Answer to Question 1
Organic farming uses natural methods instead of chemicals to raise crops. The
chemistry of farming adds unknown stresses and risks to people who then ingest the
chemicals used in conventional farming. This involves using hand labor and is more
difficult to manage.
According to Wikipedia, The controversy centers on the overall value and safety of
chemical agriculture, with organic farming popularly regarded as the opposite' of modern,
large-scale, chemical-based, vertically integrated, corporate food production. As public
awareness increases, there are a number of obstacles to an easy grasp of the overall
situation.
In recent decades, food production has moved out of the public eye. In developed nations,
where most of the world's wealth, consumption, and agricultural policy-making are centered,
many are unaware of how their food is produced, or even that food, like energy, is not
unlimited. If the methods used to produce food are rapidly destroying the capacity for
continued production, then sustainable, organic farming is as crucial a topic as renewable
energy and pollution control. This proposition is at the center of most organic farming
issues.
It is useful to make a distinction between organic farming and organic food. Whether
organic food is tastier, safer or more nutritious has little to do with the effects of chemical
agriculture on the environment. In any case, most food dollars are spent on processed food
products, the manufacture of which is beyond the scope of farming. There are separate food
and farming issues and lumping the two together only confuses the discussion.
Answer to Question 2
There are many ways to change effluents. Many of these were discussed in the
chaptergasification, for example, changes the emissions substantially.