A Comparative Study Between Sustainable (Organic) and Conventional Farming Systems and Their Ecological Impacts on the Earth

A COMPARATIVE STUDY BETWEEN SUSTAINABLE (ORGANIC) & CONVENTIONAL FARMING SYSTEMS AND THEIR ECOLOGICAL IMPACTS ON THE EARTH
BY

DENNIS LEE WAN-CHIEN

THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF MULTIMEDIA (FILM & ANIMATION) (by Research) in the Faculty of Creative Multimedia

MULTIMEDIA UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA
October 2008

The copyright of this thesis belongs to the author under the terms of the Copyright Act 1987 as qualified by Regulation 4(1) of the Multimedia University Intellectual Property Regulations. Due acknowledgement shall always be made of the use of any material contained in, or derived from, this thesis.

© Dennis Lee Wan-Chien, 2008
All rights reserved

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DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the work have been done by myself and no portion of the work contained in this thesis has been submitted in support of any application for any other degree or qualification of this or any other university or institute of learning.

____________________ Dennis Lee Wan-Chien

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank the following people for their invaluable advice and many helpful suggestions: Dr. Ken Neo, Dr. Neo Mai and Ms. Long Yen Yen.

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DEDICATION

This thesis is dedicated to my family and friends, who have been with me through the years, in times of good and bad.

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ABSTRACT

The conventional farming model has been the agriculture industry’s preferred method of cultivating crops since the 20th century (“Conventional Farming”, n.d.). This model advocates the use of heavy machinery, chemicals and vast amounts of energy input. So far, the expenses have been justified in the results as conventional farming has been extremely productive, able to furnish low cost food (Altieri and Nicholls, 2001) and has been a great help in alleviating hunger during humanity’s major population expansions (Prasad, 2005).

However, questions have arisen over its environmental impact on the

References: 1. Agriculture (No Date). [Online]. Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture [2008. June 23] 2. Altieri, M.A., and Nicholls, C.I. (2001). Ecological Impacts of Modern Agriculture in the United States and Latin America. In O.T. Solbrig, R. Paarlberg, and F. di Castri (Eds.), Globalization and the Rural Environment (pp.123-137). Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 3. Barrionuevo, A., and Bradsher, K. (2005, December 8). Sometimes a Bumper Crop Is Too Much of a Good Thing. [Online]. Available: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/08/business/worldbusiness/08farmers.html?pagewanted=2 &_r=2 [2008. August 17] 4. Conventional Farming (No Date). [Online]. Available: http://www.coextra.eu/glossary/word672.html [2008. June 9] 5. Heckman, J. (2006). A History of Organic Farming - Transitions from Sir Albert Howard 's War in the Soil to the USDA National Organic Program. [Online]. Available: http://www.westonaprice.org/farming/history-organic-farming.html [2008. August 17] 6. Industrial Agriculture (No Date). [Online]. Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_agriculture [2008. August 17] 7. Lampkin, N.H. (1999). Organic Farming and Agricultural Sustainability. In S.D. Turner, and D. Alford, (Eds.), Agriculture and the Environment: Challenges and Conflicts for the New Millennium (pp. 146-154). Wolverhampton: ADAS 8. Organic Farming (No Date). [Online]. Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_farming [2008. August 17] 9. Organic vs. Nonorganic: Understanding the Issues (No Date). [Online]. Available: http://www.quamut.com/quamut/organic_food/page/organic_vs_nonorganic_understanding_t he_issues.html [2008. August 17] 37 10. Pimentel, D., Hepperly, P., Hanson, J., Douds, D., and Seidel, R. (2005). Environmental, Energetic and Economic Comparisons of Organic and Conventional Farming Systems. BioScience, 55(7), 573-582. 11. Prasad, R. (2005). Organic Farming vis-à-vis Modern Agriculture. Current Science, 89(2), 252-254 12. Supplements to the 2007 edition of "The World of Organic Agriculture" (No Date). [Online]. Available: http://www.organic-world.net/2007-graphs-maps.asp#graphs [2008. August 17] 13. Scheierling, S.M. (1996). Overcoming Agricultural Water Pollution in the European Union. [Online]. Available: http://www.worldbank.org/fandd/english/0996/articles/0100996.htm [2008.August 17] 38