What are the differences between organic agriculture and traditional agriculture, as well as modern agriculture?

I. What is Traditional Agriculture

Traditional agriculture refers to an agricultural production model that relies mainly on the accumulated agricultural production experience over a long period of time. In the production process, it is characterized by meticulous cultivation and small-scale operation, without using any synthetic agricultural chemicals. It uses organic manure and compost to enrich the soil, and conducts farming with human and animal power. It employs agricultural and manual measures or uses some natural pesticides for pest, weed, and disease control. The typical feature of traditional agriculture is a low level of mechanization, low output, but also low external material input and high sustainability.

II. What is Modern Agriculture

Since the Industrial Revolution, modern agriculture, characterized by high concentration, high specialization, and high labor productivity, has experienced significant development. As people’s demands for production output have increased, agricultural production has increasingly relied on machinery, fertilizers, and pesticides as control mechanisms, becoming the mainstream of global agricultural development.

Modern agriculture has made significant contributions to solving people’s problem of food and clothing. However, the agricultural production mode of modern agriculture, which emphasizes development over protection, production over management, output over quality, profit over environmental protection, and high investment over high output, has given rise to many serious problems, such as environmental issues, agricultural sustainability issues, and food safety issues.

III. Advantages of Organic Agriculture

Organic agriculture shares the advantages of traditional agriculture, without using any chemical substances, ensuring food safety and environmental impact; using organic fertilizers to avoid pollution of surface water and groundwater, ensuring the sustainable development of agriculture; at the same time, it integrates modern agricultural production technologies, including selection of resistant varieties, rotation, intercropping techniques, facility agriculture technologies, micro and drip irrigation technologies, and integrated management of harmful organisms, etc., to achieve the goal of increasing production. Organic agriculture is a new agricultural production method formed by modern people based on their new understanding and perception of nature.