ORGANIC AGRICULTURE IN RUSSIA - GOOD OR DISASTER

Abstract

Organic farming (OF), which is being actively introduced in Russia, cannot be an alternative to intensive agriculture and, because of its inherent unsolvable problems and non-compliance with the laws of agriculture, will not become such an alternative. OF will not provide for compliance with the Law of Return, and its productivity will be limited by the Law of Minimum. OF always will be accompanied by the shortage of phosphorus and potassium. OF introduction will not provide environmentally "clean" products. Moreover, it will be unable to produce enough products for the population of Russia. The claim of OF proponents that natural ores, which are supposed to compensate for nutrient removal, are safe is unsubstantiated. Indeed, why is a chemical element from a mineral fertilizer dangerous, whereas the same from a natural ore is safe? Can the properties of the element change so dramatically? They can, according to OF proponents logics, which thus denies the laws of Nature and science. The symbiotic rhizobia use 20.17 MJ to produce one mole of nitrogen, whereas technical nitrogen is obtained at the cost of 1.56 MJ, i.e. the latter is 12.93 times cheaper in energy terms. Therefore, the argument that OF provides for "gratuitous" nitrogen is false.