organic farmers is that they use organic fertilizers which are neither harmful to plant nor to its environment. In conventional pest control methods, the pesticides used may leach into the soil because of heavy rainfall, the texture of the soil etc., leading to contamination of the ground water.