tailieunhanh - Environmental, Energetic, and Economic Comparisons of Organic and Conventional Farming Systems

The wealthy now have more disposable income than at any time in history. Proponents of raising taxes on affluent households to fund services suggest that these households should pay higher taxes now because they have benefitted so much from tax cuts in recent years. Saving jobs Taxing high incomes to pay for state services may also be one of the best approaches available to states to limit economic harm in a high unemployment, slow-growth environment. The primary fiscal actions taken by states in the last couple of years – cutting budgets and laying off workers – have been identified as among. | Articles Environmental Energetic and Economic Comparisons of Organic and Conventional Farming Systems DAVID PIMENTEL PAUL HEPPERLY JAMES HANSON DAVID DOUDS AND RITA SEIDEL Various organic technologies have been utilized for about 6000 years to make agriculture sustainable while conserving soil water energy and biological resources. Among the benefits of organic technologies are higher soil organic matter and nitrogen lower fossil energy inputs yields similar to those of conventional systems and conservation of soil moisture and water resources especially advantageous under drought conditions . Conventional agriculture can be made more sustainable and ecologically sound by adopting some traditional organic farming technologies. Keywords organic agriculture conventional Heavy agricultural reliance on synthetic chemical fertilizers and pesticides is having serious impacts on public health and the environment Pimentel et al. 2005 . For example more than 90 of US corn farmers rely on herbicides for weed control Pimentel et al. 1993 and one of the most widely used of those herbicides atrazine is also one of the most commonly found pesticides in streams and groundwater USGS 2001 . The estimated environmental and health care costs of pesticide use at recommended levels in the United States run about 12 billion every year Pimentel 2005 . Other aspects of conventional agriculture also have adverse effects on environmental and human health as well as a high price tag. Nutrients from fertilizer and animal manure have been associated with the deterioration of some large fisheries in North America Frankenberger and Turco 2003 and runoff of soil and nitrogen fertilizer from agricultural production in the Corn Belt has contributed to the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico. The National Research Council BANR NRC 2003 reports that the cost of excessive fertilizer use that is fertilizer inputs that exceed the amount crops can use is billion per year. Modern agricultural practices .