Do the Helth Benefits of Organic Farming Get Outweighted by the Cost - Assignment Example

Running Header: presentation Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code & Name: Date of Submission: Good morning teacher and classmates. I have prepared a presentation for you about ‘Do health benefits of organic farming get outweighed by the cost?’ In my analysis I found out that the cost associated with organic farming is far beyond the health benefits linked with consuming organic food. I will start my presentation by explaining what organic farming entails, and then I will talk about the health benefits associated with organic farming. Next, I will examine the cost associated with organic farming and after that I will make my verdict on whether the health benefits associated with organic farming get outweighed by the cost. Finally I will conclude my presentation. Introduction In this section am going to introduce organic farming and I will also talk about organic farming method in general. To begin with, organic farming refers to the use of farming techniques that conserve the environment. Organic farming method uses natural pesticides and green manure to produce highly nutritious food. However, the farming method suffers from increasing costs thereby making it to be expensive to practice. Therefore, the high cost of production involved in organic farming ends up outweighing its health benefits Health Benefits In this section am going to explain the health benefits that are associated with consuming organic food. To start with, organic food is safe, healthy and nutritional and this results due to the strict certification process and also due to the fact that it is produced without the use of pesticides. Furthermore, organic food is free from synthetic chemicals and genetically engineered components. Moreover, the food contains high level of antioxidants and this makes the food to be highly nutritional. Nevertheless, organic food has higher levels of retaining important nutrients in the body as compared to convectional food products. In addition, organic food has lower levels of nitrates and herbicides hence this makes the food to improve the health of its consumers The fact that Organic foods are produced naturally with minimal processing makes them to be highly nutritious. Additionally, organically food has higher fibre content, low fats, high vitamin and mineral contents hence this makes it to be extremely nutritious. Besides that, producing organic food decreases environmental chemicals hence reduces the chances of people contracting cancer. This in turn leads to the creation of a healthy environment free of toxic substances. Organic food is produced without the use genetically modified organisms and this makes it to improve and enhance the health of its consumers. Finally, the strict legislation and production standards ensure that organic food is safe and healthy. Production Cost In this section am going to talk about the cost that organic farmers incur in producing organic food. To start with, organic farmers incur higher production cost as compared to convectional farmers due to lower productivity and high cost of production particularly in relation to labour and the mechanisms involved in practicing organic farming. Furthermore, the fact that organic farmers are prohibited to apply chemicals makes them to suffer excessive losses in case their crops are attacked by pests. Additionally, the hormones and antibiotics used in organic farming are more expensive as compared to normal pesticides. Moreover, organic farming requires high monitoring and control costs hence this makes the method costly to practice. Nevertheless, the method requires high and costly labour input as compared to convectional farming and this raises the overall cost of production. Next, organic farmers are forced to apply high quantities of organic fertilizers and manures due to their low mineral contents and this further increases their production cost. Lastly, Organic farmers are required to purchase specialized seeds which are extremely expensive. Certification In this section I am going to explain the difficulties that organic farmers face in order for them to be certified. Firstly, the certification process requires farmers to have large amount of funds in order to be certified. Secondly, organic farmers are required to purchase commodity certificates so as to be allowed to sell their products in the market. Thirdly, organic farmers must implement high operating standards which are costly and difficult to comply with. Finally, the farmers must wait for 2-5 years to be certified and during this period they incur losses due to low product quality hence lower prices. Customer Perception In this part of the presentation am going to talk about the challenges that organic farmers face while selling their products due to the perceptions held by customers. To begin, majority of customers in the market perceive organic food as belonging to a higher economic social class and this in turn reduces the demand for organic food hence the farmers end up realizing low sales. Furthermore, customers hold the belief that the majority of organic food consumers are wealthy individuals. This perception reduces the demand for organic food and consequently the farmers end up incurring losses as a result of low sales. In addition, farmers are forced to advertise their products with an aim of increasing demand hence this increases their operating costs. Nevertheless, customers perceive that organically produced food is too expensive. This makes the customers to avoid purchasing organic food hence the farmers end up experiencing low sales. In this regard, organic farmers are forced to increase their advertisement budget and also to reduce the cost of their products with an aim of attracting more customers. However, reducing the organic food prices and increasing the advertisement cost leads to a reduction in profits realized by the farmers. Technical Knowhow In this section am going to explain how the skills required in order to undertake organic farming create a big cost challenge to organic farmers. Firstly, many farmers lack the necessary skills and technical knowhow in order to enable them to undertake organic farming successfully. This requires them to undertake training hence these increases their operating costs. Additionally, organic farmers are forced to finance training of their employees and this further escalates their operating cost. Verdict In this section of the presentation am going to make my verdict on whether the health benefits of organic farming get outweighed by the cost. As we have seen in the presentation, organic farming is characterized by high cost which is far beyond the health benefits linked with consuming organic food. The high cost of inputs and high advertisement costs make organic farmers to incur extremely large losses. Furthermore, organic farmers are forced to reduce the prices of their products in order to attract sales hence this makes the method to be unprofitable. Therefore, the cost associated with organic farming ends up outweighing the health benefit associated with the method. Conclusions In conclusion, Organic farming involves use of farming techniques that conserve the environment. Organically produced food is safe, healthy and safe. However, organic farmers incur high production costs and low sales making the method expensive to practice. Moreover, organic farmers incur high cost in meeting certification and regulatory requirements. 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